My daughter Sara is church shopping. I'm so glad she lives 280 miles away, because if she lived in the area I'd be a bit hurt she is shopping for a church. Sara is very organized (genes from her mother) and she showed me a folder she is compiling on the various churches she visits. There were comments about the pastor, the sermon, the friendliness, the outreach, the ambiance of the worship space - all the various components which make up a congregation. She told me it was difficult to find a congregation like the one she grew up in at Grace ... but what else could she say? She's my daughter and I could always cut off her allowance!

With that context in mind, I was especially interested during our New Member Class the other night as to what these eleven families were looking for as they shopped for a church home. Their stories were varied and interesting but a common theme in their decision to become members of Grace has to do with the atmosphere of friendliness they encountered here.

Personally, I've never been in a position to go church shopping, but some years down the line I may be. I wouldn't even know how to go about it. Would I start with the yellow pages or begin with the web pages? Do I drive around and look for signs with Luther's name, or do I look for the tallest steeple and the stain glass with the most class? How about you? All of you made a decision at one time or another to look for a church - what was your criteria? Just as an aside, I like what a friend once told me. "I searched and searched for the perfect church and suddenly realized, once I joined, the church would no longer be perfect!"

Now, the bottom line to church growth is a raising up. Raising up Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. That seems a pretty self-evident premise ... but sometimes congregations can get so into a mood of "let's grow our church at all costs," with an over concentration on parking and coffee and all sorts of things. Ultimately, our chief order of business is telling the Good News of Jesus ... and trying best we can, to be the face of Jesus for neighbor and stranger alike! A congregation with everything ... except for the Gospel, the Good News, is ultimately a congregation with nothing. Unfortunately, that's a sad description of that little group of Christians in Jerusalem, as we encounter them eight days after Easter.

Jesus had been alive for fully a week, and yet the disciples were still huddled behind closed doors. Evangelism committees are not keen on closed doors. Peter, Andrew, James and John and the others are a church with seemingly no Good News to share. And without Good News, they are a church with nothing. And the reason they are a church with nothing is because they are a church without Jesus. How can this be? Only eight days after Easter! And consider this: the day of Easter - Jesus appeared to them. The day of Easter - Jesus spoke to them. The day of Easter - Jesus gave to them the gift of the Holy Spirit. What in heavens name are they doing huddled in fear ... only eight days later? It was the first Sunday after Easter ... and it was as if Easter had never dawned.

One preacher points out that the church gathered in that upper room has "no plan, no promise, no program, no perky youth ministry, no powerful preaching, no parking lot, (and excuse my grammar) no nothing." It was a church without Jesus, the most missed of all missing persons. And a church without Jesus has no Good News. But, but - if the stone could not hold him in the tomb, the doors could not hold out of the upper room. Suddenly Jesus is in their midst. The church with nothing quickly becomes the church with everything. Pastor Carol Fryer writes about the Wartburg Home in Mount Vernon in our bulletin insert. Her closing words about the Wartburg are just as applicable to the disciples of the Upper Room. They are now "a community with Christ at the center, and that makes all the difference."

Jesus says, "Peace be with you." God knows they could use it. A church with everything, except without peace is all-too-soon a church fractured, divided, in pieces. The Peace of Jesus, the Shalom of Jesus, does not mean that there is always complete agreement on how to go about things. Complete agreement does not always happen in a family of six - much less a church family of six hundred! But if the Peace of the Lord is a part of the family - there is, at the least, the stirrings of a church. That Peace is pronounced more than once in our liturgy. As if Jesus himself is present - and we trust that he is.

And then the miracle occurs: you might think that passing though closed doors is a miracle ... and I suppose it is. But the major miracle that day in the upper room, eight days after Easter ... is how the skepticism, the disbelief of Thomas, is turned into faith. Thomas had not been with the other disciples on Easter day when Jesus first appeared to them. He finds it hard, no impossible to believe that on the third day, Christ is risen. But on the eight day ... Jesus offers his hands, "Touch, Thomas, touch. Take and touch; this is my body." Jesus did phrase it exactly like that ... but the gesture somewhat echoed his words just a handful of days earlier, as Jesus offered himself in bread and wine. And they are a foretaste of the words we hear this morning as we gather at the altar: take, touch, taste: this is my body and blood. As if Jesus himself is present - and we trust that he is.

Eight days after Easter and the Good News once more reaches the ears of those gathered at Grace. Once more we are a church with everything. Are we a perfect church? From my perspective, any fantasy of perfection at Grace was shattered the day I became a member. We are not a perfect church. We struggle and we strive for a plan, a promise, a program, perky youth ministry, powerful preaching, a parking lot and all of the rest that passes for a church with everything. And it all adds up to - nothing. Unless, unless Jesus is with us. And we trust that he is. Not only in bread and wine ... but in the water at the font. Lots of water at the font - as Samantha and Alison (and Ethan soon enough) share in the death of Jesus that they might one day share in his Resurrection. When I first saw the three baptismal banners to my left, they reminded me of the three crosses at Calvary. How appropriate a baptismal theme. Christ died for these three ... and we pray they will live for him.

And so it happens once more this morning - water on a child's head, bread in countless hands, wine on countless tongues, and we are a church with everything. The reason? Jesus is in our midst.