Cogito Tute
Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
Sermon
Worship
Object:
This week's gospel text features the story of "doubting" Thomas, and it raises the whole issue of doubt as it pertains to faith. In this age where much of our outlook on the world is shaped by the parameters of scientific method, the "show me" skepticism of Thomas is likely to resonate strongly with many people -- and in this installment of The Immediate Word, team member Dean Feldmeyer points out that we should be wary of demonizing doubt, because a thoughtful, reasoned approach to faith is more fulfilling than a blind faith. Thomas reminds us that the key is to know where and in what to place our faith, because disappointment and cynicism are the inevitable byproducts of belief in false promises and false prophets, in contrast to the eternal, unchanging promises of Jesus. A healthy skepticism, Dean tells us, keeps us from putting our faith in the fads of the moment, which are certain to change with the prevailing winds and lead us astray. By thinking for ourselves -- as did Thomas -- we keep that healthy skepticism from becoming unhealthy cynicism. Team member George Reed offers some additional thoughts on doubt and faith, pointing to discernment as the key to keeping skepticism from crossing the line and becoming fossilized belief (perhaps best illustrated by the familiar maxim "My mind's already made up -- don't confuse me with facts").
Cogito Tute
by Dean Feldmeyer
John 20:19-31
The phrase cogito tute is Latin, and it means "think for yourself."
The ancients believed that a little skepticism was a good thing, a healthy thing. After all, those who believe everything will fall for anything, right?
And even in religion -- or especially in religion -- healthy skepticism is often in order.
Religious faith is not the enemy of reason. It is often the enemy of blind belief and uncritical acceptance, however. A healthy, appropriate theology can stand the scrutiny of those who think for themselves.
THE WORLD
Bernie Madoff seemed so harmless with his round face and his bashful grin. He was so believable -- everyone said so... and his own lifestyle was a testament to his success, his skills, and his knowledge of the investment market. Didn't he own several million-dollar homes and a yacht and, well, just look at the cars he drove and the suits he wore. He said he could make you rich too. Just give him your money and let him invest it like he invested his own. He would take a small, reasonable commission on the money he made for you, but the rest would be yours to luxuriate in.
Thousands of people believed Bernie and everything that everyone said about him until that day when the whole house of cards came tumbling down and we learned the meaning of the phrase "Ponzi scheme." Bernie Madoff had managed to put together the largest, most successful Ponzi scheme in history. He had cheated, lied to, and stolen from thousands of people including his closest friends, his employees, and even his own children. And it wasn't just the rich and powerful who lost money. Regular folks, working families, lost their entire life savings.
Once again the financial advisers (the honest ones) came on television and told us what we already knew: "If it seems too good to be true, it is." A little skepticism would have saved a lot of people a lot of money.
I'm sitting at my desk checking through my email, and here is a message from an old high school buddy of mine. He's on vacation in Europe -- France or Italy or Turkey or somewhere -- and he has been robbed. His money and passport were stolen, and he's contacting everyone he knows asking for help. Can I wire him a few bucks? The American consulate says they can replace his passport for $100. Or maybe he hasn't been robbed. Maybe he's been arrested and he's in a Turkish jail. Can you help bail him out? He needs $1,239 immediately. Wire it to this address.
Be skeptical. Be very skeptical.
Here's another email. It says that a child is sick with some exotic disease. All you are asked to do is send an email message to some big corporation and get ten other people to do so, and that corporation will give money to the sick child. Just forward this message to your ten best friends. Be skeptical. You are about to harass a big corporation with unwanted emails and place your friends on a mailing list from which they will never be able to remove themselves. The world, and especially the internet, has taught us the value of healthy skepticism.
Mining officials in China told their workers that the mine was perfectly safe. This past week, with dozens of workers trapped in a cave-in, we learn that they have known for months that the mine was dangerous. We do not know if that was also the case at the West Virginia mine where at least 25 miners were killed yesterday -- but the safety record of mines with similar explosions in the past has been spotty enough that it's understandable that our suspicion is raised.
Restaurants have led us to believe that their food was perfectly healthy and now, when they are told that they have to tell us the calorie count in their servings so we can make informed decisions, they balk.
When did that pound can of coffee become 12 ounces? And have you actually measured your 8.5 x 11 inch paper lately?
So if life has taught us to be skeptical about nearly everything else, it just makes sense that we should be a little bit skeptical about religious claims as well.
Televangelists who live in mansions and want to send you prayer cloths and bottles of Jordan River water "for a donation" should be viewed with at least a little skepticism. Some people have the gift of spiritual healing, and some are simply con artists putting on a good show. A little healthy skepticism helps us tell the difference.
How many members of the Branch Davidians, the People's Temple, and Heaven's Gate would be alive today if they had developed the ability of critical thinking and healthy skepticism, if they had learned to think for themselves?
Scientist Michael Shermer, in his fascinating book Why People Believe Weird Things, reminds us that "Skepticism is a method, not a position." The "skeptic is one who questions the validity of a particular claim by calling for evidence to prove or disprove it."
Skeptics are not cynics who hold that nothing should be believed. They are convincible if the evidence is convincing.
People of faith do not reject or rebuke the questions of the skeptic. We understand them because they were once our own. We welcome them.
THE WORD
Thomas wasn't there. He couldn't make it to the meeting... he had a previous commitment... didn't get the memo... something.
He missed it. He missed seeing Jesus appear in a locked room. He missed hearing the voice of one who was dead but is now alive. He didn't see the scars, the holes in Jesus' hands, and the wounds in his sides.
He didn't experience the cool, refreshing, life-giving breeze that was the Holy Spirit, breathed upon them by the Savior. He did not feel empowered by those words, "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."
He missed it.
So when they told him about what they had seen, Thomas was skeptical. They were his friends and he loved them. He knew that they believed they had seen Jesus. They had probably convinced themselves that they had seen him. It's called "group think." It happens all the time.
Walk through a crowded room and sniff. Ask people if they smell gas. "Do you smell gas? I smell gas. I'm telling you there's a gas leak in here somewhere." Guaranteed, some of those people are going to smell gas. They will be convinced that they smelled gas. They will believe that they smelled gas, and those who believe they did will congregate together and reinforce each others' beliefs. Only they didn't really smell gas because there wasn't any gas to smell.
Feed a hundred people the same meal and tell them that some people have gotten sick from food poisoning. Guaranteed, some of those people will be sick before the night is over. And even though there never was anyone sick in the first place, not really, those who convinced themselves that they were will not be talked out of their conviction. They were, they will argue, really sick -- really.
The first century CE was a time rife with ignorance and superstition. If these kinds of things happen now, how much more likely is it that they happened then?
So it is only natural that Thomas -- who has been a cautious, skeptical, critical thinker throughout the gospel accounts -- will be skeptical about this one. He takes seriously the Roman admonition cogito tute: "think for yourself."
So skeptical is he that he won't even believe his own eyes. He wants not only to see Jesus, to observe the holes in his hands -- he wants to put his fingers in them as well. He wants this claim to be verified by at least two of his senses. And it is.
A week later, Jesus appears and he gives Thomas the opportunity to verify the claim of his resurrection. And upon receiving verification, Thomas accepts and believes.
The skeptic is always convincible.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
Jesus' last words in the story are spoken as much to us as to Thomas. Here John calls upon us, the later generations of Christians, to base our faith in something other than physical confirmation. Unlike Thomas, we cannot see Jesus with our eyes. We cannot feel him with our hands.
Or can we?
The sermon would do well to first acknowledge the skepticism that all Christians bring to their faith journey. We all experience doubts and questions. We all wish, at times, that God's presence was just a little more visceral, a little more concrete, a little easier to verify.
We want to be sure. We want to know completely and perfectly. We get tired of looking through a glass darkly. We want to see and be seen face-to-face.
Skepticism is only natural, and in many cases it is a healthy part of faith development. But for skepticism to be healthy, it must be married to discernment. The skeptic must leave room for verification. The true skeptic, the honest skeptic, is always convincible.
While the world has taught us to be skeptics, God has given us the gift of discernment. A discerning Christian can still see and feel the resurrected Lord -- on Easter, yes, but every other day as well. We see him in acts of kindness and love. We feel him when we are forgiven for our bad choices and our careless words by those who love us when they have no earthly reason to. We see him in the selfless sacrifices of others who go where people are hurting and in need and give of themselves with no thought of reward. We see him in the fellowship, the worship, the ministry, and the mission of his resurrected body, the church.
And when we see him, we are, once again, convinced.
ANOTHER VIEW
Discernment: A Community Process
by George Reed
Skepticism and faith. My colleague Dean Feldmeyer does a good job of helping us understand that discernment is the key to balancing these two polarities. But what happens when that breaks down? For most of us skepticism and faith is a fluid balance, with the tipping point moving back and forth depending on the subject and the source of our information. We understand the need for a healthy skepticism that protects us from the unscrupulous of the world, and we understand the need for faith in others if we are to have a community that functions properly.
It is an interesting phenomenon that often we find folks with an elevated sense of skepticism and an elevated sense of faith. When skepticism rises to the point of being unhealthy and begins to erode faith in others, the feeling of community that is destroyed seems to cause a need for another community to which we can belong.
The Hutaree group in Michigan seems to be a case in point. Here was a group of folks whose skepticism about the way the federal government operated led them to group together for reflection and prayer, according to the ex-wife of one of the arrested members. But as their skepticism grew and they felt more and more isolated from the mainstream national culture, their faith in one another grew to the point where they were ready to serve as the "savior group" for the nation and start a war against the establishment by murdering law enforcement officers.
So what is the preacher supposed to do with this? We certainly can't take responsibility to fix every lunatic fringe group that crops up, and most of us probably don't have numerous groups in our congregations preparing to go to war. Most of us have folks whose sense of community is damaged. There is a sense of isolation that many of us and many of our people feel. When we are blocked off from one another, our sense of fear begins to heighten and we are more vulnerable to those who want to "take us in."
It is in the church where we are members of one another that we can most clearly model community and discernment. It is here, under the guidance of our Risen Lord and Savior, that we can assist people in understanding the community that is formed not by our total agreement on issues but rather on our common faith that in Jesus Christ the love of God has become a reality for us and for all creation. It is the place where we can begin to reach out to a world that is broken and hurting by offering a community where folks can be safe. The church is the community that gathers to confess their sins each week -- not because we feel the need to beg God to forgive us, but because our honesty with ourselves and with each other about who we are is a cleansing, healing event.
What we do in building community and discernment may seem very small when we look at all the dysfunction and violence in the world. But we are the leaven in the lump that brings life to all through Jesus Christ.
ILLUSTRATIONS
So who do you believe? Does your perception favor that of climatologists, who conclude that the earth is dangerously warming and that the primary culprits are human beings and our carbon emissions? Or do you favor meteorologists, who dismiss these claims since weather change is seasonal? Do you put more credence in climatologists because they have doctorate degrees and are affiliated with universities and research institutions? Or do you agree with your meteorologist, as his/her friendly personality is a part of your home each evening?
Are you a cynic or a skeptic? As a cynic you are distrusting of climatologists' predictions. As a skeptic you question the knowledge of your local weather person. A division between the two groups -- climatologists and meteorologists -- has arisen over the issue of global warming. (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/30/science/earth/30warming.html) The divide extends far beyond professional groups, for it now includes the general public as well. We read the climatologists' reports in newspapers and magazines, but we listen each day to the meteorologist. Confused? We should be!
Bob Henson, a science writer for the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, summarizes the controversy this way: "In a sense the question is who owns the atmosphere: the people who predict it every day or the people who predict if for the next 50 years?" Is serenity to be found in the familiarity of the meteorologists or the scientific principles of the climatologist -- or does the truth lie somewhere between the two? Realizing there is a danger in allowing the schism to continue, the National Environmental Education Foundation and Yale University are conducting forums to bring the two groups together with a common message.
There were cynics and skeptics abounding in the weeks following the Friday afternoon in which the sky turned black. Science could never prove an empty tomb, but those whom we trusted told us that it was so. So, like Thomas, is it enough to see -- or do we have to touch? Is the resurrection science or belief? Like our meteorologists, do we trust the witness of those who have seen -- or, like our climatologists, is the scientific proof to be found in the history that has been forever changed? Like Thomas, should we not be able to discover that truth lies somewhere in both?
* * *
On Monday morning, March 30, television had its standard programming fare for Muscovites. There was a cooking show, and of course police dramas. If one had the time, one could watch the popular spy movie, The Road. But what was notably absent from the government-controlled stations was information about the unfolding drama that occurred at 7:56 and 8:39 that morning. Two central Moscow subway stations, the Lubyanka and Park Kultury, were engulfed in flames from explosions set off by two suicide bombers. The preliminary count was that 39 people had been killed. (http://abcnews.go.com/International/moscow-metro-attacked-double-suicide-bombings-kill-dozens/story?id=10227743) The incident was briefly reported at 8:30 a.m., and again at noon. Otherwise, programming remained unchanged for what was to appear to city residents as just another tranquil day.
The next day, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov were shown touring the scene of the holocaust. But it was in reality a scene of normality, for in less than 24 hours the scarred porcelain tiles and marbles panels had been replaced, the plaster cleaned, and the massive puddles of blood scrubbed.
According to a spokesperson for Channel 1, the reason why it was unnecessary to televise anything about the tragedy was that "the majority of the people who are not journalists leave the house before 9:00 in the morning. After that, the majority of the people who watch TV are housewives." An editorial in the Moscow newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets offered a more substantial and believable reason for the lack of coverage, noting that, "For the federal channels and the federal authorities, theories and statements are far more important than people." (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/31/world/europe/31russia.html)
Could the government really keep such a secret from its people? The subway has over 10 million daily passengers who either saw the bombings or had their travel schedules interrupted. Rumors were rampart. Though the information was censored by the authorities from television, the gruesome scene could not escape the internet. The political leaders, as much as they desired to, could not hide the truth from a questioning public.
The truth will be known, and this is incremental with the size of the drama. Much like the subway bombing, Pilate wanted to keep the news of the empty tomb a secret. He even paid the soldiers to parrot the same lie of a stolen body. But the story was just too dramatic and too true to be covered up. The preaching of Peter and others was much louder than the government's silence. This Sunday after Easter, let us be sure our message of the Resurrection is heard above the platitudes of the cynics and the rationalizations of the atheists and the doubts of the agnostics.
* * *
The power of sharing a story by word of mouth can never be underestimated. Personal testimony as to the truth of an event can seldom be repudiated if the speaker is infused with enthusiasm. Preaching does transform individuals into believers if both the preacher and the message can be believed, for the spoken word possesses a power all of its own. Too bad actress Uma Thurman and film distributor Metrodome failed to understand this truth.
The 39-year-old actress's latest movie Motherhood had a dismal, if not outright embarrassing, opening in England on the weekend of March 27. The film grossed an unspeakable $130 for the grand showing over two days. The movie was screened in several theaters, with only 12 people attending the premiere, one of whom bought a sole ticket for Sunday.
Metrodome rationalized that the reason was poor marketing, as the movie could be seen not only in theaters but also on DVD, video, and pay-per-view during the same opening date. But Entertainment Weekly had a different take, suggesting that people were not interested in watching a red-headed, harried former fiction writer turned mom-blogger juggle career and raising two young children at the same time. (http://popwatch.ew.com/2010/03/29/uma-thurman-motherhood/) Lindsay Robertson had a different perspective: "To put it in industry analysis terms: word of mouth on this film could not have been good." (http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/movie-talk-uma-thurmans-double-whammy-weekend.html)
People do listen and respond, positively or negatively, to what they hear. Preachers and laity alike are the word of mouth of the Resurrection story. If people are going to want come and see the Resurrection story lived out in the church, then we best talk it up with honesty and excitement. Otherwise, our seating of 500 may only have a dozen spread spartanly across the sanctuary.
* * *
Those who believe they believe in God, but without passion in the heart, without anguish of mind, without uncertainty, without doubt, and even at times without despair, believe only in the idea of God, and not in God himself.
-- Miguel de Unamuno
* * *
The church at its best prepares a safe and secure space that belief may one day fill; we need not bring fully formed belief to the door as a ticket for admission.
-- Philip Yancey, Reaching for the Invisible God (Zondervan, 2000), p. 46
* * *
For a long time, even though I was attracted to church, I was convinced that I did not belong there, because my beliefs were not thoroughly solid, set in stone. When I first stumbled upon the Benedictine Abbey... I was surprised to find the monks so unconcerned with my weighty doubts and intellectual frustrations over Christianity. What interested them more was my desire to come to their worship.... I was a bit disappointed -- I had thought that my doubts were spectacular obstacles to my faith and was confused but intrigued when an old monk blithely stated that doubt is merely the seed of faith, a sign that faith is alive and ready to grow.... They seemed to believe that if I just kept coming back to worship, kept coming home, things would eventually fall into place.
-- Kathleen Norris, Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith (Riverhead Books, 1998), p. 63
* * *
A God you could understand would be less than yourself.
-- Flannery O'Connor
* * *
Before he was chaplain at Yale University, before he was pastor of the famous Riverside Church in New York, before he was a well-known activist in the field of peacemaking, William Sloane Coffin Jr. was a young man searching for faith. He described a crucial transition in his faith-journey in this way: "Slowly, I found myself changing from the seeker who looks hoping something's there, to the kind who knows something's there, if only he can find it." That is the key moment of transition on the journey to a mature faith.
* * *
Doubt can be seen as a step along the road to faith. We've been learning a lot of things in recent years about how faith develops, particularly in adults -- and the one finding all those studies point out is that faith-development does not stop with adolescence, but continues throughout our lives.
We used to think faith was fully developed, if not at the age of confirmation, then by age 18 or 21. According to that old-fashioned view, the faith most of us adults took on as teenagers is essentially the same faith we hold today. If any of us drifted away from that faith for a time, that experience was known as "backsliding." The only remedy in that case was to reverse the backward slide as quickly as possible -- or else risk the even more chilling (and permanent) alternative of having "lost our faith."
Christian-education theorist John Westerhoff has suggested that we look at adult faith-development as growing through several distinct stages:
The earliest stage of faith is simple, experienced faith: the faith young children hold, faith they have learned from their parents and even that they can be said to mimic (as they mimic most important learned behaviors in life). That little boy in the oft-repeated anecdote could pray the Lord's Prayer fully believing God's name is "Harold" because he learned the prayer by rote, from someone who couldn't clearly articulate the difference between the words "hallowed" and "Harold."
A subsequent stage of faith-development is called affiliative faith. This is common in later childhood and early adolescence. Faith, at this stage, is a matter not so much of believing as belonging. It's a matter of declaring, "This is the people to whom I belong, and this is what we believe."
After that, it's common for Christians to enter into a type of searching faith. We ought not to apologize for this common feature of late teens and young adulthood, but simply to acknowledge that it's the way things happen for many of us. Suddenly the old certainties seem not so certain anymore. The spiritual mentors who once stood so tall in our estimation prove to be standing on "feet of clay." There may be moments for those going through this transition when they question whether they believe anything at all.
It can be a trying time for parents, teachers, youth advisors -- anyone who's got a stake in a young person's spiritual development. It can be a time of fearing that the active youth-group member who's gone off to college or the military (or who's simply drifted away from the church) may never come back. In truth it can be a dangerous time, for young adulthood is the time of greatest vulnerability to cults: simple-minded groups offering all the easy answers in exchange for a rigid structure of obedience.
Yet that time of distancing oneself is often necessary for a true searching and testing and trying of one's faith. We ought never to advocate that kind of distancing from the church, or to consider it completely normal -- we'd all much rather that our young people asked their questions inside the church than out of it -- but we can acknowledge that it does happen this way for many.
The troubling aspect comes when a Christian never goes through this time of questioning -- when he or she becomes stuck in the affilitative faith stage, without ever having searched or questioned. Faith to such a person can end up being shallow, two-dimensional -- and utterly joyless. It can become the lifetime membership card they see themselves as having signed at confirmation: a membership decision that, once made, need never be considered again.
Finally, those who persist in their testing and questioning -- particularly those who find a way to do it within the church rather than outside of it -- end up with what Westerhoff calls an owned faith. After exploring the question "Is this truly what I believe?" the joyful and hopeful answer comes: "Yes it is. This faith is mine."
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: Praise God! Praise God in the sanctuary!
People: Praise God for mighty deeds!
Leader: Praise God with trumpet sound!
People: Praise God with lute and harp!
Leader: Let everything that breathes praise God!
People: Praise God for ever and ever.
OR
Leader: Come and worship God with body, mind, and spirit.
People: I come to worship, but I have questions about God.
Leader: God welcomes you and your questions.
People: Isn't faith opposed to questions?
Leader: It actually takes faith to ask God questions.
People: Then I will come and offer myself and my questions.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
"When Our Confidence Is Shaken"
found in:
UMH: 505
CH: 534
"Faith, While Trees Are Still in Blossom"
found in:
UMH: 508
CH: 535
"Thy Word Is a Lamp"
found in:
UMH: 601
CH: 326
"Open My Eyes, That I May See"
found in:
UMH: 454
PH: 324
NNBH: 218
CH: 586
"Be Thou My Vision"
found in:
UMH: 451
H82: 488
PH: 339
NCH: 451
CH: 595
"Unity"
found in:
CCB: 59
"Open Our Eyes, Lord"
found in:
CCB: 77
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who created us with reason and intellect: Grant that we may use the gifts you have presented to us not to destroy faith and community but to strengthen it; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We come to worship and adore our Creator and Redeemer. You have made us in your image and imparted to us a wisdom that reflects, in a small measure, your own. As we praise you and listen for your voice, so fill us with your Spirit that we may properly discern how you desire to be at work in, among, and through us. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, and especially our quickness to move to doubt or faith without the hard work of discernment.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We want things to be clear and simple. We want quick answers that comfort us and don't ask too much of us. We are glad to have someone tell us what to think as long as we already think that way. We don't want to be challenged, and we don't want to have to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Forgive us and renew your Spirit within us that we may truly seek you and your truth. Amen.
Leader: God knows us, and knows that seeking what is true and right is hard work. God grants us the Spirit so that we are able to take on the task of discernment. God invites you to drink once again from the waters of life and to be renewed in the power of the Spirit for the work ahead of you.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord's Prayer)
We worship and praise your Name, O God, for the glory of your creative power. Your wisdom and knowledge are beyond our understanding, and yet you have granted us to share in the power of thought and reason.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We want things to be clear and simple. We want quick answers that comfort us and don't ask too much of us. We are glad to have someone tell us what to think as long as we already think that way. We don't want to be challenged, and we don't want to have to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Forgive us and renew your Spirit within us, that we may truly seek you and your truth.
We give you thanks for the glories of nature and for the ways in which you have made us so that we can comprehend and appreciate those glories. We thank you for the ability to reason and to think, and most of all for the ability to be open to your presence in creation and in our lives.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We offer into your love those who are in need of healing in mind, body, or spirit. We pray for those who are struggling with their faith and dealing with questions about what they really believe. We pray that we may be a community of compassion, openness, and safety for those who are in the midst of their search for truth.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father... Amen.
(or if the Lord's Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Visuals
Cut out different sizes and colors of questions marks and place them randomly on a sheet of poster board.
Children's Sermon Starter
Ask the children a series of questions such as: "Do you and a giraffe have the same number of neck bones?" "Which weighs more, a pound of feathers or a pound of rocks?" Talk about how we decide the answer. Sometimes we rely on what we know. Sometimes we trust someone else because we think they probably know the answer. In the church we have our Bibles, our pastor and teachers, the Holy Spirit, and the entire church to help us find out what is right and true.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
I Doubt It!
John 20:19-31
Object: a poster with a large question mark on it
Good morning, boys and girls! What does this sign mean? (let them answer) It is a question mark. When you see it that means someone is asking a question. Sometimes it means that someone doesn't believe what you are saying. That means the person is doubting you. It's a very common thing to have doubts about something. If one of you told me that you don't like to play with toys, I'd say, "I'm not so sure about that. I doubt it. I'll bet you really like to play with toys." If one of you told me that you didn't like candy, I would say, "I'm not so sure about that. I doubt it. I'll bet you really like candy."
There was a man who was one of Jesus' disciples. His name was Thomas. We sometimes call him Doubting Thomas. Does anyone know why? (let them answer) When Jesus rose from the dead on Easter, Thomas wasn't there to see Jesus. When the disciples told Thomas that Jesus was alive, what do you think Thomas said? (let them answer) He said, "I don't believe it." 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."
Our lesson says that after Thomas doubted, Jesus appeared to Thomas. When Jesus appeared, Thomas had his doubts answered. Thomas believed when he saw Jesus. Like Thomas, it's okay to have questions. You have questions and doubts about many things. Thomas asked questions and he found the answers to his questions. We can't all be like Thomas, however. Jesus won't appear to us in person. We have something else to help answer our questions or doubts about God, however. We have our Christian faith. It is because of our faith, which is our trust in God, that many of our doubts are answered. Everyone has doubts from time to time. One thing is certain: even though we have doubts -- like Thomas did -- we can always trust God.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, April 11, 2010, issue.
Copyright 2010 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
Cogito Tute
by Dean Feldmeyer
John 20:19-31
The phrase cogito tute is Latin, and it means "think for yourself."
The ancients believed that a little skepticism was a good thing, a healthy thing. After all, those who believe everything will fall for anything, right?
And even in religion -- or especially in religion -- healthy skepticism is often in order.
Religious faith is not the enemy of reason. It is often the enemy of blind belief and uncritical acceptance, however. A healthy, appropriate theology can stand the scrutiny of those who think for themselves.
THE WORLD
Bernie Madoff seemed so harmless with his round face and his bashful grin. He was so believable -- everyone said so... and his own lifestyle was a testament to his success, his skills, and his knowledge of the investment market. Didn't he own several million-dollar homes and a yacht and, well, just look at the cars he drove and the suits he wore. He said he could make you rich too. Just give him your money and let him invest it like he invested his own. He would take a small, reasonable commission on the money he made for you, but the rest would be yours to luxuriate in.
Thousands of people believed Bernie and everything that everyone said about him until that day when the whole house of cards came tumbling down and we learned the meaning of the phrase "Ponzi scheme." Bernie Madoff had managed to put together the largest, most successful Ponzi scheme in history. He had cheated, lied to, and stolen from thousands of people including his closest friends, his employees, and even his own children. And it wasn't just the rich and powerful who lost money. Regular folks, working families, lost their entire life savings.
Once again the financial advisers (the honest ones) came on television and told us what we already knew: "If it seems too good to be true, it is." A little skepticism would have saved a lot of people a lot of money.
I'm sitting at my desk checking through my email, and here is a message from an old high school buddy of mine. He's on vacation in Europe -- France or Italy or Turkey or somewhere -- and he has been robbed. His money and passport were stolen, and he's contacting everyone he knows asking for help. Can I wire him a few bucks? The American consulate says they can replace his passport for $100. Or maybe he hasn't been robbed. Maybe he's been arrested and he's in a Turkish jail. Can you help bail him out? He needs $1,239 immediately. Wire it to this address.
Be skeptical. Be very skeptical.
Here's another email. It says that a child is sick with some exotic disease. All you are asked to do is send an email message to some big corporation and get ten other people to do so, and that corporation will give money to the sick child. Just forward this message to your ten best friends. Be skeptical. You are about to harass a big corporation with unwanted emails and place your friends on a mailing list from which they will never be able to remove themselves. The world, and especially the internet, has taught us the value of healthy skepticism.
Mining officials in China told their workers that the mine was perfectly safe. This past week, with dozens of workers trapped in a cave-in, we learn that they have known for months that the mine was dangerous. We do not know if that was also the case at the West Virginia mine where at least 25 miners were killed yesterday -- but the safety record of mines with similar explosions in the past has been spotty enough that it's understandable that our suspicion is raised.
Restaurants have led us to believe that their food was perfectly healthy and now, when they are told that they have to tell us the calorie count in their servings so we can make informed decisions, they balk.
When did that pound can of coffee become 12 ounces? And have you actually measured your 8.5 x 11 inch paper lately?
So if life has taught us to be skeptical about nearly everything else, it just makes sense that we should be a little bit skeptical about religious claims as well.
Televangelists who live in mansions and want to send you prayer cloths and bottles of Jordan River water "for a donation" should be viewed with at least a little skepticism. Some people have the gift of spiritual healing, and some are simply con artists putting on a good show. A little healthy skepticism helps us tell the difference.
How many members of the Branch Davidians, the People's Temple, and Heaven's Gate would be alive today if they had developed the ability of critical thinking and healthy skepticism, if they had learned to think for themselves?
Scientist Michael Shermer, in his fascinating book Why People Believe Weird Things, reminds us that "Skepticism is a method, not a position." The "skeptic is one who questions the validity of a particular claim by calling for evidence to prove or disprove it."
Skeptics are not cynics who hold that nothing should be believed. They are convincible if the evidence is convincing.
People of faith do not reject or rebuke the questions of the skeptic. We understand them because they were once our own. We welcome them.
THE WORD
Thomas wasn't there. He couldn't make it to the meeting... he had a previous commitment... didn't get the memo... something.
He missed it. He missed seeing Jesus appear in a locked room. He missed hearing the voice of one who was dead but is now alive. He didn't see the scars, the holes in Jesus' hands, and the wounds in his sides.
He didn't experience the cool, refreshing, life-giving breeze that was the Holy Spirit, breathed upon them by the Savior. He did not feel empowered by those words, "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."
He missed it.
So when they told him about what they had seen, Thomas was skeptical. They were his friends and he loved them. He knew that they believed they had seen Jesus. They had probably convinced themselves that they had seen him. It's called "group think." It happens all the time.
Walk through a crowded room and sniff. Ask people if they smell gas. "Do you smell gas? I smell gas. I'm telling you there's a gas leak in here somewhere." Guaranteed, some of those people are going to smell gas. They will be convinced that they smelled gas. They will believe that they smelled gas, and those who believe they did will congregate together and reinforce each others' beliefs. Only they didn't really smell gas because there wasn't any gas to smell.
Feed a hundred people the same meal and tell them that some people have gotten sick from food poisoning. Guaranteed, some of those people will be sick before the night is over. And even though there never was anyone sick in the first place, not really, those who convinced themselves that they were will not be talked out of their conviction. They were, they will argue, really sick -- really.
The first century CE was a time rife with ignorance and superstition. If these kinds of things happen now, how much more likely is it that they happened then?
So it is only natural that Thomas -- who has been a cautious, skeptical, critical thinker throughout the gospel accounts -- will be skeptical about this one. He takes seriously the Roman admonition cogito tute: "think for yourself."
So skeptical is he that he won't even believe his own eyes. He wants not only to see Jesus, to observe the holes in his hands -- he wants to put his fingers in them as well. He wants this claim to be verified by at least two of his senses. And it is.
A week later, Jesus appears and he gives Thomas the opportunity to verify the claim of his resurrection. And upon receiving verification, Thomas accepts and believes.
The skeptic is always convincible.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
Jesus' last words in the story are spoken as much to us as to Thomas. Here John calls upon us, the later generations of Christians, to base our faith in something other than physical confirmation. Unlike Thomas, we cannot see Jesus with our eyes. We cannot feel him with our hands.
Or can we?
The sermon would do well to first acknowledge the skepticism that all Christians bring to their faith journey. We all experience doubts and questions. We all wish, at times, that God's presence was just a little more visceral, a little more concrete, a little easier to verify.
We want to be sure. We want to know completely and perfectly. We get tired of looking through a glass darkly. We want to see and be seen face-to-face.
Skepticism is only natural, and in many cases it is a healthy part of faith development. But for skepticism to be healthy, it must be married to discernment. The skeptic must leave room for verification. The true skeptic, the honest skeptic, is always convincible.
While the world has taught us to be skeptics, God has given us the gift of discernment. A discerning Christian can still see and feel the resurrected Lord -- on Easter, yes, but every other day as well. We see him in acts of kindness and love. We feel him when we are forgiven for our bad choices and our careless words by those who love us when they have no earthly reason to. We see him in the selfless sacrifices of others who go where people are hurting and in need and give of themselves with no thought of reward. We see him in the fellowship, the worship, the ministry, and the mission of his resurrected body, the church.
And when we see him, we are, once again, convinced.
ANOTHER VIEW
Discernment: A Community Process
by George Reed
Skepticism and faith. My colleague Dean Feldmeyer does a good job of helping us understand that discernment is the key to balancing these two polarities. But what happens when that breaks down? For most of us skepticism and faith is a fluid balance, with the tipping point moving back and forth depending on the subject and the source of our information. We understand the need for a healthy skepticism that protects us from the unscrupulous of the world, and we understand the need for faith in others if we are to have a community that functions properly.
It is an interesting phenomenon that often we find folks with an elevated sense of skepticism and an elevated sense of faith. When skepticism rises to the point of being unhealthy and begins to erode faith in others, the feeling of community that is destroyed seems to cause a need for another community to which we can belong.
The Hutaree group in Michigan seems to be a case in point. Here was a group of folks whose skepticism about the way the federal government operated led them to group together for reflection and prayer, according to the ex-wife of one of the arrested members. But as their skepticism grew and they felt more and more isolated from the mainstream national culture, their faith in one another grew to the point where they were ready to serve as the "savior group" for the nation and start a war against the establishment by murdering law enforcement officers.
So what is the preacher supposed to do with this? We certainly can't take responsibility to fix every lunatic fringe group that crops up, and most of us probably don't have numerous groups in our congregations preparing to go to war. Most of us have folks whose sense of community is damaged. There is a sense of isolation that many of us and many of our people feel. When we are blocked off from one another, our sense of fear begins to heighten and we are more vulnerable to those who want to "take us in."
It is in the church where we are members of one another that we can most clearly model community and discernment. It is here, under the guidance of our Risen Lord and Savior, that we can assist people in understanding the community that is formed not by our total agreement on issues but rather on our common faith that in Jesus Christ the love of God has become a reality for us and for all creation. It is the place where we can begin to reach out to a world that is broken and hurting by offering a community where folks can be safe. The church is the community that gathers to confess their sins each week -- not because we feel the need to beg God to forgive us, but because our honesty with ourselves and with each other about who we are is a cleansing, healing event.
What we do in building community and discernment may seem very small when we look at all the dysfunction and violence in the world. But we are the leaven in the lump that brings life to all through Jesus Christ.
ILLUSTRATIONS
So who do you believe? Does your perception favor that of climatologists, who conclude that the earth is dangerously warming and that the primary culprits are human beings and our carbon emissions? Or do you favor meteorologists, who dismiss these claims since weather change is seasonal? Do you put more credence in climatologists because they have doctorate degrees and are affiliated with universities and research institutions? Or do you agree with your meteorologist, as his/her friendly personality is a part of your home each evening?
Are you a cynic or a skeptic? As a cynic you are distrusting of climatologists' predictions. As a skeptic you question the knowledge of your local weather person. A division between the two groups -- climatologists and meteorologists -- has arisen over the issue of global warming. (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/30/science/earth/30warming.html) The divide extends far beyond professional groups, for it now includes the general public as well. We read the climatologists' reports in newspapers and magazines, but we listen each day to the meteorologist. Confused? We should be!
Bob Henson, a science writer for the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, summarizes the controversy this way: "In a sense the question is who owns the atmosphere: the people who predict it every day or the people who predict if for the next 50 years?" Is serenity to be found in the familiarity of the meteorologists or the scientific principles of the climatologist -- or does the truth lie somewhere between the two? Realizing there is a danger in allowing the schism to continue, the National Environmental Education Foundation and Yale University are conducting forums to bring the two groups together with a common message.
There were cynics and skeptics abounding in the weeks following the Friday afternoon in which the sky turned black. Science could never prove an empty tomb, but those whom we trusted told us that it was so. So, like Thomas, is it enough to see -- or do we have to touch? Is the resurrection science or belief? Like our meteorologists, do we trust the witness of those who have seen -- or, like our climatologists, is the scientific proof to be found in the history that has been forever changed? Like Thomas, should we not be able to discover that truth lies somewhere in both?
* * *
On Monday morning, March 30, television had its standard programming fare for Muscovites. There was a cooking show, and of course police dramas. If one had the time, one could watch the popular spy movie, The Road. But what was notably absent from the government-controlled stations was information about the unfolding drama that occurred at 7:56 and 8:39 that morning. Two central Moscow subway stations, the Lubyanka and Park Kultury, were engulfed in flames from explosions set off by two suicide bombers. The preliminary count was that 39 people had been killed. (http://abcnews.go.com/International/moscow-metro-attacked-double-suicide-bombings-kill-dozens/story?id=10227743) The incident was briefly reported at 8:30 a.m., and again at noon. Otherwise, programming remained unchanged for what was to appear to city residents as just another tranquil day.
The next day, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov were shown touring the scene of the holocaust. But it was in reality a scene of normality, for in less than 24 hours the scarred porcelain tiles and marbles panels had been replaced, the plaster cleaned, and the massive puddles of blood scrubbed.
According to a spokesperson for Channel 1, the reason why it was unnecessary to televise anything about the tragedy was that "the majority of the people who are not journalists leave the house before 9:00 in the morning. After that, the majority of the people who watch TV are housewives." An editorial in the Moscow newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets offered a more substantial and believable reason for the lack of coverage, noting that, "For the federal channels and the federal authorities, theories and statements are far more important than people." (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/31/world/europe/31russia.html)
Could the government really keep such a secret from its people? The subway has over 10 million daily passengers who either saw the bombings or had their travel schedules interrupted. Rumors were rampart. Though the information was censored by the authorities from television, the gruesome scene could not escape the internet. The political leaders, as much as they desired to, could not hide the truth from a questioning public.
The truth will be known, and this is incremental with the size of the drama. Much like the subway bombing, Pilate wanted to keep the news of the empty tomb a secret. He even paid the soldiers to parrot the same lie of a stolen body. But the story was just too dramatic and too true to be covered up. The preaching of Peter and others was much louder than the government's silence. This Sunday after Easter, let us be sure our message of the Resurrection is heard above the platitudes of the cynics and the rationalizations of the atheists and the doubts of the agnostics.
* * *
The power of sharing a story by word of mouth can never be underestimated. Personal testimony as to the truth of an event can seldom be repudiated if the speaker is infused with enthusiasm. Preaching does transform individuals into believers if both the preacher and the message can be believed, for the spoken word possesses a power all of its own. Too bad actress Uma Thurman and film distributor Metrodome failed to understand this truth.
The 39-year-old actress's latest movie Motherhood had a dismal, if not outright embarrassing, opening in England on the weekend of March 27. The film grossed an unspeakable $130 for the grand showing over two days. The movie was screened in several theaters, with only 12 people attending the premiere, one of whom bought a sole ticket for Sunday.
Metrodome rationalized that the reason was poor marketing, as the movie could be seen not only in theaters but also on DVD, video, and pay-per-view during the same opening date. But Entertainment Weekly had a different take, suggesting that people were not interested in watching a red-headed, harried former fiction writer turned mom-blogger juggle career and raising two young children at the same time. (http://popwatch.ew.com/2010/03/29/uma-thurman-motherhood/) Lindsay Robertson had a different perspective: "To put it in industry analysis terms: word of mouth on this film could not have been good." (http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/movie-talk-uma-thurmans-double-whammy-weekend.html)
People do listen and respond, positively or negatively, to what they hear. Preachers and laity alike are the word of mouth of the Resurrection story. If people are going to want come and see the Resurrection story lived out in the church, then we best talk it up with honesty and excitement. Otherwise, our seating of 500 may only have a dozen spread spartanly across the sanctuary.
* * *
Those who believe they believe in God, but without passion in the heart, without anguish of mind, without uncertainty, without doubt, and even at times without despair, believe only in the idea of God, and not in God himself.
-- Miguel de Unamuno
* * *
The church at its best prepares a safe and secure space that belief may one day fill; we need not bring fully formed belief to the door as a ticket for admission.
-- Philip Yancey, Reaching for the Invisible God (Zondervan, 2000), p. 46
* * *
For a long time, even though I was attracted to church, I was convinced that I did not belong there, because my beliefs were not thoroughly solid, set in stone. When I first stumbled upon the Benedictine Abbey... I was surprised to find the monks so unconcerned with my weighty doubts and intellectual frustrations over Christianity. What interested them more was my desire to come to their worship.... I was a bit disappointed -- I had thought that my doubts were spectacular obstacles to my faith and was confused but intrigued when an old monk blithely stated that doubt is merely the seed of faith, a sign that faith is alive and ready to grow.... They seemed to believe that if I just kept coming back to worship, kept coming home, things would eventually fall into place.
-- Kathleen Norris, Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith (Riverhead Books, 1998), p. 63
* * *
A God you could understand would be less than yourself.
-- Flannery O'Connor
* * *
Before he was chaplain at Yale University, before he was pastor of the famous Riverside Church in New York, before he was a well-known activist in the field of peacemaking, William Sloane Coffin Jr. was a young man searching for faith. He described a crucial transition in his faith-journey in this way: "Slowly, I found myself changing from the seeker who looks hoping something's there, to the kind who knows something's there, if only he can find it." That is the key moment of transition on the journey to a mature faith.
* * *
Doubt can be seen as a step along the road to faith. We've been learning a lot of things in recent years about how faith develops, particularly in adults -- and the one finding all those studies point out is that faith-development does not stop with adolescence, but continues throughout our lives.
We used to think faith was fully developed, if not at the age of confirmation, then by age 18 or 21. According to that old-fashioned view, the faith most of us adults took on as teenagers is essentially the same faith we hold today. If any of us drifted away from that faith for a time, that experience was known as "backsliding." The only remedy in that case was to reverse the backward slide as quickly as possible -- or else risk the even more chilling (and permanent) alternative of having "lost our faith."
Christian-education theorist John Westerhoff has suggested that we look at adult faith-development as growing through several distinct stages:
The earliest stage of faith is simple, experienced faith: the faith young children hold, faith they have learned from their parents and even that they can be said to mimic (as they mimic most important learned behaviors in life). That little boy in the oft-repeated anecdote could pray the Lord's Prayer fully believing God's name is "Harold" because he learned the prayer by rote, from someone who couldn't clearly articulate the difference between the words "hallowed" and "Harold."
A subsequent stage of faith-development is called affiliative faith. This is common in later childhood and early adolescence. Faith, at this stage, is a matter not so much of believing as belonging. It's a matter of declaring, "This is the people to whom I belong, and this is what we believe."
After that, it's common for Christians to enter into a type of searching faith. We ought not to apologize for this common feature of late teens and young adulthood, but simply to acknowledge that it's the way things happen for many of us. Suddenly the old certainties seem not so certain anymore. The spiritual mentors who once stood so tall in our estimation prove to be standing on "feet of clay." There may be moments for those going through this transition when they question whether they believe anything at all.
It can be a trying time for parents, teachers, youth advisors -- anyone who's got a stake in a young person's spiritual development. It can be a time of fearing that the active youth-group member who's gone off to college or the military (or who's simply drifted away from the church) may never come back. In truth it can be a dangerous time, for young adulthood is the time of greatest vulnerability to cults: simple-minded groups offering all the easy answers in exchange for a rigid structure of obedience.
Yet that time of distancing oneself is often necessary for a true searching and testing and trying of one's faith. We ought never to advocate that kind of distancing from the church, or to consider it completely normal -- we'd all much rather that our young people asked their questions inside the church than out of it -- but we can acknowledge that it does happen this way for many.
The troubling aspect comes when a Christian never goes through this time of questioning -- when he or she becomes stuck in the affilitative faith stage, without ever having searched or questioned. Faith to such a person can end up being shallow, two-dimensional -- and utterly joyless. It can become the lifetime membership card they see themselves as having signed at confirmation: a membership decision that, once made, need never be considered again.
Finally, those who persist in their testing and questioning -- particularly those who find a way to do it within the church rather than outside of it -- end up with what Westerhoff calls an owned faith. After exploring the question "Is this truly what I believe?" the joyful and hopeful answer comes: "Yes it is. This faith is mine."
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: Praise God! Praise God in the sanctuary!
People: Praise God for mighty deeds!
Leader: Praise God with trumpet sound!
People: Praise God with lute and harp!
Leader: Let everything that breathes praise God!
People: Praise God for ever and ever.
OR
Leader: Come and worship God with body, mind, and spirit.
People: I come to worship, but I have questions about God.
Leader: God welcomes you and your questions.
People: Isn't faith opposed to questions?
Leader: It actually takes faith to ask God questions.
People: Then I will come and offer myself and my questions.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
"When Our Confidence Is Shaken"
found in:
UMH: 505
CH: 534
"Faith, While Trees Are Still in Blossom"
found in:
UMH: 508
CH: 535
"Thy Word Is a Lamp"
found in:
UMH: 601
CH: 326
"Open My Eyes, That I May See"
found in:
UMH: 454
PH: 324
NNBH: 218
CH: 586
"Be Thou My Vision"
found in:
UMH: 451
H82: 488
PH: 339
NCH: 451
CH: 595
"Unity"
found in:
CCB: 59
"Open Our Eyes, Lord"
found in:
CCB: 77
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who created us with reason and intellect: Grant that we may use the gifts you have presented to us not to destroy faith and community but to strengthen it; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We come to worship and adore our Creator and Redeemer. You have made us in your image and imparted to us a wisdom that reflects, in a small measure, your own. As we praise you and listen for your voice, so fill us with your Spirit that we may properly discern how you desire to be at work in, among, and through us. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, and especially our quickness to move to doubt or faith without the hard work of discernment.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We want things to be clear and simple. We want quick answers that comfort us and don't ask too much of us. We are glad to have someone tell us what to think as long as we already think that way. We don't want to be challenged, and we don't want to have to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Forgive us and renew your Spirit within us that we may truly seek you and your truth. Amen.
Leader: God knows us, and knows that seeking what is true and right is hard work. God grants us the Spirit so that we are able to take on the task of discernment. God invites you to drink once again from the waters of life and to be renewed in the power of the Spirit for the work ahead of you.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord's Prayer)
We worship and praise your Name, O God, for the glory of your creative power. Your wisdom and knowledge are beyond our understanding, and yet you have granted us to share in the power of thought and reason.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We want things to be clear and simple. We want quick answers that comfort us and don't ask too much of us. We are glad to have someone tell us what to think as long as we already think that way. We don't want to be challenged, and we don't want to have to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Forgive us and renew your Spirit within us, that we may truly seek you and your truth.
We give you thanks for the glories of nature and for the ways in which you have made us so that we can comprehend and appreciate those glories. We thank you for the ability to reason and to think, and most of all for the ability to be open to your presence in creation and in our lives.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We offer into your love those who are in need of healing in mind, body, or spirit. We pray for those who are struggling with their faith and dealing with questions about what they really believe. We pray that we may be a community of compassion, openness, and safety for those who are in the midst of their search for truth.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father... Amen.
(or if the Lord's Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Visuals
Cut out different sizes and colors of questions marks and place them randomly on a sheet of poster board.
Children's Sermon Starter
Ask the children a series of questions such as: "Do you and a giraffe have the same number of neck bones?" "Which weighs more, a pound of feathers or a pound of rocks?" Talk about how we decide the answer. Sometimes we rely on what we know. Sometimes we trust someone else because we think they probably know the answer. In the church we have our Bibles, our pastor and teachers, the Holy Spirit, and the entire church to help us find out what is right and true.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
I Doubt It!
John 20:19-31
Object: a poster with a large question mark on it
Good morning, boys and girls! What does this sign mean? (let them answer) It is a question mark. When you see it that means someone is asking a question. Sometimes it means that someone doesn't believe what you are saying. That means the person is doubting you. It's a very common thing to have doubts about something. If one of you told me that you don't like to play with toys, I'd say, "I'm not so sure about that. I doubt it. I'll bet you really like to play with toys." If one of you told me that you didn't like candy, I would say, "I'm not so sure about that. I doubt it. I'll bet you really like candy."
There was a man who was one of Jesus' disciples. His name was Thomas. We sometimes call him Doubting Thomas. Does anyone know why? (let them answer) When Jesus rose from the dead on Easter, Thomas wasn't there to see Jesus. When the disciples told Thomas that Jesus was alive, what do you think Thomas said? (let them answer) He said, "I don't believe it." 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."
Our lesson says that after Thomas doubted, Jesus appeared to Thomas. When Jesus appeared, Thomas had his doubts answered. Thomas believed when he saw Jesus. Like Thomas, it's okay to have questions. You have questions and doubts about many things. Thomas asked questions and he found the answers to his questions. We can't all be like Thomas, however. Jesus won't appear to us in person. We have something else to help answer our questions or doubts about God, however. We have our Christian faith. It is because of our faith, which is our trust in God, that many of our doubts are answered. Everyone has doubts from time to time. One thing is certain: even though we have doubts -- like Thomas did -- we can always trust God.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, April 11, 2010, issue.
Copyright 2010 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
