So that you may come to believe. It was an early copy of Good News for Modern Man. My parents gave it to me when I was about twelve or thirteen. It was a paraphrase of the New Testament in contemporary language, and I devoured it…at least the Gospels and the book of Acts. For the first time in my life the scriptures came alive and a part of me came alive with them. John tells us that the reason he writes his gospel is so that we might come to believe. In fact, all of the gospels are there to help us believe. Because WE were not there… And even some of those who were there struggled to believe. Thomas, who said he would need physical proof of the risen Jesus, wasn’t the only one who doubted (see Matthew 28:16-17 and Luke 24:36-43). Maybe you too have struggled with doubt. John wants the world not to only know about Jesus, the way we might read about someone in history and have an educated interest in them…but to believe in Him. And not just to believe in Him…but by believing, to be made alive in Him. To have life in his name. It is this life, a living hope in Jesus that we proclaim. Every time we gather to worship; to hear the scriptures and pray…and break bread together, we let the story (our story) of our redemption and salvation seep into our bones. Sometimes to remind us of what we know. And sometimes, in our doubts, to help us come to believe. This is my prayer for us this holy season of Easter: That as we read and hear the words of scripture, they may continue to come alive to us…and that we may come more and more alive in them! Blessings, Matthew+
O God, who for our redemption gave your only-begotten Son to the death of the cross, and by his glorious resurrection delivered us from the power of our enemy: Grant us so to die daily to sin, that we may evermore live with him in the joy of his resurrection; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP p. 222) | 
