{"id":6255,"date":"2021-04-10T17:24:13","date_gmt":"2021-04-10T22:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/?p=6255"},"modified":"2021-04-10T17:24:13","modified_gmt":"2021-04-10T22:24:13","slug":"april-11-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/2021\/04\/april-11-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"April 11, 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"
The members and friends of Chilmark Community Church of<\/div>\n
Martha\u2019s Vineyard, Massachusetts,\u00a0welcome you to their worship\u00a0service on this second Lord\u2019s Day of the Resurrection<\/div>\n
\u2013second\u00a0Sunday of Easter.<\/div>\n
Our Gospel reading is from the Gospel according to Saint John,<\/div>\n
chapter 20, verses 19-\u00a031. It tells of\u00a0\u00a0\u201cDoubting Thomas.\u201d\u00a0In it,<\/div>\n
Thomas is the example of what Jesus has to say about the nature of\u00a0knowledge and faith.\u00a0Jesus came to the disciples in the Upper Room the first time and\u00a0said,\u00a0\u201cPeace be with you.\u201d<\/div>\n
Thomas was\u00a0“not with them when Jesus came.\u201d\u00a0Jesus showed them his\u00a0hands and his side as marks of his authenticity.<\/div>\n
Jesus\u00a0pointed out\u00a0, \u201c\u2019As the Father has sent me so\u00a0send I you.\u2019<\/div>\n
Then he breathed on them and said, \u2018Receive the Holy Spirit.\u2019\u201d<\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0When those disciples\u00a0reported what happened to Thomas, Thomas did not believe. He said,\u00a0\u201cUnless I see the mark of the<\/div>\n
nails in his hands, and put my figure in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not\u00a0believe.\u201d\u00a0A week later, Thomas was with the disciples and\u00a0Jesus again appears. Jesus said to the disciples,\u00a0including Thomas,\u00a0\u201cPeace be with you.\u201d<\/div>\n
Then he said to Thomas,\u00a0\u201cCome, put your finger here and<\/div>\n
see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Be not faithless, but believing.\u201d\u00a0Thomas\u00a0exclaimed,\u00a0\u00a0\u201cMy Lord and my God.\u201d<\/div>\n
Jesus said to him,\u00a0\u201cHave you believed only because you have<\/div>\n
seen?\u00a0\u00a0Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.\u00a0\u00a0\u201d Jesus bore,\u00a0\u00a0in his body,\u00a0\u00a0the marks of suffering, sin and shame\u00a0; and\u00a0it is these that became\u00a0the\u00a0proof of his verification and\u00a0authenticity.<\/div>\n
What are our\u00a0marks of suffering, sin and shame\u00a0that\u00a0 authenticate our faith in Christ Jesus? Notice\u00a0\u00a0Jesus\u2019 words to Thomas,\u00a0\u00a0\u201cBe not\u00a0faithless, but believing?\u201d\u00a0Let us remember that knowledge comes\u00a0\u00a0to us in different ways and forms and from different sources.\u00a0\u00a0Can knowledge come through faith or\u00a0the lack\u00a0of\u00a0faith,\u00a0even as it came\u00a0to Thomas\u00a0?<\/div>\n
May the resurrected Christ continue to show himself to us this day and throughout the rest of our\u00a0lives! May faith and even<\/div>\n
faithlessness lead us to new knowledge\u00a0and belief\u00a0so we may<\/div>\n
be led to\u00a0do\u00a0God\u2019s will.<\/div>\n
Sincerely yours,<\/div>\n
In the name of the\u00a0Risen Christ of faith,<\/div>\n
Ernest Belisle (Pastor)<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The members and friends of Chilmark Community Church of Martha\u2019s Vineyard, Massachusetts,\u00a0welcome you to their worship\u00a0service on this second Lord\u2019s Day of the Resurrection \u2013second\u00a0Sunday of Easter. Our Gospel reading is from the Gospel according to Saint John, chapter 20, verses 19-\u00a031. It tells of\u00a0\u00a0\u201cDoubting Thomas.\u201d\u00a0In it, Thomas is the example of what Jesus has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-worship-and-teaching"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6255"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6256,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6255\/revisions\/6256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}