Redeemer Lutheran and St. Theodore

On Sunday, April 27, the congregations of Redeemer Lutheran Church and St.

Theodore of Canterbury Episcopal Church will celebrate the Second Sunday of Easter. The Rev. Murray D. Finck will preside with a sermon titled “Seeing and Believing.”

The Communion and worship service gathers at 13564 St. Andrews Drive at 10:30 a.m. Fellowship will continue afterwards in the Fellowship Hall with coffee, tea, cookies and snacks. All are welcome. The congregations continue to collect donations of canned and boxed foods for the hungry.

The gospel lesson for this week is from John 20:19-39. It is the story of Jesus’ first appearance to his disciples and the second appearance when Thomas is with them. Everyone has had those moments of doubt when they say, “I won’t believe it until I see it.” People are like Thomas in those times.

Thomas was likely thinking, “I know that Jesus died, how can you have seen him? This is a hoax, and one in very poor taste.”

Many believers would want to see Jesus themselves and touch him like Thomas did. Modern day believers have an advantage over Jesus’ followers of the time, by having their witness to the resurrection.

People who believe in the resurrection, embrace faith in the risen Lord, call him the Lord and Savior, and have the gifts of the Holy Spirit within, then there needs to be a response. The one thing believers should not say is, “Yes, I believe” and then walk through their lives as if they did not. The other disciples said to Jesus, “We have seen the Lord.” For church to happen, people need a community. There are times in a person’s life where they may not see the Lord working and will need the community to say, “We have seen the Lord.” Sometimes people need to be the one to say it to others. Like Thomas, believers also should be crying out to Jesus, “My Lord and my God.”

Believers are blessed simply because they believe without actually seeing Jesus in person. This is what faith is: belief in what is unseen. Redeemer Lutheran and St. Theodore encourages people to focus on their own belief in the risen Jesus and remember that the belief is in his redemption. Remember that people come and go but the love of Jesus is constant.

All are invited to a spring fling bazaar hosted by Redeemer Lutheran Church and St. Theodore of Canterbury Episcopal Church on May 1-2 from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. in the Lutheran Church basement, located next to the Turtle Lake Golf Course. Bag lunches will be avail- able for purchase beginning at 11 a.m. The bazaar will feature a boutique, flowers and plants, crafts and a bake sale for Mother's Day. For more information, call 562-430-6950.