Second Sunday of Easter April 11, 2010 “Doubt Happens” Reverend Michael D. Powell John 20:24-29

Easter was a glorious day, and for that I’m thankful. They call the Sunday after Easter "Low Sunday," but it's not because attendance is usually low. It's called “low” because we’ve come down from the mountaintop, the high of that tremendous, death-defying confidence of Easter. The real world of routine and responsibility, of a wounded and warring world await us with open arms. Even though Christ is risen, the disasters just seem to keep coming. Young Islamic women are blowing themselves up, killing and being killed, embassies are attacked, earthquakes, storms and floods continue as always and miners from China to West Virginia are dying in tragic accidents. It can make you wonder, it can make even a strong person doubt at times. So much for New Life!

But Easter is a season, not just a day. It's called "The Great Fifty Days," and it goes from Easter Sunday until Pentecost Sunday. During the first "Great Fifty Days," the resurrected Christ continued to appear at surprising times, and in unexpected ways. That's what happened for Thomas, undoubtedly the most famous doubter of them all, in the scripture we read this morning, and it could no doubt happen for you! The challenge of these next 50 days is to be open to the surprising ways that Christ's presence is revealed to you. Just as the 40 days of Lent were an opportunity to focus your prayer life, so the 50 days of Easter are an opportunity to grow in faith, to open the eyes of your heart and look intently for signs of the risen Christ in your life, in this church, in the community and the world. In a word, Easter provides us with an opportunity, with a challenge, to grow into Christ, to become the Body of Christ we are created to be.

Easter was a glorious day for our local church. But I confess I was a little discombobulated. Both services were packed and I loved that. But I really don't know if half of you were here last week. There were strangers all over the place, and nobody was sitting where I'm used to seeing them. It was great, but I like seeing all the familiar faces and knowing where you are. It's easier for me to keep track of you and take attendance!

I'd like to say that Easter was a glorious day for the Church Universal, but we all know that it’s not just the Roman Catholic Church that is struggling with difficult issues. The Catholics are getting all the press right now, but a lot of churches are suffering from issues of truth-telling, issues of trust and abuse and issues of authority. As Christians we gather and pray for heaven on earth, but on any given day it looks suspiciously like all hell is breaking loose. Let’s be realistic, there are plenty of reasons to make any thinking person doubt, which brings us back to Thomas.

Here are four dramatically different interpretations of Thomas. The first is simple clip art, the second is entitled, The Incredulity of Saint Thomas, by the Italian Baroque master Caravaggio, c. 1601-1602. The third is by Hanna Varghese, a Malaysian artist who works in batik and, my personal favorite, a beautifully rendered contemporary painting of the hands of Thomas reaching out to touch the wounds of Christ, by Steven R. McEvoy:

Maybe it's just the company I hang out with, but I don't know anybody who doesn't kind of like Doubting Thomas. Everybody I've talked to seems to identify with him. They respect his honesty and the integrity of his doubt. He wanted a personal experience of Christ, and I respect that. Doubt is part of the human condition. Some people say doubt is bad because it brings fear and confusion, but others say doubt is good because it makes us stretch and grow. Frederich Buechner says that doubt is "the ants in the pants of faith. They keep it awake and moving." Good or bad? The reviews are mixed, but nobody doubts that doubt is. There ought to be a bumper sticker. "Doubt Happens!" In any case, the opposite of faith is not doubt, it's apathy!

And it’s important to know that Thomas isn't apathetic. He's struggling with his faith, and Christ appears to him, wounds and all. That is incredibly significant for our faith! Our Lord is a wounded healer. He's not some blissed out spiritual entity floating above it all. He's been here and done this!

You and I live in a wounded and warring world of flesh and bone, a world where love is continually being bloodied. If you are human, your faith is going to be battered, if not broken. If you're a part of the human family, subject to the human condition, you are going to suffer those dark times of doubt and despair. Easter doesn't mean we stay on the mountaintop. It doesn't mean the highs aren't followed by the lows. What Easter means, and what Thomas experienced, is that the Living Christ continues to come - right here and right now, in the dark and uncertain, doubting and barren times of your life, bearing the wounds of love that demonstrate his solidarity with you.

When Christ appeared to those early disciples he gave them a gift, the gift of his breath, the gift of his Holy Spirit. In verse 22 we read how he breathed new life into the disciples, empowering them with the gift of the Holy Spirit and saying, "even as God has sent me, so I send you." And you, every one of you here this morning, are among the company of those disciples. God is even now breathing the life of the Spirit in you, empowering you with a purpose. You are the only Body that Christ has on earth. There's not a one of us here this morning who doesn't bear the scars of love, but we're empowered by the Spirit of the resurrected Christ to be wounded healers, carrying on the work which he began, tearing down walls that exist between people and between people and God, building bridges of peace and reconciliation, living and bearing witness as best as we are able to the power of love.

I’ll close with this quote from Brian Stoffregen: "The purpose of this resurrection appearance is not so much to prove the resurrection as it is to send the disciples as Jesus had been sent. Easter is not just coming to a wonderful, inspiring worship service, it is being sent back into an often hostile world, empowered by the Holy Spirit, to bear witness to the identity of God as revealed in Jesus."