My God

Doubters, in the light of hindsight, invariable get a bad press. It’s easy to mock them.

Remember how a Decca Records executive in 1962 rejected the Beatles. “We don’t like your sound”, he said. “And anyway guitar groups are on the way out”.

And in 1943 the chairman of IBM doubted the future of computers. He said: “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers!”

That was followed by Ken Olson, the chairman and founder of Digital Equipment who said there was no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.

And H.M. Warner of the famous Warner Brothers studios doubted the future of talking movies. “Who wants to hear actors talk?” he asked.

Also today there are still those who doubt that the Apollo moon landings ever took place. They say NASA faked the landings to convince us they had beaten the Russians.

In Helsinki this morning the Lutheran Church is celebrating what it has described as the St Thomas Eucharist. On this Low Sunday, so called following the ‘high” of Easter Sunday, the Lutherans make a special effort to encourage those who doubt the truth of the Resurrection of Christ to come to church and join in the Holy Communion celebration.

They try very hard on Low Sunday to construct a low threshold and to make it as easy as possible for seekers and doubters to feel comfortable and to enjoy the event.

Hundreds of people who have not been to church in ages turn up and across Finland, Sweden, Norway and Germany; the idea of the St Thomas Eucharist is catching on.

The liturgy is imaginative and welcoming. There is plenty of singing and after the two-hour service the congregation enjoy tea and cakes. The emphasis is on making people feel welcome, respecting their doubts and accepting them for who they are.

When we decided to go and live in England back in the 70s, in the hill village of Haworth in West Yorkshire to be precise, the Bronte Village, we very soon had to face the awful reality of doubt.

Had we done the right thing? Was this really the best move for our young family? On the face of it with the troubles getting worse the move surely was for the better. But the doubts and the uncertainty lingered and they were hard to shake off.

At that time the Church community made us welcome. This was a wonderful experience at a time when we felt so vulnerable and uncertain.

When I reflect on all that it reinforces for me the true nature of the Church community – a community of believers rooted in the power of the Resurrection. It’s this religious focus, this being the Church that rises above the notion of a social club or a debating society

It’s what St Luke experienced when he reported that “The Apostles continued to give their witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus with great force, and a wonderful spirit of generosity pervaded the whole fellowship”.

That spirit of generosity is evident in Helsinki this morning; it’s evident in that small community in Haworth and it’s evident, as I know only too well, here in Glencraig. Of that there is no doubt.

And it was evident in the upper room in the days after the resurrection. Only Thomas was in no mood for small talk. “I will not believe it,” he said.

Thomas was in no mood for fellowship either. In his despair and disillusionment he left the fellowship. And let’s not be too critical of him. He had seen the Lord die a cruel death. He knew he was dead and this seemingly hysterical “He’s alive” talk left him cold.

Out of the fellowship of the Church, like a burning coal that had been taken out of the fire, he lost his spark, lost his confidence, lost his faith.

Yet there he was in the Upper Room feeling low – on Low Sunday. The community of the Church was still around him, making him welcome, not giving up on him.

They understood his doubts and then the Lord came to him. Thomas’ shock and surprise is in itself one of the great testimonies to the resurrection.

“My God!” Not “My Master” or “My Teacher” or “My Friend” or “My Helper”. Not at all. “My God!” he exclaimed.

Thomas, the honest doubter, the man who had isolated himself from the Church, yet had had the courage to seek out the truth. It is said he was a man who couldn’t live with “unasked questions”.

“How can we know the way?” he asked Jesus and thereby set in train one of the most profound discourses recorded between the Lord and his disciples. “I am the way”, Jesus replied.

Thomas is a model for most of us. He was for Charles Colson. Remember the name? He was the special adviser to President Richard Nixon when the roof fell in and Watergate became a name synonymous with corruption in American politics at the highest level.

A CBS news report described Colson at the time as “a launderer of dirty money, a skilful promoter of subversion, a proven liar, an instigator of burglary and in the truest sense of the word, a crook”.

It was doubtful if a man like Colson would ever recover both personally and professionally. He went to prison and as they say he “found religion”. But many, many congregations didn’t believe a word he said. The damning catchphrase used to discredit him was cruel: “He’s trying to rip-off Jesus,” they said.

Today thirty odd years on Charles Colson is acknowledged as one of the leading religious figures in America and in many parts of the world. When he left prison he went back in to the prisons and founded the Prison Fellowship. It’s a massive organisation today that is helping to reduce re-offending in a very significant way and tackling the root causes of crime.

Colson rejects what he calls “I’m saved simplicities”. His conversion is ongoing – it is he says “a long unremitting effort” to do what is right.

His witness has at its heart Bonhoeffer’s conviction: “Only he who believes is obedient and only he who is obedient believes.”

He says pride and the draw of today’s celebrity culture have been the greatest threat to his ministry. He talks about how congregations got caught up in trying to make him a celebrity Christian framed in simplistic slogans and promotional propaganda.

He says he had to face down what he called “charismatic clichés – all heart but no head”. He had to learn to apply Christian concepts to the market place of life.

Like Thomas he kept asking questions. Like Thomas he had to make the journey from doubt to dedicated service –over and over again.

So on this Low Sunday we are reminded that there are highs and lows in the Christian life. But by God’s grace and in the fellowship and order of the Church, in a spirit of generosity, each one of us and all of us as a community, are enabled to work out our faith day by day in the familiar, in the market place, in all the changing circumstances of life.

The first letter of John encourages us to “Walk in the light”, to be doers, to participate in the life of the Church, to move from idling in neutral to engaging with the teaching of Christ.

C.S. Lewis put it this way. “We may dither to and fro and our beliefs may sometimes seem dependent on the weather. We may drift along in conceited isolation. We will often fail. So we need to train the habit of Faith.”

Lewis suggests we do this by being consistent about daily prayers, religious reading, celebrating Holy Communion, participating in Sunday worship.

“How can we know the way?”

Jesus said: “I am the way. Blessed are those who have never seen me and yet have believed.”

Amen.