A little while ago, I posted up three articles that I had written for our national Churches of Christ Australian paper. This is the fourth article in the series. The series explored the different pathways to faith we discover in the twentieth chapter of John.

1. The pathway of Mary

2. The pathway of John

3. The pathway of Peter

This is the pathway of Thomas.

This article continues our exploration of the different responses to the risen Jesus in the twentieth chapter of John, using them as a tool to examine the differences in the way people connect with God. In the first three articles, we have seen that Mary’s response was the pathway of devotion, the beloved disciple’s response was the pathway of knowledge and Peter’s response was the pathway of action. There is a one more response in this chapter: Thomas the pathway of struggle.

It is impossible to exactly describe or categorise our individual spiritualities. However, it is valuable to consider the ways that each of us most naturally respond to and connect with God. These four pathways in the twentieth chapter of John are a particularly useful tool for me in this regard. They are drawn from an article written by Bruce Rumbold and published in the February 1999 edition of Reo (the journal of the Churches of Christ Theological College, Mulgrave, Vic).

This time we will explore closely the response of the apostle Thomas—the pathway of struggle. In this type of connection with God there are natural strengths, but also particular dangers. Perhaps you will find yourself resonating with this pathway, or perhaps this sort of response will seem foreign and unfamiliar to you in your standard way of operating. Thomas represents those of us who struggle with our faith. We become increasingly frustrated with simplistic answers and formulas. They don’t seem to match our life experience and therefore they are rejected along with other religious language we perceive as meaningless.

Thomas typifies this struggle. When he hears from the disciples that Jesus has appeared them, he is sceptical. He tells them that until he can put his fingers in the nail holes on Jesus’ wrists he won’t believe! I sure there are moments in our own faith journey where have said something similar. This response of faith would resonate with those of us who and ourselves experiencing God through doubt and questioning. For some of us, this type of struggle is very much a part of our faith experience. We find ourselves at times frustrated with the mystery of God. Attempting to come to terms with what is considered central to our faith is critical for our faith development. As we struggle we experience God’s love and it is here that we feel closest to God. Bruce Rumbold writes: “We experience Jesus calling us to take hold of what really matters, and to lay aside the rest, to uncover the simple profundity of Gospel.”

It sounds strange to our ears speak of “doubt” as a pathway faith—the two seem to directly contradict each other! However for some it is quite natural tread the pathway of faith strongly, while questioning every step. Indeed it is a valuable faith, which continues in the face of, and often because of, this constant struggle. As the Caulfield’s sing in their song “Fragile”—”If I can’t believe in you it doesn’t mean I don’t”.

Isn’t it uncomfortable to ask where in our churches we have allowed people the freedom to struggle and question their faith? Perhaps those who identify with this pathway the most are no longer even in the church. What a betrayal of the type of courage illustrated by Thomas in this chapter of John. For Thomas to grasp the reality of the kingdom of God he wants to identify the nuts and bolts of the call of Jesus and then he will commit wholeheartedly. Can we not make space for this? However, for Thomas and this pathway of struggle there is a particular danger that doubt will become the sole focus. As Bruce Rumbold writes: “There is a case to be made for trusting the insights and perceptions of others in the community.” Like all the approaches, this one needs to integrate the strengths of the other paths. Struggle is an appropriate pathway, it is an appropriate response, but it must take into account particularly the deep relationship derived from the devotion pathway. Struggle without the resources of an intimate relationship is in danger of becoming suffocating and self-defeating. Bruce Rumbold describes the strengths and dangers of this path this way: “Struggle at its best guards the mystery of faith against trivialisation, challenging the superstition or gullibility which masquerades as faith. Yet at its worst it can become cynical, bitter and directionless, always reacting, never initiating.”

This week, I encourage you to consider this path of struggle. Is connecting with God through doubt a natural response for you? If it isn’t, take the opportunity to find someone who finds this pathway natural and allow him or her to help you explore this approach.

This is the final article in this series. We have explored together four responses to the risen Jesus as depicted in the twentieth chapter of John. I hope that in many of them you have seen your own faith journey reflected, but also identifi ed areas in which perhaps you need to explore deeper. I have come to suspect that many of the different denominations we have today are characterised by their priority on one response, often at the exclusion or suppression of the others. Can you identify them? It is a strong temptation to build high fences around our own natural response and look towards other responses with fear and suspicion. But, we need to allow each pathway to enrich and balance us. This is one of the strengths, but also the tension of living in Christian community. How are we as a movement called Churches of Christ demonstrating our ability to cope with different pathways?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 29th, 2003 at 6:17 pm by phil and is filed under spirituality and prayers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.