Can We Trust God?
Second Sunday of Easter - Dominion Chalmers United Church Ottawa
Acts 4:32-35
John 20:19-31
The Rev. Dr. George Hermanson
This
Sunday is called Low Sunday. There are fewer people and less energy.
This is because of all the energy that went into Holy Week and Easter
services. The numbers return to the faithful who are here week after
week or some variation of what is regular attendance.
We are like those who gathered in the upper room asking what is
next? They were there waiting for things to settle down. They were in
hiding and asking now what? Then they have an experience of Jesus and
he says “peace be with you.” Then he reminds them they are now going
to be sent out to live the way of compassion. They were sent back into
the world full of danger and joy. They were asked to return to the
world that had crucified Jesus. They had to leave a safe space.
Into
the story come Thomas. It seems he had missed the other experiences
his friends had. They have told him of their experience and he
responds “show me”. He wants what they had.
Thomas’ simple
statement; “Show me” echoes down the ages and compels us to examine the
basis of our faith, just as he examined his. We hear it in the phrase,
"show me the money." He has been criticized as the doubter, the one
whose faith was not sufficient to the task of believing in the
resurrection.
However, to call Thomas a doubter is to miss the point of the story.
I find in Thomas a person of modern sensibilities and one who can
serve as a model for our own questions of faith. It is more a question
of trust. What is it that we can trust? Without trust it is hard to
act. He wanted more than their words. He did not trust their witness.
We live in a world based on trust. Often we don’t think about that.
Living in community demands cooperation, and that means mutual trust.
This is essentially a religious question. For it is a question of moral
leadership.
Thomas is our connecting point. For we are like him. We stand with
Thomas. We are the community of John's time, a minority in our hostile
culture. We are the church that is reforming and struggling with how it
will be the church."Show me the money," is the expression when we
express skepticism about the truth of someone's statement. Where we
really do not have trust in the witness. Before we commit ourselves to
something, we want to know whether it will work thus worth the energy or
commitment.
William James writes about first hand and second hand
faith. While important, second hand faith does not give us the energy
for action. It is first hand faith that builds trust and energy for the
flourishing of life.
We share the same issues with Thomas. He wanted first hand faith.
Like him, we don't want second hand faith. It is not good enough for the
flourishing of life. Nor did he want blind faith, for that is too
easily misused. Blind faith does not encourage us to probe the surface
reality we experience. Blind faith allows to cruise through life without
really living its joy and danger. Blind faith appeals to our prejudices
or ideology or the way things are without questioning.
Thomas wanted the experience of deeper vision or sight. We see this
in the play on the words seeing, touch, thrust. He wanted to access the
inner workings of reality. Like Thomas we, too, want a real experience
of God. Like Thomas, we want to access that experience of God, the
experience we need to change our perception about what is real.
The three easy-to-miss words mark the fact that this story will not
end in a feeble spasm. Instead, the momentum Thomas will bring the
burgeoning Christian movement will be far-reaching. Think of the
tradition of Thomas founding churches in India.
"After eight days," the text notes, Christ appeared to Thomas.
References from the Old Testament encourage us to consider the divine
blessing and commissioning that occur on the eighth day. The eighth day
is the fulfillment of priestly ordination, the day for dedication of the
firstborn, a day to mark in circumcision the covenant relationship, a
day of gratitude and offering. Could it be that Thomas will be marked on
this eighth day and commissioned for service?
When Thomas has his
closed-door encounter with the raised Christ, unbelief isn't the issue.
Perception is. He applied critical faith.
Critical faith is based on trust in God. It is first hand faith. It
is to have faith that God is working toward beauty and the good, and
will not turn aside from this task. God is dependable. Critical faith
knows we can deepen our faith by asking critical questions of our
tradition and inherited belief statements. Critical faith knows that all
life is lived in faith. We know this by the language we use. We speak
of optics or the lenses; templates; models; patterns; metaphors; and
myths. These images remind us truth is always seen through images and
thus must be tested.
We do that in living by practice, by living in new ways, thinking new
thoughts, imaging new reality. This is critical faith. We can test the
truth of God by the walk of faith. We can test the truth of our faith
by how we live.
If we truly believe that Jesus preached an inclusive kingdom where
God loved all of creation then that will concretely change the way we
live. The experience of Risen Lord brings a new, second creation to
those whose animating spirit has been blocked, thwarted, or
disillusioned. We are in wonder so we live with wonder.
God is here, in present reality and when we let that guide us, God
will become even more present in our living. God is related to all that
now is, touches all living in this moment. God is not only related to
all the past and present, God opens the future. Resurrection is the
statement that God is faithful to us and God has chosen us.
To begin here is to see a Mystery of love so deep and compelling that
we cannot escape it, even when we deny it. This mystery of Grace that
affirms us and trusts our free human will. God is faithful and has
chosen us. It is to know we are acceptable.
This is the ground of moral leadership, for we are called to be
witnesses to God's grace so that when others look at us they can take
courage. If we live that vision, we become a beacon to others. Now
what? is intentionally living the faith of an inclusive community