What can fill the void?

Sermon by Pr. Craig Mueller on the Second Sunday in Easter + Sunday, April 27, 2025.

What can fill the void when we face a crisis of faith or when loss overwhelms us?

Many of us love Thomas because he is honest. Maybe this isn’t real. Maybe it isn’t true. Give me proof, he insists.

 Imagine the great void Thomas and the other disciples are living. The loss of their beloved teacher consumes them. They wonder who they are now. What their future holds. How they will go on. They want to hope. They want to believe. Yet Thomas says what the others may be thinking. Thomas says what we may feel, but because we are good churchgoers, are not sure we can say, at least here. Maybe this isn’t real. Maybe this isn’t true. Give me proof.

One writer speculates that Thomas reaches his hand into Jesus’ side because he needs to know in his own body that God is real. If Jesus is alive, then maybe he can trust that the ways of the world—the ways of empire—the lies, deceit, violence, ignorance, demagoguery—in the end, cannot win.

 That is the message of the book of Revelation. Our second readings for the Easter season are from Revelation. A book that has been misused, but also one with beautiful, inspiring passages that fill our liturgy, hymns, and imagination! Today’s passage is another reminder that our allegiance is not to any imperial power, but to Christ alone. Authentic leaders expose injustice and violence, rather than perpetrate it. Jesus is the king above all earthly rulers. His authentic words of peace fill the void of hopelessness. In the end, love will win!

 With the joy of Easter still resonating, join me as we explore three voids we face these days.

 First, when science gets separated from religion, we miss how the mysteries of the universe remind us of our insignificance and fill us with awe and humility. A year ago, I went to the middle of Indiana and joined thousands of others around the country who stared into the sky to see the “underbelly of God,” as one writer put it. For three and a half minutes we gave up control of the planet and witnessed a total eclipse. It was beyond words. The universe giving us a mystical, cosmic moment of Easter. In the writer’s words, “we plunged our hands up to the elbows and experienced the real.” Something transcendent. Something that fills the void.1

 Second, there is the great void of loss and grief, at the core of what it means to be human. The void Thomas and the disciples feel.

 We spend our entire lives trying to understand why there is suffering, why people die, why everything eventually dies. Our faith speaks to this mystery. As does great literature. And nature. And maybe a dose of therapy and spiritual direction as well. It’s a lifelong task.

 Times are changing, though. Everything is going digital, including death. Now AI-generated likenesses of dead people can now be projected on walls. Companies are developing chatbots and avatars to help ease grief through conversation and connection with deceased loved ones. It looks and sounds like the person you are grieving. But is it real?

 When you add the bottom line, things get funky. For a monthly charge, the digital relationship with your deceased mother can continue forever. And deadbot can encourage you to order their favorite food to be delivered to your home.2

 As the article I read recently puts it, “the mixing of reality, fantasy, and enterprise is detrimental to grief.” Thomas places his hand in Jesus’ wounded side that he may know that resurrection is somehow bodily, not just spiritual. The mystery of faith is that the path to resurrection is through death, not skirting it.

 Third, amid the fragmentation and digitization of life, more and more people are finding there is a void without faith, and surprisingly, without religion.

Lauren Jackson grew up as a Mormon in Arkansas. Her faith assured her that she was loved, that she had a place in the cosmos, that her life made sense. After attending a secular university, her religious worldview no longer made sense. She left it all behind. Like many other “spiritual but not religious” folks, she worshipped at the altar of work. She volunteered and built community. She pursued wellness, practiced meditation, went to therapy, visited saunas, went to work-out classes on Sunday mornings. But there was still a void.

 Lauren is also a religion reporter and has interviewed hundreds of other people like her. What she has found is that people are lonely and isolated. Many have been trying to live without religion. And the pandemic made it worse. But the void is still there. Nothing seems to be able to replace religion in the same way. And studies show that attending a house of worship can increase gratitude, mental and physical health, and a sense of community and connection. It can enchant life, and most important, tell people their lives have a purpose.3

 Maybe that is why Ben and Casey are bringing their children, Winston and Noelle to church, and today we celebrate the baptism of Noelle. I suspect Lauren, the religion writer, would appreciate a church that is grounded in tradition and mystery, but open and socially progressive. Maybe she doesn’t know such churches exist. Holy Trinity has an opportunity to share the Easter gospel in new ways in a day when people feel a deep spiritual and religious void.

 Pope Francis spoke to the void. To a war-filled world, he spoke the words of Jesus from our gospel: peace be with you. He embodied the Easter gospel and called us to care for the earth, for migrants, for the poor, and for those behind locked doors of fear.

 When we face a crisis of faith. When loss and grief overwhelm us, Thomas is our guy! His questions, his skepticism, his seeking is the very path to a deeper faith.

The Risen Christ is not bound to the stories of two thousand years ago. Christ appears to us today—in word, in community, in a sacred meal. Amid the anxiety and fears that weigh us down, Christ breathes peace. Amid the wounds we carry, Christ assures us that God is with us in our darkest night. Amid the void of emptiness and despair, Christ fills us with undying hope. Easter is happening here. Easter is happening now. Alleluia!

1 Mary Bennett, “Doubting Thomases in an age of science,” The Christian Century, April 2025, 27-78.

2 Cody Delistraty, “We’re in a new age of techno-spiritualism.” New York Times, March 20, 2025.

3 Lauren Jackson, “Religion’s Role is Being Revisited in America, The New York Times, April 20, 2025.