The Rev'd Kenneth H. Saunders III
Christ Episcopal Church
Cleveland, NC
RCL Year C (Easter 2) - April 11, 2010
Low Sunday
Acts 5:27-32
Psalm 118:14-29
Revelation 1:4-8
John 20:19-31
Right now, there are people out there trying to gather “proof.” Trying to gather proof through the “facts” that they can find… to give their beliefs merit…
Like the Crime Scene Investigators that we see on those popular television shows, that are gathering their evidence to solve a crime, they are out there gathering the “proof” so that they can believe in this or that…
Shows like CSI appeal to us, because that’s what we want, isn’t it? To be able to prove things… It’s like forcing the pieces to fit in some gigantic puzzle… Prove things… so that what we say has merit and authority.
We can “prove” so much with our God-given minds – Why not prove God? Why not prove Jesus? Wouldn’t that make our lives much easier? If we knew ALL of the answers to ALL of the questions??? Or would it??
I guess that we could go out like so many before us and start a quest to find archeological “proof” of the historic Jesus… We could use our inquisitive, God-given minds to act like Crime Scene Investigators and search for and gather all the facts. But would that proof actually help us believe?
I would suggest that “maybe” in our time, it is harder for us to take things on faith because we are so incredibly good at finding that “tangible” or at least the “scientific” proof for so many things. And it is extremely frustrating when science offers us something different than what has been believed for centuries… our beliefs are challenged our doubts raised…
Galileo Galilei was a devout Christian & gifted theologian… and the man considered to be the father of modern physics… He was responsible for many scientific discoveries in his lifetime… But he had an argument with the Church… because in 1609, he introduced the idea of a Solar system – a “heliocentric” or “sun-centered” system with revolving “planets.” But back then, (just 400 years ago), the interpretation of the Bible supported an Earth centered universe.
The Church convicted Galileo of Heresy and sentenced him to spend the remainder of his life locked in a tower. Now, Galileo’s theories have been “proven” and it is readily accepted by Christians worldwide… but now we interpret the context of the scriptures much differently…
But why do we think what we believe needs to be based on some kind of proof? Some people think that the opposite of faith is doubt. but it’s not… The opposite of faith is certainty! So, If what I believe is based on faith, and the opposite of faith is certainty, where does that put doubt???
Just because you believe, doesn’t mean that you can’t doubt… I believe that doubt is related to belief and engaged in a type of wrestling match back and forth, struggling with the questions of the faith... Someone who really wrestles with the questions has a lot more in common with the apostles, and a lot more in common with you and with me.
Doubt is not a bad thing. Doubt can lead us to faith…
In the Gospel lesson this morning, Thomas didn't get to see the resurrected Jesus at first. He didn't have a new found faith in the risen Christ that the other disciples did after they saw Jesus. Thomas was somewhere else. And regardless of how much the others that were gathered in that upper room testified to Thomas that they had seen the risen Christ, Thomas still had his reservations.
He said, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I WILL NOT BELIEVE!
It is important for us to notice in the story that Thomas engaged his doubts. He came forth, He asked to be able to see. He wanted to believe! He already believed in Jesus the person… he traveled with him, learned from him, and saw him die on the cross outside of Jerusalem. But his struggle was to believe in the risen Christ. A week later the risen Jesus appears to them again: This time Thomas is with them! Jesus tells Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, reach out your hand and put it in my side, Do not doubt but believe!”
And don't we want to believe like that? Of Course We Do!
Even on those days when the story of the resurrection seems a bit beyond our grasp… We want to believe. We want to come forth; We want to ask to be able to see the wounds; And… We want to invest our lives and our souls in something tangible. We want to be able the make the proclamation that Thomas made, “My Lord and My God! because what happened to Thomas works for us. We are a society that needs that kind of “proof.”
Then Jesus throws a twist in Thomas’ new found faith that is based on “tangible” evidence. Jesus says, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” We have not seen… yet we believe… we may doubt sometimes… but we are here… and we believe…
For centuries, this Sunday (The Second Sunday of Easter) has been called “Low Sunday…”
This is done mainly to point out that sharp contrast between this Sunday and all of the “High Holy” festivities surrounding Easter Sunday. In fact, I think that the folks who go to church
on the Sunday after Easter understand this lesson better than anyone else.
You are here because you understand that the resurrection of Jesus and Easter is not just a pleasant springtime tradition to observe with bunny ears, colored eggs, marshmallow chicks, and hiding candy for the children to find.
You are here because the risen Christ has invited you to a meal and you have come back for this meal again today. There is the faith! You're acting out your beliefs. You're acting out your faith that has been handed down through witnesses of the faith. Witnesses like those in the lesson from the Acts of the Apostles who have been willing to take action and proclaim the resurrection amid persecution and ridicule.
We are all called as Christians to live into our faith (last Sunday, I called it practicing resurrection…) so that we can continue the witness to others. To tell them the story of God’s salvation. Salvation that comes to us in Jesus the risen Christ.
The action of living into our faith strengthens our faith, and helps us diminish our doubts. Faith is not some obscure mental act. It is not something we have to fabricate in our heads or understand completely. Faith is the state of being… being “possessed” by the love of God. And we act on it by telling others, so that they, too, can enter into that state of being being “possessed” by the love of God.
This is what I believe… Doubt is not a bad thing… Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ? Do you believe that he rose from the dead? Do you believe in life everlasting? Let US be able to say without seeing - My Lord and My God! So that we can Gracefully accept our gift of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. And then we can Gracefully live into our gift of everlasting life with our God.
And, when we are like the beloved Apostle, St. Thomas… and we are filled with doubts… Let us ask for God to fill us with the power that we need to boldly profess our faith… So that, while we are strengthening our own faith, we are also passing it on…
So, let us now stand and turn to page 358 in the Book of Common Prayer and again boldly profess our faith together in the words of the Nicene Creed…
Christ Episcopal Church
Cleveland, NC
RCL Year C (Easter 2) - April 11, 2010
Low Sunday
Acts 5:27-32
Psalm 118:14-29
Revelation 1:4-8
John 20:19-31
Right now, there are people out there trying to gather “proof.” Trying to gather proof through the “facts” that they can find… to give their beliefs merit…
Like the Crime Scene Investigators that we see on those popular television shows, that are gathering their evidence to solve a crime, they are out there gathering the “proof” so that they can believe in this or that…
Shows like CSI appeal to us, because that’s what we want, isn’t it? To be able to prove things… It’s like forcing the pieces to fit in some gigantic puzzle… Prove things… so that what we say has merit and authority.
We can “prove” so much with our God-given minds – Why not prove God? Why not prove Jesus? Wouldn’t that make our lives much easier? If we knew ALL of the answers to ALL of the questions??? Or would it??
I guess that we could go out like so many before us and start a quest to find archeological “proof” of the historic Jesus… We could use our inquisitive, God-given minds to act like Crime Scene Investigators and search for and gather all the facts. But would that proof actually help us believe?
I would suggest that “maybe” in our time, it is harder for us to take things on faith because we are so incredibly good at finding that “tangible” or at least the “scientific” proof for so many things. And it is extremely frustrating when science offers us something different than what has been believed for centuries… our beliefs are challenged our doubts raised…
Galileo Galilei was a devout Christian & gifted theologian… and the man considered to be the father of modern physics… He was responsible for many scientific discoveries in his lifetime… But he had an argument with the Church… because in 1609, he introduced the idea of a Solar system – a “heliocentric” or “sun-centered” system with revolving “planets.” But back then, (just 400 years ago), the interpretation of the Bible supported an Earth centered universe.
The Church convicted Galileo of Heresy and sentenced him to spend the remainder of his life locked in a tower. Now, Galileo’s theories have been “proven” and it is readily accepted by Christians worldwide… but now we interpret the context of the scriptures much differently…
But why do we think what we believe needs to be based on some kind of proof? Some people think that the opposite of faith is doubt. but it’s not… The opposite of faith is certainty! So, If what I believe is based on faith, and the opposite of faith is certainty, where does that put doubt???
Just because you believe, doesn’t mean that you can’t doubt… I believe that doubt is related to belief and engaged in a type of wrestling match back and forth, struggling with the questions of the faith... Someone who really wrestles with the questions has a lot more in common with the apostles, and a lot more in common with you and with me.
Doubt is not a bad thing. Doubt can lead us to faith…
In the Gospel lesson this morning, Thomas didn't get to see the resurrected Jesus at first. He didn't have a new found faith in the risen Christ that the other disciples did after they saw Jesus. Thomas was somewhere else. And regardless of how much the others that were gathered in that upper room testified to Thomas that they had seen the risen Christ, Thomas still had his reservations.
He said, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I WILL NOT BELIEVE!
It is important for us to notice in the story that Thomas engaged his doubts. He came forth, He asked to be able to see. He wanted to believe! He already believed in Jesus the person… he traveled with him, learned from him, and saw him die on the cross outside of Jerusalem. But his struggle was to believe in the risen Christ. A week later the risen Jesus appears to them again: This time Thomas is with them! Jesus tells Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, reach out your hand and put it in my side, Do not doubt but believe!”
And don't we want to believe like that? Of Course We Do!
Even on those days when the story of the resurrection seems a bit beyond our grasp… We want to believe. We want to come forth; We want to ask to be able to see the wounds; And… We want to invest our lives and our souls in something tangible. We want to be able the make the proclamation that Thomas made, “My Lord and My God! because what happened to Thomas works for us. We are a society that needs that kind of “proof.”
Then Jesus throws a twist in Thomas’ new found faith that is based on “tangible” evidence. Jesus says, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” We have not seen… yet we believe… we may doubt sometimes… but we are here… and we believe…
For centuries, this Sunday (The Second Sunday of Easter) has been called “Low Sunday…”
This is done mainly to point out that sharp contrast between this Sunday and all of the “High Holy” festivities surrounding Easter Sunday. In fact, I think that the folks who go to church
on the Sunday after Easter understand this lesson better than anyone else.
You are here because you understand that the resurrection of Jesus and Easter is not just a pleasant springtime tradition to observe with bunny ears, colored eggs, marshmallow chicks, and hiding candy for the children to find.
You are here because the risen Christ has invited you to a meal and you have come back for this meal again today. There is the faith! You're acting out your beliefs. You're acting out your faith that has been handed down through witnesses of the faith. Witnesses like those in the lesson from the Acts of the Apostles who have been willing to take action and proclaim the resurrection amid persecution and ridicule.
We are all called as Christians to live into our faith (last Sunday, I called it practicing resurrection…) so that we can continue the witness to others. To tell them the story of God’s salvation. Salvation that comes to us in Jesus the risen Christ.
The action of living into our faith strengthens our faith, and helps us diminish our doubts. Faith is not some obscure mental act. It is not something we have to fabricate in our heads or understand completely. Faith is the state of being… being “possessed” by the love of God. And we act on it by telling others, so that they, too, can enter into that state of being being “possessed” by the love of God.
This is what I believe… Doubt is not a bad thing… Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ? Do you believe that he rose from the dead? Do you believe in life everlasting? Let US be able to say without seeing - My Lord and My God! So that we can Gracefully accept our gift of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. And then we can Gracefully live into our gift of everlasting life with our God.
And, when we are like the beloved Apostle, St. Thomas… and we are filled with doubts… Let us ask for God to fill us with the power that we need to boldly profess our faith… So that, while we are strengthening our own faith, we are also passing it on…
So, let us now stand and turn to page 358 in the Book of Common Prayer and again boldly profess our faith together in the words of the Nicene Creed…
