| 2 Easter, B Christ Church, Winnetka April 23, 2006 |
I am currently serving at the Episcopal Chaplain at Northwestern University. For 2 years I’ve been meeting and worshipping with students. One of the major themes that has come out of our discussions is a struggle with faith. They are really searching to articulate their beliefs for themselves. They are trying to integrate their Sunday School knowledge, their experiences and their new learnings which come fast at the university. They are trying to make faith their own and need time to examine, to share ideas, and to ask questions. Through discussions in our community, they realize that they’re not the only people asking questions. Their struggle and doubt do not isolate them from the community, but rather the community becomes a safe place to ask questions and wonder together. We find answers in other people, the Prayer Book, and the Bible. We often find that in asking questions, we are often left with more questions and not always solid answers, but we always have time for thoughtful reflection. One of the groups that meets on a regular basis is Sermon Fishbowl – a lectionary based Bible Study group. This week, we were looking at today’s Gospel reading.
We got talking about Thomas – and how he’s been dubbed “Doubting Thomas” and how that’s never made any sense to me. The church seems to scoff at him – “Doubting Thomas” and the students wondered about that. Do you find that nickname helpful? Have you also wondered how he ever got stuck with that moniker? That label is not helpful to Canterbury students. And I don’t think that it’s helpful for anyone else struggling or asking deep faith questions.
So, putting the scoffing aside. What does the Gospel really say? Jesus comes to the disciples – grants them peace, “Peace be with you.” He sends them out as he had been sent and gives them the Holy Spirit – empowers them to proclaim the Good News. Jesus then comes back to see Thomas – to show him. But he doesn’t show Thomas anything that the others hadn’t seen. The others had seen the risen Christ and Thomas would like to see. Thomas says that he needs to touch the hands and the side, but the Gospel never says that he does. Jesus’ presence seems to be enough for Thomas to proclaim, “My Lord and my God.”
John also tells us his purpose. He is speaking to those who have not seen the risen Christ and will still come to believe. He is encouraging people who are not eyewitnesses you can have belief without touching Jesus’ hands and side.
And we here are 2000 years later – questioning, wondering, having faith from tradition handed down to us from the disciples who did see. While we don’t actually see the risen Christ, we can read the stories from the Bible, hear about the people of faith since then, and learn to recognize God working in our own lives. Our seeing God is not physical sight, but in our daily lives, and the faith that we have.
Our daily lives are filled with faith in God, thanksgiving for what God is doing in or lives, and sometimes with tests of our faith – either by things that happen to us or ways that we question to deepen our understanding of God.
Sometimes for us, faith is as easy and gentle as sitting on a grandmother’s lap. At other times, there is a struggle with doubt – a testing of faith.
I think that there are dangers in both of them. When our faith is easy – we don’t really examine or articulate it – it just feels great. In these times, we need others to question – so that we can articulate what we believe and how we have come to believe it.
When we are living in a state of constant struggle, maybe it’s because we’re thinking too much, holding control, or have made faith into an intellectual pursuit. In those times, maybe we need to let go – to feel God’s love in our hearts.
I think that we hold both ends within one’s self – at different times in our spiritual journeys, we experience both and hold in then ends in tension. There are times when we are able to see God’s perfection in the world – sometimes in nature, maybe by watching the sunrise over Lake Michigan. Sometimes we hear music that touches our soul. Other times we get a thought in our head and go around and around, and get stuck thinking about it. Or we think we need to think our faith into existence.
As each person holds this tension, we come together as community, and therefore, the tension also exists in the community – with some of us struggling and some being grounded in faith every time that we meet. But we come together today to worship – to celebrate the risen Christ. In community, we can support each other with stories of experiencing God. We can also provide examples for each other. When we see someone tithing, we can see that God is so important to that person that they would give their hard earned money back in thanksgiving to God. In community, we also care for others – the sick or homebound. And we give of our time – in the many activities that occur at the church. In our time together, we can also encourage during the times of struggle and ask questions during times of easy faith.
And as nice as it is to meet here together, we cannot stay here. Like the disciples, we are also sent, and empowered by the HS to proclaim Gospel of Risen Christ. We need to take our the faith to the world. This idea is scary to NU students – what about you? Have you ever felt terror at the thought of proclaiming your Christianity?
Faith and doubt – there seems to be fear and shame in proclaiming either. When we proclaim our faith, we might be afraid that we will be misunderstood or not sure how other will receive us. We might be ridiculed in trying to share our faith.
When we take our doubt out to the world there seems to be a stigma attached to it. We live in such an individualistic society that the perception is that we must figure it out on own. We might be afraid that people will scoff at us – “Doubting Thomas.”
But, I tell you, there are people who are hungering to hear the word of God. People are questioning and looking for a safe place to ask questions. They would like to have discussions about faith questions. They are yearning to deepen and articulate their faith.
They are waiting for invitation. They are waiting to hear your story. Will you invite them? Will you share your story? Will you – will Christ Church – be the community that encourages the testing and questioning of faith?
Faith is made stronger through testing, struggle, and articulation. Doing this work in community allows for support, loving challenges (What do you think about that? How did you come to that answer?), and a bit of cheerleading (Wow – that’s a great question! Keep going with that thought!).
Being called into the world, we are then able to share our faith and doubt with others who are searching, wondering, and questioning.
As we invite them into our community, we are given a chance to experience the grace of God who walks with us, loves us, and encourages us to grow into a deeper relationship with God and each other.