Presby-Musings

24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side,  I will not believe.” (John 20:24-25) Doubting Thomas.  For centuries, Christians have affixed this ignominious nickname to the one disciple of Jesus who  wasn't in the room the first time Jesus appeared to his followers after the Resurrection.  When I was a kid, I was taught this story as a cautionary tale about how I shouldn't doubt when it came to my faith.   But now when I read it, I don't see Thomas in that light at all.   When you go back a couple of chapters in the story we find Jesus telling his followers that he was heading to Jerusalem even though there were people there who wanted to kill him.    And then Thomas tel...

Doubting Thomas.   Imagine that being the name you were given for time immemorial.  When I was a kid I remember being taught a Sunday school lesson about Doubting Thomas from John 20:24-29. Thomas was one of Jesus' disciples.  After the Resurrection, Jesus appeared to all of the other disciples, but because Thomas wasn't with them at the time, he missed it.   So Thomas told everyone, "Unless I see and touch the wounds from nails in his hands and feet and put my hand in the wound in his side--I will not believe."  Of course, Jesus appears to all of the disciples a bit later, including Thomas, and calls out the doubting disciple, who finally believes.   It's the simplistic interpretation of this story that resulted in poor Thomas being given his ignominious nickname:  Thomas doubted because he hadn't seen the risen Jesus.  He shouldn't have done that.  Neither should you.  Don't be a Doubting Thomas.   But is it real...

Over the course of the last two weeks, we've explored the first two of what we call "The Five Things ," the core values of our church.  The Five Things are: Worship, Pray, Grow, Love and Serve. We've been working on a very basic premise throughout this entire series:  "We are made of what we value."  This isn't just a metaphor, as it turns out.  As we've learned, the tens of trillions of atoms that make us us are being exchanged with other things and other people at the rate of billions per second.  And this exchange of energy affects us in very real ways. Which explains why being surrounded by negativity, darkness, depravity, sadness and the like has a negative affect on our mood, our outlook and even our physical well-being. And it also explains why surrounding ourselves with beauty, truth, hope, peace and love has the exact opposite affect.  The Apostle Paul , who wrote half of the New Testament in the Bible once wrote about this very th...