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The 19^th century Scottish pastor and writer, George Macdonald, wrote this:

To trust is gain and growth, not mere sown seed!
Faith heaves the world round to the heavenly dawn,…

Faith, in and of itself, is full and complete. Faith itself brings peace, new life, and power.

I believe we tend to see faith as a stopgap measure, an interim attitude. Faith is something we resort to for the moment, until proof appears. Faith is clinging to something intangible, taking a risk, until what is really true is made manifest. Now we must live by faith, then all will be made irrefutably clear. This attitude is rooted in our yearning for certainty.

But Macdonald is saying that faith itself is not merely sowing seeds in hope of a better future. The attitude of faith is itself gain and growth. Jesus says repeatedly that if you have faith, you have all you need: the kingdom of God, the power even to move mountains. You will have this now.

The scripture lesson from the Gospel of John is an examination of faith. John is the latest Gospel, written after 90 C.E. It was, in other words, written for people a full two generations after the death and resurrection of Jesus. All eye-witness accounts were by now second and third hand. In a way this Gospel was written for people who were starting to say "If only I had lived during the time of Jesus and been his follower. Having seen him living and even resurrected, would have made faith so much easier for me."

Let’s look more closely at the scripture. This passage, in three brief episodes, begins on the very day of resurrection itself, the first day of the week. The disciples are huddled in fear behind locked doors. And Jesus appears to them. He appears as his resurrected body. He can move through locked doors and walls, so he must be a spirit. Yet he can be touched and embraced. So he must be a body. As Bishop Spong would say, don’t worry about whether this is possible, just go with the story. Jesus says to them, "Peace be with you." He repeats this phrase with them that day, and again when Thomas is present. Then he says "As the Father has sent you, so I send you." Then he breathes on them and says "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."

This encounter is John’s version of Pentecost. Jesus’ presence brings peace and the breath of God. This breath of God brings life and power. Remember in the Genesis 2-3 story of the creation? God bends down and gathers a handful of mud from the earth, and fashions this into a little doll. Then into this mud doll God blows the breath of life, and that is the first person. To be created, to have life is to be breathed into by God, and this breath of God is the Holy Spirit. For ages spiritual teachers have said that one of the simplest and most powerful prayers we can engage in is to be aware of our breathing. Each breath is life coming into us. We are sustained by mouth-to-mouth resuscitation from God. God is our "life support" system, keeping us alive moment by moment.

When Jesus breathes upon his disciples, he is not only demonstrating that he has come to life again, he is showing them that they have come to life again, too. They have been , not just cheered up and encouraged; they have become recreated. And they now possess the very same powers that Jesus possessed. After all, the power to pardon sin is a godlike attribute. When Jesus told people their sins were forgiven, the Pharisees saw this as proof that he was claiming divine powers for himself as God, which was blasphemy. Now Jesus is bestowing these same powers on his followers.

After Jesus has departed, we learn that one disciple, Thomas, was not present at the time of Jesus’ Sabbath day appearance. In episode two, when Thomas is told that the others had seen the Lord (presumably Thomas was briefed in full detail) he says "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe."

Now let me say that I think that, over the years, Thomas has been given a bad rap in this. In labeling him and every questioner thereafter as "a doubting Thomas," we portray him as unreasonably skeptical, even a bit arrogant. In fairness to him, isn’t he just saying to the others that he wants the same experience that they had? His bad luck was to have been elsewhere. It is not so much that he is making outrageous demands as he is saying to the disciples "You saw and touched with your own eyes and hands, and now you believe. I just want the same. And I can’t have it because I wasn’t here." Isn’t that like us saying that we want the same experience that the people who followed Jesus had in his day, but we can’t have it because we weren’t there?

Aren’t we like that? Who is really willing to settle for second hand reports, if first hand experience is possible? I am interested to hear people give their opinions of a movie they’ve seen or a book they’ve read, but that is not a substitute for my first hand experience of that book or movie. I want my own experience and my own opinion.

In what is the third little scene in this passage, which occurs a week later, all are gathered, including Thomas, and the doors are again locked. Once more Jesus extends his peace to them. Jesus invites Thomas to put his finger to Jesus’ hand and into the wound in his side. Then he says "Do not doubt but believe." I think we are very wrong to interpret this interaction as Jesus playing "gotcha!" or somehow rebuking Thomas or putting him in his place. Everything is summed up in Jesus’ words "Do not doubt but believe." I think he says this gently and kindly and patiently, though perhaps with a bit of a wry smile. What Jesus wants is not to embarrass Thomas, but to love him and to include him in the experience of receiving the Holy Spirit and power.

Then Jesus closes with words that must somehow be the point of this passage. "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." "Have you believed because you have seen me?" The answer to that is of course "Yes." But Jesus’ next words are addressed to you and me in the here and now, and every other person who has yearned to have been in that room with the Risen Christ. "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe."

It is possible to have this same experience of belief, of faith, as those disciples whom Jesus visited. It is possible to receive the Peace of Christ and the Breath of God and the Power of the Holy Spirit, just like them. How can this be? Because the Peace of Christ, the Breath of God, and the Power of the Holy Spirit are available to you now. They are the fruits of faith right now, not just far in the future. Faith is not sowing the seeds in hope that maybe one day we may be entitled to these gifts. No, the attitude of faith is, as it were, defined by these gifts. To trust is "gain and growth, not mere sown seed." The very act of trusting God transforms you now and bestows blessings. Skeptical? Why not try it for yourself and see what happens?

Think of our own human relationships. Think, for example, of that moment when you were becoming more emotionally intimate with someone special. At some point you took a risk and you said "I am going to trust that this person cares for me – that this person is trustworthy." He or she may have said it already, but you determine that you are willing to risk a little bit more of yourself and take a chance. You know what I am saying. How does it feel when you risked trusting that person, and your trust was justified, it was returned. Isn’t the connection that happens in that moment the most beautiful thing in the world? And isn’t this repeated over and over as a relationship grows. I confess that there are moments when somehow Lois and I connect over something and I almost pinch myself and say "This woman really does love me." Me. Imagine that. Isn’t that wonderful? It is a blessing that faith itself brings.

When I sit in meeting upon meeting about our building program, when some apparent obstacle looms in the way - permits, cost estimators, contracts, lenders - something always ends up happening in me. At some point my heart just starts to glow and I think as I look around the room – "These people, really, really care. They care enough to work and sacrifice and not give up. Where does that power come from?" And I think, "It is faith. The peace of Christ rests upon them. The breath of God has been breathed into them. And the Power of the Holy Spirit is at work in them."

I would like to have been in that room with the disciples. But I think it is pretty great to be alive now, and experience that very same peace, breath, and power. That is to be in the presence of the Living Christ and it is real.

To trust is gain and growth, and not mere sown seed,
Faith heaves the world around to the heavenly dawn,..

Faith will shortly be heaving mounds of dirt at 9525 Colesville Rd. toward a heavenly dawn. Faith will be transforming that facility into something new, yet old; something surprising, yet familiar: like those disciples who shared in Jesus’ rebirth, when they were recreated by his breath. And think what faith has shown us about ourselves: our amazing capacity to give - of time, talent, and wealth - for something we believe in; our capacity to keep the mission of our church alive and well – even at 4:00 in the afternoon at Four Corners; or in Annapolis on Friday as we witnessed the Governor signing our bond bill; or at a house on Dewey Road yesterday for Christmas in April; or at a Chamber of Commerce banquet last night where two of our own were honored as Silver Spring’s volunteers of the year; or even stuffing envelopes for yet another critical mailing that has to go out right away. Yes, all this requires time, night meetings, determination, attention to detail, and one more surge of energy. All of that. But where does the energy to do it all come from? It comes from faith. And the fruits of this faith are, indeed, wondrous to behold. AMEN!

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