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These four walls. After a year
of the covid19 pandemic, and

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quarantine and isolation, and
staying at home, I have gotten

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pretty familiar with these four
walls. What used to be just a

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trip to the kitchen to get a
drink of water has become a

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field trip. For me seeing the
other part of the house. If I'm

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feeling especially
adventuresome, I might even go

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all the way to the living room,
where there's a couch, and a TV

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set. These four walls are part
of who I am. But after a year,

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after this year, I can feel
these four walls starting to

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close in on me. When people go
to prison, we call the four

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walls that they're in a cell.
But this is also the word that

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ancient Christian monks and even
monks and contemplative

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Christians today use for their
room. Go to your cell, someone once

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said, and it will teach you
everything. There are some days

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that these four walls feel like
a prison cell to me. And there

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are some days that they feel
like the cell of a monastery, a

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place that is sacred. Even
though it's not very fancy or

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big, a place where Jesus comes
and meets me where I am. And

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over the past year, I've been
surprised almost every day about

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how that's happened. Here in
these four walls. Sometimes I

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meet Jesus Christ, when I look
out the window and I see the

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giant cedar tree and my
neighbor's yard, and two or

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three crows fighting it out for
the top, top most branch.

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Sometimes, Jesus makes his way
into these four walls through

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the screen of my computer. And
the faces of all of the people

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that I'm doing good work
important work with, even though

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they're really far away. And I
really miss them.

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Sometimes Jesus breaks into
these four walls in the form of

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a text message from someone I
haven't heard from in a long

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time. It says I was thinking of
you today and wondering how you

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were doing. Jesus breaks into
the four walls of my cell. 

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In all of these ways, and so many
more. For although these walls

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are impenetrable boundaries to
be boundaries that keep me safe

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from getting sick. There is no
wall or height, or depth that

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can separate me or any of us

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from the love

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of God in Jesus Christ our Lord.
In the scripture you heard Mark

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read today the disciples are
gathered together in a locked

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room. It's shortly after the
events of the crucifixion of

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that early first Easter morning,
and no one is quite sure what's

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going to happen. All we know
from the Scripture is that

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they're afraid. They're afraid
in particular of the

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authorities. If that's what
happened to Jesus, I think they

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might be considering, if that's
what happened to Jesus, what

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might happen to us? And so the
disciples too are gathered afraid

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in their four walls when all of
a sudden in their midst they

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see Jesus. Scripture says he
breathed His peace onto them. He

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breathed His peace isn't that
lovely? He shows them his wounds

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in his hands and feet and side.
Ones from the cross, that are

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now transformed into something
that's filled with new life.

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Wounds that in some way that
they still don't understand,

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have been healed. Jesus breathed
His peace, he shows them his

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wounds, and he gives them the
gift of the Holy Spirit. And he

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tells them that they too, have
the power to forgive the power

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to set one another, free. And if
they use this power, that the

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world will change. The disciples
were all gathered together in

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their four walls, but their
friend Thomas wasn't there. You

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know, Thomas, there's another
adjective that usually comes

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before his name, Doubting
Thomas.

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That's not what he's called in

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Scripture. But he's called that
because he tells them unless I

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see his side and the marks and
his hands, and his feet, I won't

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believe And so Jesus does what
Jesus always does.

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He comes back.

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Jesus comes back through the
walls, those four walls into the

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room, where the disciples are
with Thomas, and he breathes his

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peace. And he shows his hands
and his side. And Thomas

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proclaims, my Lord,

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and my God.

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Prince Jesus meets us where we
are. Even when we're in

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quarantine, even when we're
staying at home, even when we

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are afraid, like those early
disciples, afraid to move,

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afraid to risk, afraid that what
has just happened to other

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people might happen to us next.
Our fear is no obstacle for

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Jesus Christ. Jesus walks
through the my four walls, he

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walked through walls for the
disciples, even for Thomas. And

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he walks through walls for all
of us, thanks be to God. We are

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at a moment, a year into this
pandemic, where some of the

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walls that were keeping us safe
are starting to come tumbling

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down. There are vaccines, there
is a sense that things are

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getting better. That we're
moving into the next phase of

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who we are called to be and how
we are called to live. And that

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people like me and my family,
who have stayed inside these

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four walls for so many weeks,
will finally get to reconnect

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with all of the wonder and
beauty that we know is waiting

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for us still outside this place.
At this point in history, the

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walls are coming tumbling down.
Thanks be to God. But I would

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invite you, as disciples of
Jesus to remember that Jesus not

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only breathed His peace on us,
Jesus not only shows us that

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wounds can be healed. But Jesus
gives us the power gives us the

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responsibility and the constant
reminder that we are to set

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other people free as we
ourselves have been set free.

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And if the pandemic has taught
us anything, it has taught us

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that even after the vaccine has
made the virus an artifact of

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history, and that great and
glorious day cannot come soon

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enough. Even then there are
those among us who are still

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imprisoned by invisible walls.
There are neighbors that we know

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who are struggling with the
walls of their addiction. There

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are people who have spent the
past year living in homes that

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are violent and they're not sure
they see a way out. There are

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people who are told everyday by
voices in this society, that

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because of their culture.
because of their race because of

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who they were made to be by God,
that they are less than that

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their lives do not matter and
are not sacred. And friends, it

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is lies like these that build up
invisible walls around people in

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this world.

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What walls

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have been holding you in? Where
has Jesus set you free? And who

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is it in your life? For whom you
would be willing to walk through

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walls, and say there is a better
way. And if you come with me, we

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can follow it together. Who is
that person who set you free

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with the love of Jesus? And who
is that person whose walls might

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be closing in on them a little
too closely right now. Jesus

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walked through walls for the
disciples, even for Thomas, who

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somehow missed it the first time
Jesus comes back. And he walks

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through walls for all of us
still today. So my prayer for

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you is this. May you feel Jesus
breathing, deep peace

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into your life.

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May you trust even after you've
seen the horror of something

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like the cross. May you trust
that with God, all wounds can be

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healed. And may you accept the
freedom and power that God gives

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you to set others free. Knowing
that as you do, there is a love

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that travels with you every step
of the way. A love that is so

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powerful

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that it will help you walk
through walls

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Amen