Easter II A, Apr 3, 2005, Cathedral of St. Philip, Mikell Chapel 7:45 and 9:00 A
Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord has risen indeed! Alleluia!
Of all our Sundays, I think this second Sunday of Easter has had more nicknames than any other in our tradition: Thomas Sunday, White Sunday, Pascha Clausum, low Sunday, and my personal favorite: “Quasi Modo” Sunday. These two words, “Quasi Modo” are the first two words of the old Latin Introit sung at the beginning of the Eucharist on this Day, translated it means “As newborn babes….”, referring to the newly Baptized on Easter Day. What I can’t figure out is the connection with the name of the hunch back of Norte Dame. So welcome to the celebration of Quasi Modo. I like it that our tradition is filled with funny little idiosyncrasies like that, and I so enjoy collecting them.
Leaving Quasi Modo quickly, I want to focus our attention on one of my heroes, our brother Thomas and I want to reflect on the powerful possibilities of doubt in our life with God and each other.
Thomas, called the Twin one of the 12 was not with them when Jesus came. When the disciples said, “We have seen the Lord”, he answered, “Unless I see the holes that the nails made in his hands and can put my finger into the holes they made and unless I can put my hand into his side, I refuse to believe. Seven days later Thomas said to Jesus, “My Lord and my God.”
George Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury says that the opposite of faith is not doubt. The opposite of faith is certainty.
As one of my spiritual friends helps us recall, at one time or another, people were absolutely certain about many things which we know today to be outrageously ridiculous. We easily remember a time when people including the religious establishment were certain that the world was flat. People were certain that our planet was the center of the universe and that all of the other planets, stars, and the sun circled around us. The absolutely certainty of these beliefs led to the persecution and even the execution of those who publicly doubted official certainty.
In our own ordinary experience with life, there are many things we encounter along our way that we think and feel to be certain. Only to discover somewhere down the road that we are proven painfully wrong. We are given a different perspective and then we have to grapple with a new belief that makes more sense to us.
There is a wonderful uneasiness God gives us which invites us to grow closer to God. We must boldly journey through times of doubt so that we can embrace enlightenment. If we become so sure we have the complete answer to everything, there would be no need to grow, to mature, to explore, to discover, to live into our experience of God. With the supposed comfort that certainty gives us also comes the active risks of idolatry.
Over 30 years ago, I discovered that I could be a Christian when I read Paul Tillich’s theology. Tillich said that doubt was actually an essential active ingredient in the process of faith formation and that doubt gives authenticity to the affirmation of faith. He said that questions are not a sign of faithlessness, but rather questions demonstrate the willingness to take faith seriously. Thomas is my faith hero. Although he did not experience Resurrection Day, Thomas stayed with the other disciples. One can well imagine that the week was very painful to him as he heard the others tell their wild stories of the Risen Jesus, and he could feel none of their excitement. He could have left for home, and no one would have blamed him. But he did not abandon them, he stayed in community. And, that’s the point. He believed with all his doubts. I am awed by his tenacious patience with himself and this little community. He stayed in community in spite of his theological uncertainty and spiritual dryness. I am drawn to him by the honesty and openness of his doubt, expressed without shame or apology. The quality of his participation in that week was rewarded by his own encounter with the Risen Jesus.
Our brother Thomas can be a reminder for us that living in community in spite of our doubts is the only way we can find the truth that will sustain us. In such moments which may last insignificantly as well as interminably, we may lean on the faith of others, knowing that God’s love does not depend on our orthodox certainty. Like all spiritual gifts, faith is a gift from God, undeserved and unearned, given for our own enjoyment and to be shared with others through the ministry of encouragement.
I believe that God allows doubt and faith to coexist within each of us. Doubt allows us to discover the many paradoxes of God in Christ: both human and divine, present with us both intimately near and distant in transcendence, dead and risen, even present in ordinary bread and wine. Our doubts would keep God safely tucked away in the places where we can understand and control what is going on. The Easter event shows us that no box, not even the certainty of the box we put our dead into can contain the wondrous love of our God. We can begin to move out of the little boxes we put God in. This Easter season helps us to participate in the imagining of a whole new world of possibilities which the resurrection gives us.
Truly doubt gives birth to transformation and courage when we faithfully wait for the right moment, when God’s truth awakens us to new vision of reality. Thank God doubts will always remain and emerge from time to time, but we can know that doubt is itself a doorway to the experience of God’s presence in our life. Doubt may even be the space that makes room for resurrection faith.
And so, I invite you to embrace your own doubt, be gentle with it, be lovingly patient. Lively doubt will encourage you to seek and to discover new dimensions of life with the living God, made known to us in Jesus Christ.
I wonder this morning, where is the place of doubt in your spiritual journey. Rather than resisting it, being embarrassed or ashamed of it, I wonder if there is some way you can welcome it as a companion in your faithfulness. At this Eucharist I wonder if you can make an offering of your doubt with me and our brother Thomas expecting God to use it to draw us deeper into the mystery of our life with God.
Christ has risen. Alleluia, Alleluia !
NB: Books by Paul Tillich may be ordered from the Cathedral Book Store. Also see Hans Kung and James Fowler on the development of doubt and faith. Bill+
Comments? Contact Bill Payton at: BPayton@stphilipscathedral.org