SCRIPTURES                                                        

• Acts 2:14a, 22-32 The first of several readings from the sermon of Peter at Pentecost. Here, he powerfully declares the resurrection of Jesus to a crowd amazed at the signs of the Spirit's presence and power.
   
• Psalm 16  .
   
• 1 Peter 1:3-9 We have been born anew and granted an imperishable inheritance by our baptism into the Risen Lord. We are called to live out that hope in all the places we encounter Christ at work around us.
   
• John 20:19-31 This story is not about Thomas, but about Christ and reminds us -- the body of Christ -- to go to similar lengths to show the signs of Christ's resurrection to those who doubt that they may believe.

SCRIPTURES (John scripture)

-Thomas" is the Hebrew word for "twin." He is also called "Didymus," which is the Greek word for "twin." Obviously Thomas had a twin brother or sister who is never named.

-This gathering is like a mini-Pentecost. The disciples cower in a locked room, and Jesus breathes on them, filling them with life and the power of the Holy Spirit. These verses may be likened to a commissioning. Some scholars refer to this passage as the Johannine Pentecost

-Jesus sends the disciples, just as he was sent

--Despite what we may hear from radio preachers, we don' t need always to be sure about everything. God does not require us to be doubt-free. God is calling us to be people who will stop to listen, to question, to learn, to grow.  Ken Kesselus

-Another Beatitude:  Happy are they who have not seen but still believe.  John Pilch  

-Can you prove someone's love for you or yours for them?  We try, but in the end, we just must trust.  Beth Quick

-We are called, not only to believe with certainty, but also doubt with integrity.

-   Garrison Keillor said, "We always have a backstage view of ourselves." We let the audience see only the neatly arranged stage. But behind the curtain all kinds of things are lying around: old failures, hurts, guilt and shame.  Perhaps this was so with those disciples huddled together in the locked room that night.

-Belief and doubt is the yin-yang of many a Christian’s life

-Thomas is a patron saint for those of us who are trying to live a critical faith. He is not satisfied with other people's accounts: he wants to know by experience.

- Do we really want faith without doubt? Lindy

-Thomas had a change of heart more than a changed mind

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SERMON       Science vs. Religion      Lindy

-- Science depends on observation while religion depends on revelation. You "go get" scientific knowledge. Religious knowledge come to you. BBTaylor. 

- The truth is never found in words....it can only be experienced. 

--Faith is knowledge within the heart, beyond the reach of proof. Gibran

-  Faith is not about mastering the mystery but about being mastered by the mystery. G.  Mann

-- Nothing worth proving can be proven or dis-proven (Tennyson)

-We need to doubt until we are able to doubt our doubts (Fosdick)

-There lives more faith in honest doubt than in half the creeds. (Alfred Tennyson)

--I don't believe, I know!  Jung.

- "Lord I believe, help thou my unbelief." Mk.9:24

- Belief comes from other people, books, institutions, etc.  Faith come from God.  Religion is often second hand religion....come from some one else first. Lindy

-Truth from Greek word “aletha” which means ‘hidden’. 

-- Too often we have faith in our answers to mystery rather than faith in God.  Lindy

-Imagination  is more important than knowledge.  Einstein

-The more faithfully you listen to the voices within you, the better you will hear what is sounding outside. reverse Dag Hammarskjo

-Mysterium tremendum, Rudolf Ott

-Things we value most cannot be proved in a scientific lab. Honesty, courage, penitence, forgive, morality, love, faith, humility, grace, sacrifice, commitment mercy, loyalty, compassion, kindness

-If they don't deepen, faith and relationships both will die.  (I felt empty, someone said, "Go deeper.")

-Fundamentalists freeze doctrine

-One of the greatest casualties of our age has been that loss of the sense of mystery, reverence and awe. Gomes

-Science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind. Einstein

-If you're hankering for God, He's already found you for it is God who creates the hankering Gerald Mann.

-Where my roots reach the water

-Too often we close our  minds to safe guard faith.

-Faith is the bird that can feel the light and sings when the dawn is still dark. Rabindranath Tagore

-Science and religion are in full accord, but science and faith are in complete discord. Gibran

-When truth and belief come into conflict, it is better to change ones belief….B.B. Taylor

-Science and religion are both searches for truth and should be on the same side

-Too often the church seems more interested in protecting truth than in discovering it.

-Add to truth and you subtract from it.

-If truth wins, we win. If truth loses....ah, but truth never loses

-In Hebrew the truth is same as reality. God is the ultimate reality.

-There are two kinds of truth, outer and inner. Outer we master (distance from sun). Inner truth masters us. (God loves me) Sheen

-Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it. Andre Gide

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 QUOTES

-As growth can come through pain, so faith can come through doubt. Ken Kesselus

-Someone described Thomas doubt as a "seeking doubt, a doubt that wants not to continue but to come to believe.

-Faith is believing what you know aint so (M. Twain)

“I don’t like Thomas! He’s the patron saint of the unimaginative!” Gomes

-Doubt is not the opposite of faith but an element of faith.  (Tillich)

-"For some, faith is as gentle as a child on grandmother's lap, but for others it is continual wrestling with doubt."  Craddock

- Doubt, writes Frederick Beuchner, is the ants in the pants of faith. Doubt keeps faith awake and moving.

- Do we believe because we see or do we see because we believe? 

- Faith perceives truth faster than experience. Gibran

- Bumper sticker:, "Question skepticism."

- Doubts are more cruel than the worst of truths.  Molier

-A buoyant faith….keep your head  above water.   Peter Gomes   Gomes also has used the expression, buoyant doubt

-Belief is easy,  faith or trust in God is much more difficult.  Lindy

-Faith is to believe what we do not see and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe. St. Augustine

-Different levels of faith: faith weak, faith strong, faith shallow and faith deep; faith growing and faith faltering, ect.  Craddock

-Fear vs. Faith , Harry E. Fosdick

 

Fear imprison, faith Liberates;
Fear paralyzes, faith empowers;
Fear disheartens, faith encourages;
Fear sickens, faith heals;
Fear makes useless, faith makes serviceable;
Fear puts hopelessness at the heart of life, while faith rejoices in its God.

 

-We suffer, said Kierkegaard, from "shutupness." All around us is material for wonder and joy, but instead of being open to this wealth of potential delight, we go hurrying through life with our appreciative faculties largely inoperative.

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ILLUSTRATIONS  

 

1. Our gospel gives us a picture of a church which had no pipe organ, or even an old upright piano. No choir. No pastor, even. In fact, it’s a picture of church at its worst, the most miserable little conglomeration ever to take upon itself the name, “church.” It’s the disciples of Jesus, gathered after his resurrection. Here, says Tom Long, is the church at its worst — “scarred, disheartened, and defensive.” Willimon

2.The traditional sign of St. Thomas is a spear and a carpenter's square. This seems to be based on the probability that he made two journeys to the east. The first was to north India where he was the carpenter who built a palace for Godnophores (Greek name), and as a result King Gudnaphar (Sanskrit name) was baptized as a Christian. His next journey was by ship across to the south west coast of India. You can still visit the seven churches in Kerala which were founded by this great apostle. And you can also visit the place in Madras where he was speared to death by his enemies. Robert Brow

3. Use the story of the ugly duckling to show that what we believe is not always a discovery as much as it is an awakening of knowledge from within that has been kept hidden.  Thomas' knowledge about Jesus was a discovery but eventually his faith would have to be an awakening.

4.  Yin and Yang....every thing has its opposite.   faith has doubt,  light has dark, etc.  Doubt not necessarily bad. it's a necessary part of faith. 

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HUMOR

-You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you odd. Flannery O’connor.

- You need to believe in God in spite of what the clergy say.

- A pessimist is someone who can look at the land of milk and honey and see only calories and cholesterol.

- Faith is believing what you know ain't so. Mark Twain

--Doubting Thomas: sesame street has Oscar the Grouch; Snow white has Grumpy. Peanusts have Lucy

 

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CHILDREN    

 - Talk about Thomas and his doubt and then talk about what  great things God does through ordinary people:  Mention one or two. (David, Paul, Peter, Thomas,  Isaiah, Jesus, Mary Magdalene,  Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Theresa, etc, etc,)  Pick at least one like David or Peter who had weak parts to their personality but still God accomplished great things through them.  Finish by reminding the children that it was their faith in God that made the difference.  End up with telling some great things God did through Thomas (after Thomas found his faith) See illustration 2. Lindy   

-Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it." John 20:24-25 There is an interesting book called "Believe It or Not." It was written by Robert Ripley. Mr. Ripley enjoyed collecting strange and amazing bits of information that were unbelievable, but true. Let me share some examples from his book. According to Mr. Ripley, a boy went to the doctor because he had a pain in his foot. The doctor discovered that the boy had a tooth growing in the bottom of his foot. Can you believe that? I think I would have to see it to believe it!
You may be surprised to know that a man by the name of James Cook once had a chicken that laid a perfectly square egg.  Now, I have seen white eggs, brown eggs, even spotted eggs, but I have never seen a square egg. I think I'd have to see it to believe it! Did you know that the world's largest weenie was over 3000 feet long, weighed 885 pounds, and took 103 butchers to carry it.  That's a lot of baloney!  I don't know if I believe that or not. This book is filled with a lot of things that I think I would have to see to believe, but if they are true, they are true, whether I believe it or not!  Thomas was in that believe it or not situation until Jesus showed him his wounds.  A lot of people today won't believe that Jesus really rose from the grave because they haven't seen him with their own two eyes. You and I have never seen Jesus, we have to accept him by faith. The question is, will you believe it -- or not? Sermon 4 kids

 

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PRAYER PHRASE

-....often the world deafens our ears.  Speak to us through our logic, show us the questions we cannot answer.  Humble us that  you might lifts us up.

     Speak to us through our hopes...Save  us from cynicism and skepticism.  Speak to us through mystery, may we retain a child-like wonder and may our faith sustain us in those mysteries of life we cannot  solve.  Speak to us through prayer...may we listen to our own inner being and be in touch with the transforming power of your spirit.   Lindy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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