daily townsman / daily bulletin
Friday, MARCH 8, 2013
NEWS/religion
Page 15
Sometimes I wish I didn’t have faith
T
here’s a story at the end of the Gospel of John, just after Jesus is raised, in which he appears to the disciples. Thomas isn’t there; when the others tell him, Thomas utters the words for which he has become famous, “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.” (John 20: 25) It’s why he’s known as “doubting Thomas”. Wouldn’t you think that Jesus would tell him to have more faith? But that’s not what happens. Jesus comes back and offers himself to Thomas, “See me; touch me; do not doubt but believe.” At the very end of the story, Jesus blesses “those who have not seen and yet still believe.” Now if I’m being really honest, that’s a blessing I
would rather do without. Given the choice I would rather “see” than “believe.” Simply put, I wish I didn’t have faith. I don’t mean I wish I didn’t believe in God or in following Jesus or anything like that. That’s not what I mean at all. In fact, I mean just the opposite. I wish I had knowledge. I wish I had certainty. I wish I had proof. I wish I could have been there with Jesus and the others. I wish I could have heard him with my own ears and seen him with my own eyes. I wish I could have seen the empty tomb, or been there to touch the risen Lord with my own hands. The trouble is that this wasn’t enough for most of the people who had the chance I wish I had. Sure, Jesus and his disciples accu-
Rev. Yme Woensdregt mulated thousands of followers, but the majority of people in Jesus’ day didn’t join The Way. They saw just him as yet another in a long line of charismatic teachers and would–be messiahs. I suspect, though, that if I had been there, it wouldn’t have been enough for me either, or for most of us. But there are days when I crave that kind of certainty, that kind of knowledge and assurance. But it is not to be. And I suspect I’m not alone. We don’t like to talk about this sort of thing much, but I’m willing to bet that there are
many Christians who feel the same way. They have been taught that doubt is the opposite of faith, and so they struggle with their wonderings. They are afraid to talk about it, because they think they’ll be scorned. But I don’t believe that doubt is the opposite of faith. In fact, I believe that faith embraces our deepest doubts, faces them head on and chooses to trust that God’s goodness is alive in the universe. We have faith precisely because we do doubt. If we didn’t doubt, we wouldn’t have faith. We would have knowledge. One of my favourite spiritual writers, Frederick Buechner, describes doubt as “the ants in the pants of faith. It keeps it awake and moving.” Faith is a living relationship, in which we choose to trust. Faith is not
simply a head trip. It’s an ongoing, living relationship with God. It’s about giving our heart and soul in trust, and walking in the way of Jesus, trusting that God’s purposes are being born in our lives and in the universe. That’s not a passive believing that everything is going to work out for the best. Christianity is not a foolish, Pollyanna–esque way of living. Rather, living in that kind of relationship with God involves us in a partnership to work with God for the healing of the world. Throughout Scripture, and throughout the history of the world, God’s people have faced doubt, and continued to live in trust anyway. For many of God’s people who have faced even the deepest of doubts, those doubts have been the very
catalyst for their faith. Why? Because the more they doubted, the more they were forced to rely on God to see them through the trials that gave rise to their doubts. I am a person of faith, not because I’m absolutely certain that God’s life is at work in the world. I am a person of faith because I choose to live in the trust and the hope that it is so. I choose, on the basis of this trust, to live as if it were so. Some would call me a fool. That’s okay. I’ve been called worse. But it is precisely this kind of foolishness that gives my life the goodness that keeps me working for healing and compassion to stay alive in the world.
Yme Woensdregt is Pastor at Christ Church Anglican in Cranbrook
Good to the last drop
Plants lure honeybees by spiking nectar with caffeine M a lco l m R i t t e r Associated Press
NEW YORK — Talk about a caffeine buzz: A new study says honeybees get a shot of caffeine from certain flowers, and it perks up their memory. That spurs them to return to the same type of plant, boosting its prospects for pollination and the future of the plant species. Maybe it shouldn’t be a surprise that one of the flowers is the coffee plant. Its nectar offers about as much caffeine concentration as a cup of instant coffee, according to researchers. But some citrus plants serve caffeine too, albeit in lower concentrations. It’s found in the nectar of orange and grapefruit blossoms. The caffeine helps a bee remember that the flower’s scent promises a tasty payoff, the researchers said. So the bee will seek out those flowers, transferring their pollen. How could researchers tell the caffeine boosts a bee’s memory? In an experiment that used lab tools instead of flowers, they trained individual bees to expect a sugary drink when they smelled a certain floral scent. Some bees got nectar-like concentrations
of caffeine in their drink; others didn’t. Then after a day or more, they exposed the insects to the same scent and watched to see if they extended their feeding tubes in response, a sign they
were ready to sip. After 24 hours, the bees that had gotten caffeine were three times as likely to remember as bees that hadn’t. After 72 hours, they were twice as likely. Bees can’t taste caf-
feine at levels found in nectar, but the researchers found it affects certain brain cells involved in memory. The work, by Geraldine Wright of Newcastle University in En-
Cranbrook Ministerial
Church Directory First Baptist Church Pastor Kevin Ewaskow Children’s Ministries Worship Service 10:30 am 334 - 14th Ave. 250-426-4319 office@fbccranbrook.org
Cranbrook United Church #2 12 Avenue S.
(downtown by Safeway)
with Rev. Frank Lewis Ph: 250-426-2022 / Fax: 250-426-2085
Sunday Worship...10:00 am Sunday School 1st & 3rd Sundays www.cranbrookunited.com
Kimberley United Church 10 Boundary St. – 250-427-2428
Rev. Christine Dudley Sunday Worship at 10 am www.kimberleyunited.ca
Cranbrook and Kimberley
Calvary Chapel Cranbrook 10:30 am Sunday mornings The Studio/Stage Door 11 - 11th Ave. S., Cranbrook
250-421-1822 www.calvarychapelcranbrook.com
Interpreter for the deaf available Text 250-919-6335
Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Parish (Kimberley)
invites you to join us in celebration. Saturdays at 7:00pm and/or Sundays at 9:30am Weekday mass as posted. Visitors are always welcome.
Knox Presbyterian Church Corner Victoria & 3rd St. S. 250-426-7165
Senior Pastor: Dr. Ron Foubister Pastor to Young Families: Al Brouwer Sunday Worship, Children’s Classes – 10:00am Friendly congregation, biblical preaching, traditional and contemporary music. Everyone welcome.
strong evidence that coffee and citrus plants use the caffeine strategy. Now the question is how many plants might use this trick, he said in an email. After all, bees pollinate thousands of
species. Wright said in an email that other plants are now under study, but that only about 100 species can make caffeine.
Weekday Morning/Afternoon Cbk. Kim.
THIS WEEK
gland and co-authors, was reported Thursday by the journal Science. Gene Robinson, a bee biologist at the University of Illinois who didn’t participate in the study, said it provides
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