Yesterday the Church, and I, commemorated the Major Feast of St. Thomas the Apostle. In what apparently is my Advent habit this year, I simply neglected to post a entry yesterday, even though I observed the day myself in the Office. You, along with Thomas, may not believe me, but there it is.The Office readings for this day seem somewhat snarky towared poor Thomas. The morning lesson from Hebrew Scriptures is Job's theophany to the Lord, where he says, "I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you." And from I Peter: "And lthough you have not seen him [the Lord Jesus], you love him." Isaiah 43 offers :"Bring forth the people who are blind, yet have eyes; deaf, who have ears!" The lesson from John is the great "I am the way, the truth, and the life" prompted by Thomas's question to show the disciples the Way. But I think the overall tone of the lessons isn't very nice. I think we should be gentle with Thomas. Who hasn't wondered about God and Christ? Who hasn't asked for a sign of God's presense in their lives? I think it's absolutely OK to wonder, and even to doubt. The opposite of faith, after all, is not doubt, it's certainty. We Anglicans traditionally have tolerated and encouraged questioning and poking and prodding and doubting even. I'm reminded that the Archbishop of Canterbury has taken a lot of flak for engaging in that hoary Anglican tradition of deconstructing the details of the Nativity accounts. That's the kind of engagement that's perfectly acceptable. After all, he was right: we don't know there were three wiese men, just that some number came from the East; we don't know when the Nativity took place, but if it was December, it probably wasn't snowy at all; and so on. What the Archbishop noticably did not do is call Jesus a myth or that there really was a child who was born miraculously of a virgin. His "doubt," if that's what it was, was of the mildest kind indeed. (By the way, the Telegraph headline saying the Archbishop called the Nativity a legend is completely false. He note that some of the details of the story are questionable. He did not call the Nativity or the Incarnation a legend.)
So let's cut Thomas, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and especially ourselves and each other some slack. Doubt, after all, implies the desire to understand, and from that perspective, is a healthy thing as long as it keeps us on the journey with Christ, even if we can't see Who He is or much of anything else along the way.
Everliving God, who strengthened your apostle Thomas with firm and certain faith in your Son's resurrection: Grant us so perfectly and without doubt to believe in Jesus Christ, our Lord and our God, that our faith may never be found wanting in your sight; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
RFSJ
So let's cut Thomas, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and especially ourselves and each other some slack. Doubt, after all, implies the desire to understand, and from that perspective, is a healthy thing as long as it keeps us on the journey with Christ, even if we can't see Who He is or much of anything else along the way.
Everliving God, who strengthened your apostle Thomas with firm and certain faith in your Son's resurrection: Grant us so perfectly and without doubt to believe in Jesus Christ, our Lord and our God, that our faith may never be found wanting in your sight; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
RFSJ
