AfterWords | Doubts Even Here (April 7, 2024)
AfterWords is a series of community-contributed reflections intended to further the conversations that begin during Parish sermons.
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A 3-Minute Read
by Laura Boggs
Eight days later, his disciples were again in the room. This time Thomas was with them. Jesus came through the locked doors, stood among them, and said, “Peace to you.” John 20:26 MSG
Doubts Even Here
All at once there he was—
the guest of honor,
hosting a surprise party.
Hello again, he said,
shalom.
As for you,
don’t you know by now who I Am?
Take what you’ve been told
and toss it.
Throw away the notions handed down:
that I came to make your little-k kingdom great again,
to trounce the bad guys of the day.
Or do you worry you are the ultimate bad guy?
You think we’re separate,
you and I,
with your shame the truest thing about you.
You’re convinced I came to punish
or be punished.
Scrap your lousy theology
and touch
my open hands, my side.
I did this
to show you
what God is like.
Your God, your God was on that tree!
Take this better word,
this better thought,
tuck it away for tomorrow
and the next day
and the day after that.
For a week now,
or has it been longer, really—
you’ve been on a walkabout.
Be gentle with yourself,
for your doubts,
your deconstruction,
have led you here,
to the real thing,
standing before you.
Trace these wounds;
learn them by heart,
as I’ve learned the shape of yours.
Let’s make something new,
me and you,
me in and for and with you,
until the end of the age.
