Can We Still Doubt in the Face of The Great Commission?

 To You Who Are Beloved of our Lord Jesus Christ, 

 This Sunday is Trinity Sunday, and our passage is Matthew 28: 16-20, the Great Commission.  It is here where the language of the Trinity is drawn together most clearly:

 ¹⁶ Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. ¹⁷ When they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. ¹⁸ And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

             For all the depth of purpose included in the Great Commission, three little words always pop at me, from verse 17, “but some doubted”.  The simplest explanation (to me) is that this is a nod to the Gospel of John, where the story of the Doubter, Thomas, is related. 

So why insert this little hiccup in the grand finale of the Gospel of Matthew?  Is it simply a nod, an homage, or is it something else?

Is it a reminder?  Is it a reminder that, as the grand sweeping vision is laid out by Jesus in these few verses, that we are still human?  And it is a grand, sweeping vision. 

 Go and make disciples of ALL nations.

Baptize them in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit!!

          Teach them to obey everything I have commanded you!!

And, you are not alone, for I am with you always, to the end…

          But, what if it gets hard?  What if I don’t know what I am doing?  I got love and I got faithfulness but…  What if the going gets tough?  Because it does.  Here’s an excerpt from Paul’s Resume of Suffering from 2 Corinthians 11:24-25: “Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods.  Once I was stoned...”  (I have never heard this called a Resume of Suffering but it powerfully fits).

          So, maybe these three little words are included as more than a nod or an homage.  Maybe they are included as an “Easter egg”, like in the movies.  In the movies, an ‘Easter egg’ is a reference to another movie or scene or something that the director is honoring.  One of my favorites is in Raiders of the Lost Ark, where R2D2 and C3PO from Star Wars are hieroglyphics in the underground temple in Egypt.

          So, maybe, when someone is living into the Great Commission and things have gotten tough, when there are serious bumps in the road, nothing seems to be going right, disappointment and doubt have settled in…  Remember this Easter egg.  It takes us to the Supreme Doubter.  And it walks us through how Jesus worked with him.

          It is a visual of Easter.  Jesus’ resurrection body, wounds healed BUT present.  Jesus present and transformed.  Jesus up from the grave, in fulfillment of all the promises made about grace and salvation and forgiveness and eternity.  But, more profoundly, THE reminder that even death was overcome by our Lord.  All to remind poor Thomas to believe. 

          The work is getting hard?  The Great Commission feels more like a Great Weight around the neck?  Go back to the Doubter, who had to see and touch to confess, “My Lord and My God!”

          Read again what Jesus said to Thomas, “Have you believed because you have seen Me?  Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

          That’s us.  Reminded of where the blessings truly come from.  Where the strength truly comes from.  Where the renewal truly comes from.  In the Triune God.

          God the Father and Creator, who is not just THE power in the Universe, but THE Maker of the Universe.  In Jesus Christ who did the work we are not able to, in perfect obedience, dying and rising again to fulfill the promise of a gift given to us all.  In the Holy Spirit, who is Jesus in our hearts.  As Jesus says to conclude the Commission, “and I am with you, till the end of the age.”

 

Pastor Pete

May 31, 2026 Scripture Lesson: Matthew 28: 16-20

https://youtu.be/IHcYC2VMdqA 

May 31, 2026 is Trinity Sunday on the Church Calendar and is our monthly Healing Service at First Presbyterian Church of Merchantville.  Our Scripture Lesson is the Great Commission from the very end of Matthew.  It is the command of Jesus to go out into the world and, by making disciples of all peoples, they bring God's healing to all peoples.

Pastor Pete

https://youtu.be/IHcYC2VMdqA

A Parable of Change Via Fusion Cuisine (and Pizza)

             I am not opposed to Fusion Cuisine (the bringing together of flavors of different cooking traditions or styles) but neither am I what one might call a “devotee”.  At the risk of appearing a snob, Fusion that is especially underwhelming brings with it the appearance of Confusion Cuisine (I suppose, re-reading that, there is no risk of appearing like a snob; I have fully embraced the Snob). 

I do not entirely reject Fusion Cuisine.  At the risk of losing my readers (who is the snob now?), I confess that I actually like pineapple and ham on a pizza.  It has a summer vibe.

            And, having moved to South Jersey, in the local environs of Philadelphia, I have begun to penetrate the fog of Confusion that is…Cheesesteak Pizza.  Still not in the Kitchen of my flavor preferences, but I am moving from the Confusion to the Fusion.  Sorry, cannot promise more at this point.

So, Fusion Cuisine and Confusion Cuisine, but also there is something further out in the fog of foodie-ism, the Thoroughly Confusing Cuisine.  In this instance, it is the “fusing”, no, the mash-up of Pizza and General Tso’s Chicken.  Let me be clear, Pizza is a primary go-to for my family when it comes to Italian takeout.  General Tso’s Chicken is my personal Chinese takeout preference-especially with the spiced broccoli, but…General Tso’s Chicken Pizza.  No.  Well…No.  I do not even know how one actually cooks the component elements in the same kitchen. 

Don’t get it, I just don’t.  Not even going to give it a chance.  No, nope, nuh uh.  This mashup is not Confusion Cuisine but a clear example of Thoroughly Confusing Cuisine.  It is a shock to my culinary sensibilities.  There are culinary traditions that are sacrosanct and to be preserved of both the Chinese Restaurant and the Italian Restaurant.

I was in the midst of adding this being “an affront” as well as a shock to my culinary sensibilities when a little voice went off in my head, replaying a moment when I confessed appreciation of ham and pineapple pizza.  It goes something like, “just because you don’t like it…”  Which triggered another internal reaction, continuing morality work on my part to identify when I don’t like something and when that is confused with when I won’t like something. 

While I might never be accused of being a sensitive, New Age guy, I certainly DO NOT want to be a knuckle-walking socio-Cro-Magnon throwback, grunting “me no like” as though I were pronouncing eternal damnation on General Tso’s Chicken Pizza.  Rule of life and love, it is okay not to like things, it is unloving to demand others not like them too. 

For example, Poutine, the sub-national Provincial artery hardening, heart clogging, deliciously joyful Dish, a combination of French fries (Quebec, thus French…ish?  But NOT Freedom fries) and gravy and cheese curds.  YES, curds of cheese!!  Sacrosanct…well, till one sins.

And if one is going to sin, one ought to sin boldly.  So, brisket in the poutine…  Wow…  Now, its not a mashup like that other one mentioned above  (it is emotionally painful to type).  There is Canadian commonality.  Poutine from Quebec, beef from the Prairies…Canadian, divided by language, but there is hope…  And its more of an add-on than a mashup.  There is the additional commonality of gravy… (To be completely honest, this is a very clear example of the process called ‘rationalization’, coming up with reasons why something is right).

And Canada, like our United States, has fusion built into the very melting pot of multiculturalism that makes us great.

So…add-ons work.  A swap can work as well.  Because of an extended period of my life with a diet that involved too much poutine and poutine adjacent choices and too much brisket and red meat in general, I now cook in the realm of the Mediterranean diet to counteract those other life and culinary choices.  Doing so now means I can still enjoy the Poutine lifestyle, selectively and in moderation.

Back to add-ons…  I was working up a recipe of a Mediterranean inspired bean salad, one that calls for balsamic vinegar to provide a sweet tang to the process.  It was in this process that I came upon two levels of self-awareness that I was not previously conscious of.  The first is that I have flavor preferences in regards to vinegar (Yes, I am as surprised as you are!).  The second is that I have enough taste-knowledge to successfully introduce rice vinegar as a swap in the recipe that made it so much better.  It tasted better, and I am not sure I have ever described it this way, it was a refreshing bean salad.

You may have noticed that this began as a rant, maybe even a ‘tear’ (as in tearing paper in half, not a crying jag; oh I love English).  I have many of those, amusing in my own mind.  They usually run their course and I move on.  But notice that this is in the Church blog of a pastor.  Somewhere along the way, the still small voice of the Holy Spirit, whose coming we celebrated this past Pentecost Sunday, God be praised for the gift of the Holy Spirit, this still, small voice whispered at me.

With a very, very daring offer.  "Pastor", said the still, small voice, "Maybe this is not a rant about food so much as a (…and I have never thought of my writing in this way…) a parable in the “Jesus-style”."

A parable in the Jesus-style is one that takes common themes of the popular and generally understood culture to make a greater point of faith and love. It DOES NOT presume some particular insight into the wisdom and love of Jesus Christ beyond that of a faithful human.

For this ‘parable’, use what I know and love, what our culture knows, food choices and takeout options, consider these in the life of where the church is.  Because we know our church has to change.  Not Jesus, because Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever, but the ways we’ve shared His message, those ways are always open to new possibilities.  So…mash things up?  

The Industry exists.  Its called the Church Growth Industry, a whole economic culture of books and programs and mentors and consultants and ‘proven ways’ and ‘guaranteed results’ that are advertised in ways that are practically indistinguishable from how the rest of the capitalist economy advertises things to sell, improve, change, and perfect us.  These will outline ingredients and recipes and formulas and what to do and what not to do.  There is a near infinite diversity in infinite combination of ‘what works’ today to make the church grow.

 It feels like the soft drink industry.  Gotta have the right recipe (Coke learned that the hard way) to sell that sugary, caffeinated tooth-rotting stuff.  Get the right formula, and you too can have a tasty church…

And these Church Growth strategies are so often mash-ups of what has come before.  Fusion Theology, well, more Confusion Theology, even Thoroughly Confused Theology, like jamming together General Tso’s Chicken and Pizza.  Trash tradition and start again…

Then there is our beloved First Presbyterian Church of Merchantville.  We have not adopted a ‘proven Church Growth’ strategy.  We have not mashed up that which we do into something else.  Here is a specific example.  We’ve done one very deliberate add-on, that of our Family Service on Third Sundays.  We’ve swapped some ingredients, changing the sermon style and presentation for a younger audience.  But it is still recognizable as worship, a tastier worship in my opinion. 

We did not just take a couple of completely distinct traditions and jam them together and call it pizza…er…worship. 

And who knows, maybe along the way we will make choices that will trigger a response of “I don’t get it.”  One of the great blessings of this congregation is your openness to things of the faith.  I see such a reaction as “I don’t get it, but I will seek to understand what went into the decision, what makes it work, potentially.”  There is the risk of love in that reaction.  And it is not “I won’t get it, because I ‘know’ this is how it ought (or ought not) to be done”.

This is the Pentecost thing again.  God indwells us as the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit does not simply speak ‘authoritatively’ through one of us (CERTAINLY not the minister), but speaks lovingly through all of us.  There’s a Pizza that God wants us to be.  There is a Church that God wants us to be.  We are in an amazing church for our congregation right now.  Imagine how God will make this an amazing church for everyone?

            Yes, this from the Pastor who owns his enjoyment of pineapple and ham on pizza.  And poutine with brisket (OMG that was so good!).  Despite that, in John 1, Philip invites Nathanael to “Come and see” Jesus.  So...Come and eat, here in this Church of Jesus.  
  
 Pastor Pete

Some Interesting Bits About Pentecost!

To You Who Are Beloved of our Lord Jesus Christ,                              May 19, 2026

This Sunday is Pentecost Sunday, and our passage is Acts 2: 1-21, that part of our Story where Jesus prays for us.

 2 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. ² And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. ³ Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. ⁴ All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

⁵ Now there were devout Jews from every people under heaven living in Jerusalem. ⁶ And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. ⁷ Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? ⁸ And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? ⁹ Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, ¹⁰ Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, ¹¹ Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” ¹² All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” ¹³ But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”

¹⁴ But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Fellow Jews and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. ¹⁵ Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. ¹⁶ No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:

¹⁷ ‘In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
    and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
    and your old men shall dream dreams.
¹⁸ Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
    in those days I will pour out my Spirit,
        and they shall prophesy.
¹⁹ And I will show portents in the heaven above
    and signs on the earth below,
        blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
²⁰ The sun shall be turned to darkness
    and the moon to blood,
        before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
²¹ Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

 

‘Tis a long passage, but one of great significance.  There are a few items of interest to note here.

The first is that while the disciples all spoke different languages, it is apparent they all did so with Galilean accents-because that is how the crowd identified them.  And they were shocked Galileans could speak all their mother tongues. 

The second is the implication that the disciples were not tee-tootlers, that they might like a night over at the Blue Monkey (or whatever their local watering hole might be).  Note how they are accused by the crowd of being drunk.  The Apostle Peter does not issue a denial, but insists they are not drunk because it is only 9am, too early to get snockered.  Hmmm, should we even say ‘snockered’ in reference to the disciples of Jesus?  (yes) 

The third is the nasty end-times stuff Peter pulls out of Joel, ‘blood, fire, and smokey mist’ and the like.  The way Peter talks here in Chapter 2, you think this would come to pass by Chapter 20 at the very least.  Hasn’t shown up yet, even though it is expounded on in the Book of Revelations.  We live in ‘the between times’.  So, in between now and the End, the Holy Spirit, the presence of Jesus, is within us to build the church, our Neighborhoods in the Kingdom of God.  Jesus will take care of the End, right now, let us take care of our neighbors.       

 

Pastor Pete

 

Scripture Lesson for Pentecost Sunday, the Day of the Lord, May 24, 2026: Acts 2: 1-21

https://youtu.be/PaOW37z4Di0 

As we do each week, we are sharing the Scripture for this coming Sunday in the KJV, the Pirate, the NRSV, and the Message versions of the Bible.  If you have watched before, you may detect a slightly different...inflection... for the King James Version, being English and Shakespearean and all.

Blessings,

Pastor Pete

https://youtu.be/PaOW37z4Di0

In Preparing for Ascension Sunday

To You Who Are Beloved of our Lord Jesus Christ,       May 12, 2026

 This Sunday, our passages are Luke 24: 50-53 and Acts 1: 6-11, the story of the Ascension of our Lord Jesus.  And part of Our Story, that Jesus ascended For Us. 

 Luke 24: 50-53  ⁵⁰ Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. ⁵¹ While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. ⁵² And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, ⁵³ and they were continually in the temple blessing God.

Acts 1: 6-11 ⁶ So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” ⁷ He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. ⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” ⁹ When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. ¹⁰ While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. ¹¹ They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

 The only two-parter in the Bible are the Gospel of Luke (Luke) and the Book of the Acts of the Apostle (Acts).  Written by the person history remembers as Luke (he didn’t sign his work), we know they are conjoined because of their dedication.  Each is dedicated to someone named Theophilus, and each is to tell the truth of the story of Jesus, His time on earth in the Gospel, and His legacy in the establishment of the church.

In British television, I am told that instead of always having the same show that is simply renewed year to year, they can actually change the name slightly so that the ‘same’ show will be a different series each year.  I actually don’t know if that’s a real thing, but it fits what happens in Luke and Acts.  Same show, like ‘The Jesus Show’, but two different series.

 

The first is Jesus with us in person.  The second is Jesus with us in Spirit (literally).  And the crossover event is the Ascension.  So just a couple of verses to lay it down to conclude Luke, following Luke’s version of the Great Commission we know more famously from the Gospel of Matthew.  It’s like a cliffhanger.  Jesus is leaving…now what?  Is this it?  Who shot JR?  (THE greatest cliffhanger in television history so far as I am concerned…hint: “Dallas”).

 

In Acts, we get more context.  The disciples ask our Lord, is He staying among them?  He rose from the dead, been around for over a month.  Good times, but what’s next?  To paraphrase Jesus, He’s passing the torch to them.  They are going from being disciples (followers) to apostles (servants).  And Jesus is going but Jesus is not going.

 

The world will not see Jesus anymore.  The Ascension is real.  The disciples will be standing there, mouth’s open like they are catching flies or something.  The Men in White let them know that as Jesus arose, so He will return, physically.

 

But things have already been set into motion.  Jesus, God in human form will ascend and the Holy Spirit, God in Spirit form will descend.  Jesus is still with us, not a friend we have in Him, but, rather, Him in us, Jesus in our hearts.  It kind of redefines prayer.  Instead of aiming it up into the transcendent, we can speak to God inwardly, in our hearts.

 

Jesus is coming again (physically).  But in the meantime, the apostles are laying out the Neighborhoods in God’s Kingdom (like ours) that will be finished at Jesus’ physical return.  But Jesus will be here the whole time, spiritually.  Yah, I am still working at that one too…

 

Pastor Pete

Scripture Readings for Sunday, May 17, 2026: Luke 24: 50-53 & Acts 1: 6-11

 https://youtu.be/zw0vR6YYZmM

This Sunday is our Family Service and we are telling the story of the Ascension of our Lord Jesus.  It is told in brief in Luke's first book, The Gospel, and then expanded in more detail in his second book, the Acts of the Apostles.  Jesus is preparing the disciples for the work of creating Neighborhoods here on earth in the Kingdom of God in anticipation of the day when Jesus will return.

https://youtu.be/zw0vR6YYZmM

Pastor Pete