Scripture:  1 Peter 2:2-10

            In 1995 the NBA broke new ground when the Toronto Raptors became the first Canadian team to play in the pro basketball league.   One of the people who attended that first game was Nav Bhatia.  He is an immigrant from India who had come to Canada to build a life for himself in the 1980’s.  While he grew up immersed in the sport of Cricket, he found a love for basketball once he settled in North America.  Since he was already a big fan of the sport, he was excited to support a local team.  After he attended the first game, he came back for the next and then the next.  In fact, he never misses a home game and once he had season tickets he can be found courtside, with his loud booming voice supporting his home team.  Bhatia has stuck by the Raptors through thick and thin.  For instance, during the 97-98 season when the team only won 19% of their games, he was there.   Bhatia is not just a super fan, the team considers him an essential part, and the sixth man on the court.  In 2019, when the Raptors finally won the NBA championship Bhatia was awarded a championship ring by the team.  In 2021 Bhatia became the first fan to be inducted into the NBA hall of fame.  The raptors are no doubt happy to have such a long time and loyal fan.  

Statically speaking, there is a good chance Nav Bhatia is happy too.  A lot of social science studies have been done about the most extreme sports fans, and these studies show some consistent results.  The biggest super sports fans consistently have higher self-esteem, are less likely to be depressed, or experience feelings of loneliness.  The studies go into a lot of detail, but they can all be summed up simply: rooting for their favorite team makes people feel better about their life.   Sports fans get a deep sense of connection and being part of something bigger and better than themselves when they invest themselves in their team.  One of the thoughts as to why studies keep showing these results is tribalism theory. This theory also recognizes the desire that people have to belong to something greater than themselves.  According to this theory many people historically found this connection through their tribe, their local network of connections with people like them.    However, as the world has continually become more global, Western culture particularly has become less tribal.  The basis of the theory is that people find their new tribe in sports. 

If this is true, then the large appeal of sports across ages and cultures is that it taps into something deep within the human spirit.   I think it is by God’s design that we have a desire to be part of something greater, to be fully invested in something outside ourselves, and to know we belong to something that last.   This idea of looking for tribes has a lot of validity, and it goes a long way to shedding light on this morning’s scripture.   This morning’s scripture is about how our faith fulfills those needs to belong, to be part of a tribe, and to be part of something far greater than ourselves. 
 
Peter wrote the letter we now call 1 Peter to Christians living in what is now modern-day Turkey.  This letter would have been circulated around the cities of that region.  Tribalism was alive and strong at the age that this letter was written.  The city the person was from or the people to whom they belonged went a long way to forming the identity of a person.   The customs they followed, the languages they knew, the friends they kept and even the religious practices of a person were all dictated by their tribal affiliation.   This was magnified by the process of what was first Hellenization and then Romanization.  The Greeks were very good at exporting their culture, values, and way of doing things.   When the Roman empire rose to power they did this as well and arguably even better.   Legally, economically, and culturally everyone was incentivized to embrace the Roman way of life, to participate in the Roman way of doing things, and to proudly identify themselves as a citizen of the Empire. 

   This all created a big crisis for those early Christians who converted to follow Jesus.  Christianity cut across ethnic lines, so they found themselves bound in fellowship with people different than them.  They also found hope and faith in a belief that did not support the Roman way of religious practice which was heavily integrated into the culture at large.   These early Christians found themselves at odds with the culture they had grown up in.   This cannot be understated; to fully follow Jesus they had to give up part of their identity.  There is a good chance that all of you know at least one diehard Cubs fan or Purdue fan.  Imagine what it would be like for that person if the Cubs disbanded as a team, or if Purdue closed as a school and stopped participating in sports.  If that happened, then for those die-hard fans it would be like losing a large part of themselves, and that is the kind of situation that these young Christians that Peter was writing to found themselves in.   

            Peter acknowledges that these believers are probably feeling a little out of sorts.   In verse four he compared Jesus to a living cornerstone that has been rejected by most people but chosen by God.   He states that in the same way they have been rejected but chosen by God to be built into a spiritual house.  It is in verse nine and ten though that Peter gets to the heart of his encouragement for isolated feeling believers.  Peter wrote, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praise of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.  Once you were not a people but now you are a people of God, one you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”   Can you try to imagine how profound this message was?   The people Peter wrote to felt cut off from a large part of their identity, they were probably being pressured to turn back to their old life, to their old tribe.   Then Peter connects the dots for them.   They have a tribe; they have a nation because they have been chosen to be a holy nation.
 
Membership in the Christian nation is not by birthright, but it is by mercy.  The message though is even more remarkable than that.   Can you imagine how much grief, bullying, abuse, and peer pressure these young Christians had to put up with when they turned to Christ and away from old traditions?   It would have been immense, which is why’s Peter’s words are so important.  They are God’s chosen people.  God chose them to be God’s people.   More than that though, God chose them to be a royal priesthood.   In the first century, it was only through a priest that someone could connect with the divine.  Yet as God’s chosen people, they had this connection already.   They did not need another priest to intercede for them because their intermediary (and our intermediary) to God the Father is Jesus the son.   For those first century Christians that this was written to, it must have been incredible news!   They had lost part of their identity but found a new identity in Christ.  They had lost their tribe, but they found a new tribe in the church.   The primary investment of their life moved from being where they were from to being where their hope was found.   

This shift in focus was a purpose driven, life giving, soul saving, change for these early Christians.   Finding their identity and tribe in their connection through Christ was vital for these early Christians, and I believe it is still vital today.  Rediscovering our connection to one another in Christ can help ground us in who we are, and it is one of the ways that we can meet the needs of the world around us. 

 The crisis that the first-century believers had was a loss of identity, and in some ways that is an existential crisis that many in our culture face.   A lot has changed quickly over the past 20-30 years.  For anyone over the age of 40 the world that you grew up in is largely gone.   This loss of cultural connection has fueled a lot of anger in our country.  It has led to an increase in toxic nationalism globally, and it has led to a lot of polarization.   It has led to people finding their tribe with people who they feel they share a common adversary or enemy with.   The motivation becomes less what is best for all, and what hurts the other side the most.  I know that you also see this polarization, this increase in hateful rhetoric, and the harm that is being caused.  I am not pointing at finger as to who is at fault, I am naming the reality we find ourselves in, because this morning’s scripture offers a better way.  I think United Methodist Pastor Michael Beck and theologian Leonard Sweet put it best in their book Contextual Intelligence.   They wrote, “There are liberals, there are conservatives, there are progressive, there are moderates, and then there are followers of Jesus.  We believe it is time for all parties-libera, conservative, progressive, regressive- to lay aside their weapons of mass deconstructions and disinformation and feat their eyes upon Jesus, the author and finisher of our story.”  

  As followers of Christ our identity should be found in the Lamb, not in the elephant or donkey.   As followers of Christ, we can offer a different way, a better way to the polarization and radicalization of our culture.   We can be a holy nation, a royal priesthood, God’s special possession that declare praise to God and points people out of darkness into God’s wonderful light.  When our identity is found in Christ, when our eyes are fixed on Jesus, then what connects us to the other followers of Christ is far greater than anything that could divide us.  When Christ is what informs who we are above all of the other noise, then we find that  our siblings in Christ may look nothing like us, think nothing like us, or talk completely differently but they can still be beloved to us because we are part of the same family, we are part of the same team, and we will spend eternity in the same forever home.  

This incredible inclusion of grace that brings all who follow Jesus onto the same team, has the power to meet one of the great problems of our modern world.  While some people find their tribe in sports or other means, so many people in our world today don’t have any people.   In places like the United Sates especially there is a real loneliness epidemic.   The statistics have been backing this up for years, and it seems to be a growing problem.   A 2025 APA polls shows that more than half of U.S. adults report that they have felt isolated, left out, or lacking companionship.   While this impacts people across all ages, the youngest of adults report feelings of severe loneliness at higher rates than older generations, and the group that reports the highest feelings of loneliness and disconnection are young men.  Studies have found that prolonged feelings of loneliness have adverse health effects and can lead to higher rates dementia in older people as well as health issues in people of all ages.  This has led studies to conclude that prolonged feelings of loneliness are just as dangerous to one’s health as smoking fifteen cigarettes a day.  

Statistically, we all interact with people in our day to day lives who feel alone; who feel there are not enough people who care about them; who feel they are not seen or heard; who feel they do not have a place that they belong.   There is a loneliness epidemic in our culture and in our country, and friends we can do something about that!  Because we are a holy nation called out of darkness and into the marvelous light.   We have a savior who gets us, who died for us.  We are part of team Jesus, and our team always has an additional spot on the roster.   There are lonely people in our community, so let’s invite them to join us.  Let’s save them a seat, and let’s give them a place to belong.

Now I know logistically, it is not quite that easy.   Loneliness is hard to pull out of.  It is a lot easier and a lot more comfortable to shrug off invitations than it is to take a potentially scary step.  I know that a lot of the invitations we extend will be turned down, but that does not mean we should stop inviting them.   We can provide a place for people who are lonely, and we can be a community for those who feel they do not have one.  

This is the message that Peter shared with his original audience.  It is still a message for us today.    This is our team.  We are part of a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.  We are God’s special possession.   May we allow those truths to deeply speak to identity and who we understand ourselves to be.   May we realize that as believers and followers of Jesus Christ we are already part of something bigger than ourselves.  May we take this better way of love and grace we have been called to and may we consistently invite other people to join us on team Jesus.  May we pass it on.  

Scripture:  1 Peter 1:17-23

I love how delightfully weird the English language can be.  Like all languages, English is constantly evolving and as a language, English is not shy from borrowing from all kinds of other sources.  This leads to spellings that do not make a lot of sense, unusual exceptions, and syntax that does not quite fit with the rules of the language.   For these reasons, English is often considered to be a difficult language to learn by non-native speakers. One of the aspects of English that makes it especially tricky to learn are all of the idioms we use.  An idiom is saying to express a more complex thought in a few words, often by referencing something else.   Over time though the idiom will change and it will become completely disconnected from its original context, so that while a native speaker will naturally know what the idiom still means it will seem like nonsense to other people. 

               While there a lot of idioms that this is true of, I think a good example to point to is “the proof is in the pudding.”   This idiom is often used to refer to things that are not pudding, and the idea of looking for proof in pudding is odd to begin with.   It really does not make a lot of sense, but that is because we have largely lost the original meaning.   The phrase traces back to the 17th century, and originally it was “the proof of the pudding is in the eating.”   The word pudding in this context does not refer to tapioca, chocolate, banana, or any of the other sweet puddings we think of today.  Rather it referred to a meat product that was something of a sausage loaf, and one could never be 100% sure what was put into it.   Also, in 17th century the word “proof” meant something more along the lines of “too test”, so the original meaning was much closer to something like the “test of the sausage is how it tastes.”   But because English is delightfully weird, even though the words changed and gain new meaning, the idiom stuck around for centuries and gained new meaning.  Today, the phrase the proof is in the pudding means the effectiveness or truth of something can only be determined by seeing the results firsthand instead of trusting appearances.  

               While this morning’s scripture does not have any actual pudding of any kind found within it, the idiom the “proof is in the pudding” is the same point this morning’s scripture makes.  In this morning’s scripture Peter describes how the grace of Jesus Christ can change and transform our lives, but the proof of this is how we love one another.  When it comes to the transformative power of grace, the proof is in the pudding, and the pudding is the love we have for one another. 

               This morning’s scripture comes from 1 Peter, which claims to be written by the apostle Peter and church tradition has long affirmed that position.   This letter was likely written towards the end of Peter’s life.  The resurrection and the first Pentecost had been decades ago, and Peter had been leading the church since then.   Chapter 1 1 Peter tells us that this letter is addressed to churches   throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.  All of these areas are in modern day Turkey.  This area was a hotbed for early Christianity thanks to the work of Paul and other missionaries.   Peter, as one of the apostles and heads of the church, wrote this letter with the intentions that it would travel around to the various churches in the area.  Unlike some of Paul’s epistles, this letter was not written to address a specific issue in the region, but rather it was meant to encourage a diverse group of people to live as faithful followers of Jesus.
We see that emphasis at the start of this morning’s scripture.  In verse 17 Peter wrote, “Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear.”  Peter is making a potentially jarring statement here.  In this part of the world during the first century, a large part of a person’s identity was related to where they were from.    Even more so than today, a foreigner was someone who was an other, an outsider, a person who would always be a little out of step and never 100% belong with the locals-with the insiders.   Peter is encouraging these early believers to live like no one else, and he is direct in this encouragement because in verse 18 Peter refers to the insider way of life they were used to as “the empty way of life handed down to your from your ancestors.”

Peter is encouraging the Christians of this region to turn their back on the culture they are used to.  There is good reason for Peter to use this strong language.   The religious landscape of the Roman world was incredibly polytheistic and had space for all kinds of religious expression.   There were a variety of secret societies, mystery cults, or specialized religious orders that people could be a part of devoted to all kinds of different deities.  It was possible for someone to join one of these groups, participate in their rites, and still participate in the greater civic religion of the culture.   Peter is making the point that following Jesus not just another mystery cult or secret society.   Following Jesus is not a club that one joins, and following Jesus is not just a label that someone adds to all of their other labels.  Peter’s point is that following Jesus should be such a defining characteristic of someone’s life, it should be so transformative, that faithfully following him should put us so out of step with the culture around us that we are living like a foreigner.  

               In this morning’s scripture, Peter goes on to explain why this is.  This message of grace and forgiveness was radical in the first century, and it should still be life-altering today.  The reason why these early believers should live like no one else is that because of Jesus we are redeemed from a life that was not connected to God.  It is through Jesus, we are connected to God, have faith in God, and have hope in our heavenly Father that forgives us and accepts us.   This great love of God, proven through the precious blood of Christ, is life changing.   As Peter references in this morning’s scripture, it should be so life changing that we live as if we are born again through the living and enduring word of God.  It should inspire us to live like no one else; it should lead us to live purified and holy lives.    

               What I find most fascinating in this morning’s scripture, is that Peter then lifts up that the proof this changed life, the proof of grace, is how the followers of Jesus love one another.  Peter wrote, “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.   The proof in the pudding for the transformative power of grace is in how those who claim to be saved love one another.  This really sticks out to me, because we often talk about the importance of loving our neighbor, which we should do, as followers of Jesus we should have a general love for everyone.  However, according to Peter the proof in the pudding for those outside church walks is how well we love one another.    This is what shows to the world that this faith we hold is not just another empty promise, another grift, or another false hope.  In this morning’s scripture, Peter puts forth that the proof that the love of God is transformative is in how the followers of Christ love on another.  I suppose the question this morning’s scripture puts before us, is how are we doing at that? 

               Unfortunately, this is a question where it is a lot easier to point of examples of Christians or church getting it wrong, because those negative examples are ones that stick out because they leave a negative impression and can sour people to faith. Unfortunately, a lot of people have stories where people found other believers were not living up the ideals of this morning’s scripture, and I think that one my life experiences points to one of the most common ways that we can fall short of loving one another. 

               Right out of college I had a part time youth ministry position in a United Methodist church down south in Corydon, Indiana.   Because we were so young we were a lot closer in age to the teenagers I was working with than any of the adults in the church.  So we tried attending a mid-week young adults’ group at a large non-denominational church about 25 minutes away.  This group did contain all people who were all much closer in age to us.   After attending for several weeks a woman, who was one of the lay leaders of this group, formally introduced herself to us and engaged in conversation.   A month or so later, she did the exact same thing, introducing herself as if meeting us for the first time.  It can be hard to keep names and faces straight, so it was not that big of a deal.  However, the very next week she did it again, introducing herself as if we had never met even though we just had this same conversation for the second time seven days ago.  After that, we ended up not going back to that group or church.  

               I think the vast majority of churches in the world view themselves as nice and friendly, but loving one another is more than just being friendly.   To love one another we have to truly care for one another.   This means we truly take time to focus on the other person, not treat them as a line on a checklist to greet in order to be friendly, but to recognize the person as sibling in Christ who we are called to love life family.  While stories like mine might stick out, the good news is that they are mostly outliers.   For people who attend church regularly the majority, 57%, list one of the reasons why is to be part of a community.  

               This is likely true for many of you, because many of you have found and experienced community right here.  It is likely that several of you can think of people that you have attended church with for years who do truly have a sincere love for you, deeply from the heart.  However, this actually leads to an issue that some commentators have called the Lego problem.  A standard Lego brick has eight pegs with which it can connect with other bricks.  Research has found that most people have no more than eight meaningful relationships with people they attend church with, and once those eight spots are filled, they stop seeking to make meaningful relationships.   They key to loving one another in a way that shows the transformative power of God, is that we do so in a way that is ever expanding.  

One of the ways that the all-encompassing love of Christ should change us is that we should always be willing to add one person.   In his book A Bigger Table, former Pastor John Pavlovitz writes about this.  He wrote about when there were large family gatherings, like Thanksgiving or Christmas, in order to accommodate everyone his father would grab two big leafs that were inserted into the table to make it bigger.  Pavlovitz writes, “We quite literally expanded the table so that we could fit everyone.  We made room we didn’t have before.  This was a regular incarnation of the love of God right in the center of our home, though we never knew to name it as such.  This is the heart of the gospel:  the ever-expanding hospitality of God.  Jesus, after all, was a carpenter.  Building bigger tables was right in his wheelhouse.” 

When we love one another in such a radical way, that we are always willing to pull up one more chair, make the table a little bigger, or expand our circle a little while then we prove the world the transformative power of God’s love.  This is because we show that the love of God is so great, is so incredible, is so all-inclusive, that this room for all.   When we love one another enough to make space to for each other, we embody this all-encompassing love of God. 

In this morning’s scripture, Peter wrote a letter to encourage the early believers of Jesus to live differently than their neighbors.  He encouraged them to live into a faith and hope in God that had been made known to them through Jesus Christ, and the evidence of how they have been saved by God’s love was in how they love one another.   The times have changed, the language has changed, and the culture has changed but Paul’s point is still true today.   The world around us is still in need of God, and it is desperate for the love and acceptance that only comes from our heavenly Father.  One of the best ways we can show this all-inclusive love is how we care for and love one another.  The proof is in the pudding.  So as the people of God, redeemed by Christ Jesus, may you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.  

Scripture:  John 20:19-31

For Hollywood actors who love the craft and art of acting, one of the biggest potential career pitfalls is getting typecast.  This happens when an actor has some success in a particular role and then future projects only want to cast them in the same type of role.  Daniel Greg has gone on record in multiple interviews, about his frustration that playing James Bond seemed to brand him for years as only an action movie actor.    To avoid being type cast, some actors walk away from big roles.  For instance, after two successful Batman movies Michael Keaton turned down a lot of money to don the mask a third time because he did not want to get typecast.   Other times actors try to break out of typecasting by pursuing radically different roles.  Sometimes this work and other times it does not.   It worked for Arnold Schwarzenegger who starred as a muscle-bound action star but successfully managed to go against that type casting with several successful comedic roles.  Other times it has not worked out.  Clint Eastwood might be one of the most typecast actors as the perpetual tough guy, but early in his career he tried to avoid being typecast in that role by starring in Paint Your Wagon, his one and only attempt at a musical.     Since musicals did not work out, Eastwood eventually embraced being typecast. 

            It is hard for actors to avoid being typecast, because people tend to try and reduce other people to the lowest common denominator.  So, if an actor stars in a couple of romantic comedies, then it becomes easy to think of her as an actor who only does romantic comedies.   This morning’s scripture shows that typecasting happens in the bible as well.   Because of this morning’s scripture he got stuck with a label for all time.   Even today, the term “doubting Thomas” is used in a somewhat derogatory nature when someone is a skeptic.  There is a good chance that people who do not really have a church background are familiar with and use that phrase.  Thomas was more than a doubter though.  In this morning’s scripture he asked Jesus for proof.  Thomas may have had a moment of doubt, but he is probably in good company.   During the messiness of lives, many people find their faith tested, they find doubt creeping in.  Like Thomas we can have doubts in our own faith, but those doubts do not define our faith or our lives.  Doubt is not the absence of faith, and even amid uncertainty and doubt faith can flourish. 

It is unfair to label Thomas as doubting for all time, because that is not a full assessment of what we know about him.   There are other places in scripture where Thomas displays amazing faith.  For instance, in the eleventh chapter of John, Jesus decides to go back to Judea to raise Lazarus from the dead.  The disciples though are concerned about this because the last time Jesus was in Judea people tried to stone Jesus.   Many of the disciples are afraid, but it is Thomas who speaks up in 11:16: “Then Thomas said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”  Thomas did not lack faith or conviction. 

Yet Thomas has been shackled with the label of “doubting” because of a single instance recorded in scripture.   Again, this is not fair because we are likely not that different from Thomas.  If we were in the place of Thomas, would we believe the others or would we also demand proof?  If we put ourselves in his shoes, we can see that Thomas had a reason to be skeptical.  Before the crucifixion he had put his hope in Jesus.  He had given up everything to follow him.  Based on his statement in John 11, Thomas clearly believed that he was willing to follow Jesus to death.  However, when put to the test, Thomas found his faith weaker than he thought.  Like all of the disciples he fled and hid when Jesus was arrested.  Thomas would have been grieving at the beginning of this scripture.  He was grieving the loss of his teacher and friend, but he was also grieving his hopes and dreams which he also believed died on the cross.   Given all that Thomas had gone through and given all the pain that he probably experienced, it was not that unrealistic for him to demand a little proof that he can have hope again. Thomas is in good company, because most of us probably would have done the same. 
  Many of us may have found ourselves in the same boat as Thomas.  Many of us have likely been in a place where the circumstances of life rocked a faith that was perhaps less solid than we thought.  There have been times that we, like Thomas, wanted a solid and tangible assurance that God is with us; that we can still have hope.    If we were honest with ourselves, we have probably all had moments in our faith journey where we may have felt like our faith is lacking.   We have all had moments when we felt like we could be considered doubters.  The question we should be wrestling with is, where do we go from there?   In answering that for ourselves I think there are two points we should consider. 

First, having doubts about our faith does not necessarily diminish our faith.   Thomas did have serious reservations about what he was told about the resurrection.  Jesus did acknowledge this, and he did say, “blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”  Jesus does essentially say that Thomas had room to grow in faith.  However, it is also worth noting what Jesus did not say.  Jesus did not tell Thomas that his doubt is because he just does not pray enough.   Jesus did not critique doubt has obvious proof that Thomas was backsliding to immorality.   Jesus did not tell Thomas he was now unworthy because he doubted. Jesus did not know do any of those things.   Instead, Jesus met Thomas where he was at.  Jesus took the time to address Thomas’s concerns.   Could Thomas have been a better disciple of Jesus and had greater faith?  Yes probably.  Did doubting, disqualify him from following Jesus?  Absolutely not, and Jesus himself sought to help Thomas overcome his doubts. 

It is my experience that a shallow faith is one that has no doubts.  Doubts are nothing more than questions to our beliefs that do not have answers.   If we are taking our faith seriously, then we are going to ask questions.  If we ask enough good questions we are going to find ones without clean answers, and wrestling with those questions can and will lead to doubt.  However, I would rather have questions without answers than answers that cannot be questioned.   When we put absolute faith in our answers, then our faith is not in God our faith is in the answers we have come up with to define God into a box.   One of the beliefs I am most sure of is that God is bigger than any of my questions.  Doubt is not the opposite of faith, doubt is the space created by questions, and it is in that space that our faith can grow.   Without space to expand our faith will stay small.  However, when we question, that gives space for God to show up.  That gives space for Jesus to say “Put your fingers here.  See my hands.  Reach out your hand and put it in my side.  Stop doubting and believe.”   By being open to doubt, we give God the space to meet us where we are and grow our faith.  

 Second, it is important that we do not let doubt define our faith.   Unanswered questions can grow our faith, but we must be cautious that we do not get hung up on them.  Faith is our ability to believe despite not having all the answers.  If we get so caught up on answering everything then instead of questions creating space to grow, they can become a stumbling block.  Instead of doubts and questions pushing our faith forward, we can fixate on them and let those doubts define our faith life.  Not being defined by the stumbles and questions in the past of our faith development is a lesson we can really learn from Thomas.  Because of a hopeless moment, Thomas earned the label doubter.  That is not the only label he has in the bible though he also has the label of apostle.   He was one of the ones chosen by Jesus to carry forth the gospel.   He was one of the ones responsible for Truth taking root in the world.  Between the two, that is the label that Thomas claimed for himself and it is the one that defined his life.  

This morning’s scripture might be the scripture that Thomas is most well known for, but it is not the end of his story.  The book of Acts records how the original disciples were empowered by the Holy Spirit and led the early church.  Thomas was one of these apostles.  In the beginning of Acts Jesus instructs the Apostles to take the gospel to Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth.   According to church tradition, this is exactly what Thomas did.  In fact, tradition remembers that Thomas took the good new of Jesus Christ further than any of the other apostles.   Tradition remembers that Thomas traveled East to share Jesus with others.  This took him beyond the bounds of the Roman Empire.  Because of his missionary work, the Assyrian Church of the East remembers Thomas as its founder.  By American standards this is an obscure branch of Christianity.  It is currently centered in modern day Iraq, and despite intense persecution in the 20th and 21st centuries still has over 500,000 members.

 Thomas did not stop preaching the good news in just the modern-day middle east, but he went even further.   Tradition remembers that Thomas traveled as far as India to share the message of Jesus.   Tradition also remembers, that because of his bold witness the Christian faith took root in India.   Today there is an ethnic-religious group in India that calls themselves St. Thomas Chrisitans, who remember the evangelism of Thomas as their starting point.  This is not an insignificant group of people, and numbers around 6 million today.  In our Western Christianity culture, Thomas is most remember as doubting Thomas, but to millions of our siblings in Christ around the world he is remembered as the apostle that founded their church.  

Thomas did not let his doubts define him, and he lived out a vibrant faith despite a moment of doubt.  Hopefully, Thomas finds himself in good company because we can follow his example.   Thomas did not let his doubts hold him back, and neither should we.   The question we should all confront is are we?  

Serving in vocational ministry a sentiment I hear regularly is “I doubt I could ever do what you do?”   On the one hand I get it.   I have a brother and a sister, and if you were to go back to a high school version of me and say that some day one of the three of us is going to be in a pulpit, I would not have bet on myself.  On the other hand, I have to wonder if when people cast doubt on themselves if they are letting their fears, their uncertainty, and their doubt hold them back.   I realize that not everyone is called to vocational ministry and not everyone is called to preach.  But I do believe that all who follow Jesus are called to love their neighbors, all who follow Jesus are called to share the good news, and all who follow Jesus are called to be disciples who make disciples.   There is a way that you are being called, there is a way to bring about transformation in this world that you are best equipped for.   And if you are not fully doing that right now, is it because you doubt you can?   Instead of living into the bold calling God has for us, are your more likely to tell yourself all the reasons why you can’t?   If that resonates with you, then may you be in good company with Thomas.  Thomas had real doubts, and Jesus met him where he was at Thomas listened to that voice.  Because Thomas listened to that voice, he took the good news to the ends of the earth as he knew it.   I still believe that Jesus meets us where we are at, and his voice is the one we should be listening to. 
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Because of this morning’s scripture Thomas has been unfairly typecast as a doubter. Thomas did not let those doubts define him or is faith, and may we follow that example.  If we are serious about following Jesus and living a life of faith, then it is inevitable that we will have doubts.  May we not let those times diminish our faith.  May we honestly wrestle with them and may seek the voice of Christ throughout them.   If we do, then I have confidence that just like Thomas we will emerge with a stronger faith and we will be able to follow Jesus wherever he is leading, all the way to the ends of the earth