Today, as see in your bulletin is the second Sunday of Easter. Others call this day Thomas Sunday as the story of Thomas is the reading for today. While others call today Bright Sunday or Holy Humor Sunday. For centuries especially, in Eastern Orthodox communions today was and is observed as "day of joy and laughter" with parties and picnics to celebrate Jesus resurrection. The custom was rooted in the musing of early church theologians that God played a practical joke of the devil by raising Jesus from the dead. "Risus paschalis – the Easter laugh" was what the early theologians called it.

Had I, rather had Jeannine, come upon this vital information before noon yesterday, I might have done something completely different for today. So instead of being Holy Humor Sunday or Bright Sunday, we will just have to put up with Second Sunday of Easter or Thomas’ Sunday.

No doubt some of you remember that I have preached on this passage before. And no doubt some of you don’t remember what I said then. I doubt that some of your don’t even care. Nevertheless I have suggested that Thomas is a victim of poor PR work and that without Thomas’ desire to see for himself, we might not have the Easter beatitude which is " blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe."

You see, Thomas elicit from Jesus the Easter beatitude for all of us who believe and we should call Thomas something other than doubting Thomas – more like blessed Thomas.

But doubt was a part of that first Easter just as it can be part of our Easter. And this is not all bad. It is being very honest. Matthew reports this, and I think we tend to gloss over this verse- "now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them, When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted." (Matt 28:16,17) "Some doubted" not that ‘one doubted’ but some which means that Thomas had company. Thomas had company then and I suspect that he has company now. As Eliza Doolittle in the musical "My Fair Lady" sang – "Don’t tell me you love, show me! Show me." It wasn’t that Thomas didn’t trust what the other disciples said, it was that he wanted to see for himself. "Show me."

What parent hasn’t at some time said; "Johnny did you wash your hands? "Yes" – Show me" Okay, now let’s try that again but this time use soap with the water.

So Thomas’ response is not that far out of order.

When we take time to read carefully the gospel stories of Easter morning we discover that there were a number of reactions which today we might think were inappropriate. There was the silence of Peter, there were the terrified women, there was weeping, there was misinformation – ‘they have stolen the body’, in short there was confusion.

Our beautifully decorated sanctuary, the music, the well planned service of worship, all belie the confusion, the uncertainly of the first Easter and so I say that Thomas’ doubts were not out of place. They were appropriate for what was taking place at that particular moment.

We know how Thomas handled his doubts, but how do we handle our doubts.

So I want us to look at (thanks to B.L. Strayhorn)

Life without a doubt,

Life within a doubt

Life beyond a doubt.

I don’t believe that there is anyone who has not had doubts. That is doubts are a part of life maybe even a vital or important part of life. Life without doubts is a life without thinking, a life without using ones mind. One of my biggest frustrations I had when teaching a communicant’s class was to get the kids to really challenge some of the statements I made. You see I wanted them to think, to think for themselves and not just to mouth the words they thought I wanted to hear them repeat. I would rather have had a class of ten Thomas’ rather than of five Peters. Being a lone voice of descent does not make one a heretic.

I feel that healthy doubt is a gift from God. It helps us grow. It help us challenge the status quo and to change things.

Luther doubted that the manner the church was acting and teaching was correct and we had the reformation.

Copernicus doubted that the earth was the center of the universe and so began a whole new understanding of our universe.

Columbus doubted that one would fall off the edge of the world and continued to sail westward and new worlds were discovered

Healthy doubts have been very useful even necessary in advancing our civilization.

Doubts can be a good thing. They can lead to solutions and better understanding. Doubts can lead to changed lives. It did for Thomas. Thomas was the first to say regarding Jesus, "My Lord, my God." His doubting lead to the greatest confession of faith we have in the gospels.

Strictly speaking we don’t know what happened to Thomas after this. But tradition has it that he travel to the east first to Babylon and then taking the message of Jesus Christ to new peoples eventually ending in what today is west coast of India establishing churches as he traveled. It is said that when the Portuguese landed in India in the early 1600s they discovered a group of Christians call the Mar Thoma Church said to have been established through the preaching of Thomas a millennium and a half before. And we continue to call him "doubting Thomas." Courageous would be closer to the truth.

For a some, doubts will fill their lives with fear and uncertainty. May be there have been times with we have feared change. We like things the way they are. There is comfort in the familiar. Comfort food is not something new and exotic rather something old and familiar. We may complain about the same-o, same-o but we also find comfort there.

And something new and different may be disruptive and we doubts whether we want that.

I am ware of another retired minister in this presbytery and when I asked him for his e-mail address said to me, "I don’t bother with that stuff. I’m not into computers." I know I didn’t rush into this electronic age and that I said, "I’m retired, why do I need a computer?" But what doubts I had are long gone.

But within our doubts God always does what Jesus did for Thomas. God reaches out to us. Within a doubt, God reaches out and reached down to show us the wounded hand of Christ and reaches out and lifts us up.

And just like Jesus did for the disciples, God breathes the Holy Spirit into our lives. The breath of God fills us and we are able to remember who we are, and whose we are, and what it is that we believe. Because while for Thomas, seeing was believing, for us believing is seeing the truth. To live life within a doubt is to be open and being aware that God is reaching out to us showing us something new.

Doubt is natural part of life and even a natural part of faith. With the help of God it is as natural as breathing, as long as you let the breath of God breathe within the doubt.

Mark 9: 24 has been called "The Doubters Prayer." It is very short – you can learn it – it goes "Lord, I believe, help my unbelief." It is the story of the boy with convulsions. The boy’s father said to Jesus, "If you are able…help us." And Jesus said to the father: "If you are able!-all things can be done for the one who believes" and the father said, "Lord, I believe, help my unbelief."

The willingness to name your doubt is the first step in living with a doubt.

We can not live life with doubts, we can let God breath within our doubts and so help us to live beyond doubts.

We are called to live beyond a doubt and to live by faith. Doubts are not the worst things in life. The worst thing in a life of faith is to be discourage, to lose hope.

This disciples got close to that. They went back to their old ways. Simon Peter said, "I’m going fishing." And a number of them said we will go with you. And Jesus came to them on the shore and said to Peter and to them "Feed my sheep." Move out - move on. Do what I have told you. And they did. They lived beyond their doubts.

Thy had a new freedom – new choices – new opportunities. They were no longer shackled by old fears and doubts. A new day had arrived.

They did it. Can you do it, Can we do it?

On our own, by our selves, the answer is no.

But God is reaching out to us right now. And all God wants to do is to wrap us in the arms of love, through the arms which were stretched out on the cross. The arms of Jesus Christ. God wants to breath the Holy Spirit into our lives so that we can live beyond a doubt having hope in our hearts and a smile on our face so that today indeed is Bright Sunday. I have no doubt about that.

Has God forgotten about us? Has God written us off because there is some doubt in the midst of our faith? I doubt it..