Doubt, is part of our walk of Faith: An Easter Sermon
ALLELUIA!
CHRIST HAS RISEN!
(pause)
But there are moments
When we have experienced
The emptiness of our souls
The dark tea time of the soul,
When we could not utter those words,
With confidence
And assuredness
When we stumble along our faith journey
When we ask,
“Is there anything we know for sure?”
(pause)
We recognize our human trait,
That when hope seemingly fades,
We wrap ourselves in doubt.
When the pathway along our journey,
Is blocked with unmovable debris
We raise angry questions
But supposedly,
As Christians,
We are sinning
If we doubt!
“Don’t be a doubting Thomas,”
Is the mantra spouted back at us,
As life rears up its disappointments
And setbacks,
While we are in the throes of struggling,
Rooting ourselves once more
In Faith.
(pause)
“How can God work any miracles in your life,
If you doubt God’s Power?”
Has anyone had that phrase tossed at them,
In a moment of spiritual difficulty?
Or
“You are blocking yourself
From receiving anything from God,
If you don’t believe?”
I thought,
Regardless,
And even in our skepticism
God was still loving us,
Or,
This statement said routinely
At the most inappropriate time,
“Jesus is still in control
Those doctors don’t know nothing!
God is still in the healing business
You just gotta believe!”
(pause)
This time last year,
During Lent,
Into Easter
Was especially tough,
I could not with fervor,
Join in the proclamation
That Christ had risen,
While my friend lay dying
Being immersed in the Easter season,
Celebrating The Resurrection,
Was troublesome.
(pause)
Yes,
Christ had indeed risen,
Overcome death
So why hadn’t He
Healed Deirdre?
(pause)
Reality became for our community,
Who knew and loved, Deie
ugly
We’d no longer would be able
To pick up the phone,
To text
To share ridiculousness on Social Media
With her
And we,
Who had been to the hospital,
Had seen her seizures occur every day,
While she was in a coma
Myself, who had heard first hand,
That her body was failing her.
(pause)
And as her husband became more transparent with what was happening
As many of us who loved Deirdre began our grieving,
There were, well meaning people
Posting all over her Facebook page
Chiding those of us who were Christians,
Of doubting the power of God!
That we shouldn’t doubt,
That God was going to heal Deirdre,
That she was going to wake up out of her coma
And somehow be the second Lazarus!
(pause)
God,
Did heal Deie,
In the only way
That Creator knows how,
It may not have been what we all wanted,
But yes,
She went from death
To
Life.
(pause)
This past Thursday night,
We resumed our
Body and Soul film series.
We watched the documentary,
Human Flow
Stories about the constant migration,
Of a global people seeking refuge,
And peace,
From persecution,
Violence
War
And
Hunger
(pause)
I don’t think
Many people
Realize,
That those 30 second clips on the news,
Showing the plight of
Syrian
Kenyan
Haitian
Palestinian refugees
That reality,
Is not just occurring
Briefly
But it’s their lived existence.
Right now,
People are sleeping in poorly constructed tents
Right now,
People are being told,
They cannot come into our country
Right now,
There are people on boats,
In darkness
Trying to get across
Right now,
There is a young man
Protesting for his right to existence
For his human rights
Holding back the tears
Behind the sign he holds
Which says
“Respect”
(pause)
Witnessing,
Being exposed to how
Anti-Christ,
People of faith can be
Causes us,
To doubt the message,
Because clearly
Humanity is either deaf to it
Or ignoring it,
About loving our neighbor.
(pause)
When children are more often victims,
Of war, violence, exploitation
It causes many of us
To have a crisis of faith,
And question
Where is God, anyway?
It causes us
To doubt
The message
That people share with one another,
About the Goodness of God,
Because no one,
Is picking up the mantle
No one is interested,
In doing the hard work
(pause)
It causes us to question,
Whether God even cares,
Because seemingly
Those modern day prophets
Who have been fighting for peace
And justice,
In the end
Are massacred
And
Murdered.
Dr. King,
You said you’ve been to the mountaintop
And you’ve seen the promise land,
But when,
And how long,
O Lord?
Because in 50 years
Nothing has changed,
Your people,
My Ancestors
Are still wandering,
In the wilderness.
(pause)
It raises all types of doubt,
Doubting whether anything fantastic,
Transformative
Can happen
And places the power of Jesus’s Resurrection
Into the category of myth.
“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.”
(pause)
Unless I see change,
God
Unless you make this right,
Jesus
Unless you manifest the healing
And right these wrongs,
Against people who really didn’t deserve it
Unless you show me,
Creator
This love that passed from you,
To Jesus
Through the Holy Spirit,
Seemingly to us,
I can’t believe
I won’t believe
I doubt!
(pause)
It is extremely difficult
To believe in this
Everlasting hope
Promises
That the Creator has made this covenant
With us.
When will we experience
For ourselves
That resurrection moment,
That Thomas was questioning?
(pause)
I think Thomas wanted confirmation,
Of what he already believed,
That nothing
Could sever
His relationship
With the One,
Who through His Rising
Has sent death,
Back to Hell.
(pause)
I think we all want confirmation,
That what we believe,
Is not believing in vain
That even as this world is corrupt
And unforgiving
No matter how the joy comes,
Or the sun comes
Or healing comes,
Nothing
Can
Sever
Our
Relationship
With
The
Risen
Christ.
(pause, for a personal testimony)
Thanks Be to God.
