Small Church Sunday | “Nothing Low About This Sunday”
The Rev. Sam Hunnicutt is the rector of Trinity Church in Junction and our small-church sermon-writer for this edition of our newsletter. Fr. Sam shares this sermon on the lectionary texts of the Second Sunday of Easter for other churches in the diocese to use. If you don’t have regular clergy to preach on April 12, or you are the regular preacher at your church and could use a little break – especially after the homily-heavy days of Holy Week and Easter – please consider reading Fr. Sam’s sermon out loud to the congregation as the sermon on the day, with proper attribution, of course.
The scriptural texts for the day can be found here.
The Second Sunday of Easter
April 12, 2026
The Rev. Sam Hunnicutt
Rector, Trinity Episcopal Church, Junction, Tx
“Nothing Low About This Sunday”
Primary Text: John 20:19-31
Thesis: Using the Gospel text as background, this homily is intended to remind listeners that, a) Easter is not a ‘one-off,’ b) that the first commissioning of the disciples was on the evening of Resurrection day and, c) that all who come to believe are useful in carrying on the Gospel message. The homily refers to this day being “Low Sunday” on the informal church calendar and counters that idea with a call to ‘wake up’ and get busy doing what you’ve been called and commissioned to do.
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Welcome everyone, and congratulations! You have been faithful throughout the rigors of Lent. You have endured once again the passion and pathos of Holy Week. You have, with great hope and anticipation, completed the Paschal Triduum.
The beauty and pageantry of last Sunday with its Easter procession; the triumphant hymns of victorious resurrection; the restoration of the Alleluia at the fraction anthem (Alleluia! Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us...) The return to Rite II liturgy. – The entire drama and pageantry of the Lent, Holy Week, Easter extravaganza has brought us to this day, -- this Second Sunday of Easter.
Like much of the Evangelical church in our land, and those who pride themselves in being “Non-Denom denominations,” we may be tempted put the ‘old rugged cross’ back in the basement for another year, collect, clean and store all the costumes, tick the boxes and declare another Easter, done and dusted; ready to get on – back into the normality and routine of church life.
Do you know what today is generally known as in the Church? “Low Sunday” That’s right – Low Sunday. There are several possible explanations for this unseemly moniker.
The most common is that it means low attendance, low energy, or low involvement. By way of comparison, imagine Thanksgiving day afternoon, after all have eaten their fill and are snoozing in spite of the noise from the ball game on TV; Low energy, low involvement, low commitment.
Or consider the ennui of Christmas day after gifts have been exchanged and opened; the room strewn with discarded wrapping paper, boxes, and bows. The nagging sense of, “is this all there was to it; -- from Black Friday to this! Is there nothing more?” ----
But this is NOT who WE are, is it? The gospel refuses to be made irrelevant by the prevailing culture.
So, on this Second Sunday of Easter, -- that’s right it’s a ‘season’ not just a ‘day.’ --- On this second Sunday in the season of Easter we find the followers of Jesus together. All but one of the eleven remaining are present. They went back to the place where, just a few days ago, they’d celebrated the Passover Sedar with Jesus. This evening, we find them scared, hiding out, trying to get their minds and hearts around everything that’s happened -- and about what comes next. They are undoubtedly looking back on all they’ve experienced together. -- Perhaps, not unlike us today, looking back on Easter, and the weeks leading up to it.
But it’s more than that for the disciples. It’s a time to be together to anticipate the future in light of the reports of Jesus’ resurrection that morning. There’s nothing low-energy or low involvement about that Sunday evening in the upper room. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Here we find the first post-resurrection encounter between Jesus and his disciples all together – except for one. (I’ll come back to that.)
Not only does Jesus appear to them, show them his scars, and allow them to rejoice at his presence, he does something that I think we, in our low Sunday energy, fail to realize, -- something of paramount importance.
We all know or are at least familiar with what has come to be called ‘the Great Commission’ found in the 28th chapter of Matthew’s gospel. You know it. Matthew’s Jesus commissions his disciples telling them to, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations...”
But I want to suggest to you that the initial commissioning of the disciples (at least according to John) happened right here. Right here on Sunday evening, the same day the empty tomb was discovered. Right here after Jesus appeared to his frightened followers. What does he say to them? “‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’”
Does that sound like a commissioning, -- like the issuance of marching orders to you? “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
And now, the missing disciple. We’re not told why Thomas was absent that evening, but the fact remains that he missed the joyful reunion. -- I confess, every time I share this text, I feel a need to jump in and defend this poor fellow who is remembered as Doubting Thomas.
Rather than a man of weak faith, I want to suggest that Thomas was not one to suffer fools gladly. I imagine him as a man of experience, reason and logic. A thoughtful man who would make his faith decision based on solid, factual, demonstrable evidence.
I can’t help but think that if more people around us today were like Thomas Didimus, there would be far fewer conspiracy theories floating about the internet.
Yes! Thomas demands proof. And a week later, when they are together again with the risen Christ, Jesus gives Thomas the proof he had demanded. This led to another seldom noted, yet crucial event in the post resurrection story.
Do you realize that Thomas’ confession of Jesus as “My Lord and my God,” stands as the first post-resurrection, direct confession of Jesus as Lord! It’s a shame he’s not remembered as ‘Thomas the Confessor,’ or ‘Declaring Thomas.’
If you follow the legend of Thomas the twin, in the Christian tradition, you’ll find that this humble man, once he’d made his confession and declaration, did not disappear into the annals of early Christian history. The tradition says he became a bold missionary, traveling to the east in the years following Pentecost and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
To this day, Saint Thomas is venerated as the Apostle of India. In fact, there exists a population of Christians along the Malabar Coast, on the western coast of India, who lay claim to conversion by St. Thomas. Their tradition holds that he built seven churches Near Madras, that he was martyred during prayer by being run through with a spear and that he was buried in Mylapore, on the east coast of India.
Beloved, there is nothing low Sunday, or low energy, low engagement, or low commitment, or low anything about the amazing, and ongoing progression of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
From that evening of the first day of the week in an upper room, down to this very day, the gospel of Jesus is calling us to declare, to confess and to live out our faith, not as sleepy, low Sunday sideliners, but as active, engaged, involved apostles of the Good news of Jesus Christ.
There is no time for low Sunday lethargy. Now is the time, this is the day to, in the words of St. Paul, “[W]ake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone; the day is near. Let us then throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.”
