From Reverend Pat Kriss: The Apostle Thomas' Grief and Doubt

(Posted April 7, 2018)

"Doubt is a pain too lonely to know that faith is his twin brother." -- Khalil Gibran, 20th century

In all of the New Testament probably the one who has gotten a “bum rap” is the man we will spend time with on Sunday: Thomas the Apostle. REProbably by now, you’ve already added in your mind his additional name: Doubting Thomas. And yet few other people were as honest about how they felt with his peers than Thomas. Classically, Thomas was “out of the room” when Jesus first burst into the Upper Room where the apostles were hiding in fear. A week later they told him the tale of a dead Messiah raised again, who walked through the walls and greeted them, not with the kind of anger one might expect toward a group of people who had abandoned him, but with love. I can imagine his skeptical eye roll now…. “Right…… sure he did.” Thomas made it quite clear what it would take to get him to believe that Jesus walked among them. Thomas was grieving.

If we’re as honest as Thomas, we’ll admit that there are times when we weren’t there to see something, that we, too, are full doubts and anxieties. The thing is when Jesus appeared again a week later specifically to see Thomas, he didn’t greet Thomas as judgmentally as we do, but with words of peace and softly: "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe."

Worship at the First Congregational Church

Services begin at 10 a.m. All are welcome.

In the end, Thomas recognized Jesus by his scars, his wounds. How true this is when we think about our friends, the ones with whom we’ve walked along life’s paths, we in fact remember their scars and ours, and how these things not only helped form who we are, but where our strengths come from. This Sunday we will explore the deep connection between doubt and faith, and what it takes to hold in our heart things that seem to be impossible. - Pastor Pat Kriss