A question you don’t hear every day, but that is what popped into my thoughts after reading John 20:19-31.

We must take a step back to understand Thomas’ reaction. Thomas was despondent after Jesus’ death, and who wouldn’t be? They all were. They had been following him for 3-4 years, watched him perform miracles, heal the sick and lame, raise people from the dead! And then Jesus is crucified…a horrible, traumatic death.

If we go back a little farther in the Gospel of John, we read that John and Peter are told by Mary Magdalene that Jesus is no longer in the tomb. They run there and see the tomb, confirm it is empty, see the linen clothes and the face covering in the tomb—John believed!

On the road to Emmaus, Jesus catches up with two disciples (Cleopas, and ???); they were kept from recognizing Jesus. As they were walking and talking, they were amazed that he (Jesus) did not know of the recent events in Jerusalem. Jesus interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself (Luke 24:25-27).

As they got closer to Emmaus they urged him to stay with them. Because it was evening the roads would get dangerous.  He took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them…AND THEIR EYES WERE OPENED, and they recognized him…and he vanished. Only then did they admit/understand that their hearts burned while he talked about the Scriptures. Not like heartburn from bad food…burning like desire for more TRUTH. 

For BELIEF!

They rose and returned to Jerusalem, found the eleven telling them “The Lord has risen indeed…!”

Now, let’s go forward to later that evening. Mary had seen the risen Lord; John, and Peter had seen the grave clothes (and face covering); Jesus had appeared on the road to Emmaus.  There was a lot to talk about! As they were discussing this, Jesus appears.  Imagine their surprise. First, the door was locked…They were behind a locked door because they were afraid.  Afraid because they were followers of Jesus…afraid because they did not want to suffer the same fate.

Jesus enters and brings Peace…Gives Peace…and then He sends them…to forgive sins (or retain them). He breathed on them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then the Holy Spirt opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. NOW THEY BELIEVE!

In Luke, again He questions their unbelief,  “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? (Luke 24:36-40, NRSV).

What would it take for them to BELIEVE? They were witnesses to the miracles and the crucifixion. How could He be alive?

Jesus shows them his hands and feet, lets them touch him so they CAN BELIEVE, and then, does a very human thing…He asks for food and eats.

Thomas missed the first visit so when the disciples tell him, “We have seen the Lord,” he does not believe. Hence the name Doubting Thomas.

But can you blame him?  The others had seen Jesus! He had breathed on them and they had received the Holy Spirit!  They definitely had an advantage.

Let’s think again…WHAT WOULD IT TAKE FOR YOU TO BELEVE?!?

Best friends, with whom Thomas has been for several years, tell him that they have seen Jesus.  He doesn’t believe them. How could it be true? The other disciples didn’t initially believe (or understand) when Jesus told him that he must die and will return in three days, so why should Thomas believe? But they had witnessed so many miracles that Jesus performed. Saw him walk on water and feed 5000 from 5 loaves with 12 baskets left over, feed 4000 with 7 loaves and 7 baskets left over, and raise people from the dead!

Although we were not witnesses to these miracles or the resurrection, we have a Bible! A written account of Jesus, not to mention, Adam and Eve, Noah, David, and more. Once we receive faith from the Holy Spirit, we are able to acknowledge the Truth of the Gospel and start living a new Life in Jesus!  Know Christ. Grow in Christ. Live Like Christ, Serve Like Christ, Share Christ, Have Fellowship with other Christians, and Lead others to Christ!

The events that put me at the front line of leading our church out of the ELCA began with an unexpected phone call from our founding pastor. Unbeknownst to him, I was frustrated with our congregation’s direction and the ELCA’s unbiblical stance on various issues.  Pastor wanted to know if I would be interested in being the Council President. Here I was ready to leave the church, and God provided a path to church leadership and fixing the problems that I saw. I agreed to his request, but it wasn’t with the fervor of ‘Here I Am Lord, Send Me!’

I had numerous discussions with the Pastor about leaving the ELCA, how to do that, and its impact.  He was led to believe that he would lose his pension if we left the ELCA. We now know this to be untrue, but it kept us in the ELCA for another decade.

Pastor retired during this period.  By this time, I was all-in on getting the right pastor to lead our church and made that known within the council and general congregational membership.  This led to my interest in serving on our church’s Call Committee. Now I was enthusiastically responding to ‘Here I Am Lord, Send Me!’  I knew that to save our church from the ELCA and lead us on a biblical path, we needed the right pastor.

I was asked to serve on the Call Committee the day after my father passed away. It was a blessing in a time of grief. I was relieved and grateful that I was part of that committee. We went right to work and started developing a questionnaire to ask our congregation what it wanted in a new pastor.

During this process I had an opportunity to attend the Synod Assembly. I left home expecting to be filled with the Holy Spirit while there. I could not have been more wrong. I was fed lectures on white privilege, listened to poems from young black activists about why my whiteness was a problem and why I should ask for forgiveness, The list goes on. Nothing about Christ, nothing about Christianity, nothing except a church manifesting itself as a  political organization and promoting LGBTQ agenda with no regard to sin.

I came back early from the Synod Assembly, reached out to the entire call committee and asked for a special meeting.  “Houston, we have a problem!” echoed in my mind. I put together a synopsis of my trip and all members of the call committee were speechless.  One member said, “Well, I thought I was a liberal but apparently I’m a conservative and didn’t know it.” We contemplated our next steps. Since our congregation asked us to find a pastor, should we go back to them and suggest looking outside of the ELCA?

We felt this was a good course of action but eventually realized that we could not take that path…yet. We focused our search and questions on a path that would lead us to the right pastor…then we prayed…a lot! With God’s help and our listening, we finally found our pastor. But that was the beginning, not the end of our journey. I immediately approached our new pastor (before he was selected) to make sure he was willing to support our plan to leave the ELCA. He said the road would be tough, but we could do it if we wanted. 

When the ELCA announced that it would be a Sanctuary Church, there was a significant amount of publicity that went along with its decision. This worked in our favor because many more members became aware of what the ELCA was doing. Now I didn’t have to find people to talk to and convince them the ELCA was not aligned with our congregation’s beliefs. They started looking for me and saying we need to leave the ELCA.

 I started gathering signatures on a petition. It called for the formation of a Discernment Committee where we could prayerfully determine our church’s path forward. Over 25% of the active congregation members signed it; the council could not refuse our request.

We formed the committee with a mix of members who wanted to stay or leave the ELCA. This was harder than it needed to be because we wanted to hear all voices and concerns.  Pastor led four classes for the congregation which discussed issues within the ELCA and how it had strayed from Luther’s foundational beliefs. These meetings focused on:

These classes informed our congregation that the ELCA had changed. Our patience and plan worked out. Our first vote was 88% and the second was 89% in affirmation to leave the ELCA and become part of the NALC.