Tag: doubt

2010 Sermons

Easter 7 May 16, 2010

Acts 16:16-34Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â

Revelation 22:12-14, 16-171, 20-21Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â

John 17:20-26

â€œI just had a general question for you,â€ said the email I got last week. â€œIs it possible to not believe in God, but to believe in Jesus Christ andÂ in good vs. evil?â€

What a wonderful question â€“ and always good to get questions from people, especially ones like this that go right to the heart of things. And a specially wonderful question for this Sunday, which I like to think of as â€œGod has gone awayâ€ Sunday. This is the Sunday in the Christian year between the Ascension, last Thursday, and Pentecost, next Sunday. The Ascension celebrates Jesus going up to heaven after the resurrection, to â€œsit at the right hand of God,â€ as the Creeds put it. Pentecost celebrates the sending of the Holy Spirit of God to be with us here on earth. So, in between, God has in a sense gone away.

Tags Ascension, believing, belonging, doubt, God, Jesus, Pentecost

2010 Sermons

Easter 2 April 11, 2010

Post author By vicar
Post date April 11, 2010

Acts 5:27-32Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â

Revelation 1:4-8Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â

John 20:19-31

Most of the year, talking about Jesus and the readings we have from the Bible Sunday by Sunday is easy. Itâ€™s more a matter of what not to say, of focus, from all the rich possibilities â€“ the insights, the applications to our lives, the challenges and the consolations. But then along comes Easter.

Easter is different â€“ radically so. Here is not just Jesus the great teacher, the inspiring example of how to live. Here is no story from ordinary life. The Resurrection is radically discontinuous from everything else. People donâ€™t just rise from the dead. We donâ€™t know what to make of it. Believe it â€“ and if so, what does that mean for our lives? Or disbelieve it â€“ write it off as just a beautiful story, a metaphor for springtime though less tangible than the Easter bunny? Yes, Easter is a challenge to us.

Tags doubt, Easter, Jesus, resurrection, Thomas, wounds

Uncategorized

Easter 2 April 19, 2009

Post author By vicar
Post date April 25, 2009

The Rt. Rev. Arthur E. Walmsley

Jesus said to Thomas, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” â€“ John 20:30

I was talking recently with a friend who has for a long time been struggling with her faith. She has for years been alienated from the church in which she grew up. Its preaching and its worship didnâ€™t connect at all to her life. She had stopped trying to pray. And then the bottom fell out of her life. “I suddenly felt as if I had been shipwrecked on a desert island,” she said, “I didnâ€™t know what to think or what to do.” If you havenâ€™t yourself been as wounded by life as she was, you know plenty of people who have.

The story of Easter is about people who were as devastated as my friend.

Tags doubt, Easter, suffering