Sun. Apr. 11, 2010 (Dick Benner)

We were pleased to have as our speaker Dick Benner, journalist, former columnist for the "Mennonite Weekly Review", journalism teacher at Eastern Mennonite University, and now the Editor of the "Canadian Mennonite". Dick spoke on "Holy Doubt", using the morning's gospel reading, John 20.19-31, the story of 'doubting' Thomas (whom Lutherans call 'believing' Thomas). We know little about this Thomas, one of the disparate loose group of 'disciples' whose personalities could not have been more varied. These guys didn't get it was Jesus was with them, so they were even more confused by the reappearances of Jesus. None of the men believed Mary's resurrection tale, and Thomas likewise did not believe the stories of his buddies. But to his credit, Thomas stayed with the group, despite the absence of tangible proof. Healthy faith requires healthy questioning, debate and the rethinking of our faith. This holds true today as Mennonites hold varied view of how we are to live our faith, whether to embrace nationalism and increasingly accept militarism and materialism. Jesus gave Thomas room for his doubts--because they were so important to his faith journey. Thomas later became a most remarkable believer, becoming a missionary to India, and his confession, "my Lord and my God" was the most profound anyone had yet articulated. [As someone once wrote, "the opposite of faith is not doubt, it is certainty". JEK] Listen to the sermon audio MP3 recording from Sunday, Apr. 11th, 2010 using your browser's preferred media player.