Thomas has been much maligned. Faith includes both belief and doubt. Belief without doubt is gullible. Doubt without belief does not exist. Here’s the sermon from last Sunday at Shepherd of the Hill Presbyterian Church in Chaska, MN.
No Doubt
I know he is guilty,
I know what he did.
He was wrong,
He was wicked,
He lied and deceived.
I’ll never forgive him,
I’ll never forget.
My resentment I’ll
Hold in my heart
Till I shrivel and die.
I know I am innocent,
I know I am right.
“The opposite of faith
is not doubt–
the opposite of faith
is certainty.”*
* Anne Lamott
– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, April 28, 2014
Easter sermon by Gordon C. Stewart at Shepherd of the Hill Presbyterian Church in Chaska, MN tying together Chris Hedges’ remarks about Friedrich Nietzsche, the women at the tomb, and a fourth century monk.
Miss PaviElle French sang this solo at Shepherd of the Hill Presbyterian Church in Chaska, MN on Easter, 2014.
The resurrected
Jesus was a man
and not a Zombie.
He was raised to be
alive, and not both
dead and living when
God seized him by his soul
and set him free.
He was not thirsting
after blood, was no
Vampire, did not become
immortal, but eternally
had life–there is, you know,
a difference… Jesus
spoke and drank and ate
with all his students,
the Disciples, though
they had all run away
when those with sword
and club, the Roman
soldiers, came to show
this upstart Rabbi
Caesar still was Lord.
The undead try to scare,
but Jesus said
“Have peace–you do not need
to be afraid.”
– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, April 21, 2014
At Tenebrae, the ancient Maundy Thursday Service of Light and Shadow, there are no off-the-cuff remarks. Only Scripture. Only the story we do not want to hear. Our betrayal. Our cowardice. Our weariness. Our betrayal with a kiss. Our violence. Our denial. Our flight.
The church is dark except for the worshipers’ candles.
One by one, the worshipers blow out their candles as the nine readings are read from the midst of the congregation, as we recognize ourselves in the plot that leads to the crucifixion.
We know. We know this is our story. Our reality. Our dilemma.
Then, as if it were tonight, bread is broken. The wine is poured. In silence we share our common lot and wait for the good news we already know.
This Sunday is Palm Sunday when Christians celebrate “The Triumphal Entry” into Jerusalem, which was anything but triumphant. The New Testament Gospels describe it differently, which has absorbed the concentrated attention of more than one scholar or preacher trying to reconcile their differences. Steve Shoemaker, in his inimitable way, engages the debate about whether Jesus rode on just one donkey or two.
Perpectives
Matthew alone tells of the two,
the mare & colt, who carried him
into Jerusalem that day.Since then many have mocked that view
as based more on an ancient hymn
than what an eye-witness would say.But whether one sees one or two
depends upon the point of view:
and all saw Jesus, by the way…
– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, April 8, 2014
“We are nature; nature is us. We are NOT the exception to nature.” Rev. Gordon Stewart looks at basic religious assumptions of Western culture and the need to reinterpret the stories that got us here. He looks at the stories of creation, Cain and Abel, and the Wise Men who “departed by another way” as holding clues to the change in consciousness that is required in our time.
Views from the Edge 