Doubt is one of our noblest capacities

Bishop Don Wimberly presided and preached this morning.  Great sermon, based on the story of Doubting Thomas in today's Gospel reading. 

Some of the things he said (I paraphrase):

• Jesus was a doubter. He was a doubter about the Judaic notion of a warlord messiah. He was a doubter that without strict adherence to the Law it was impossible to be in a right relationship with God.

• Don't despise your doubt: Honor it; it's one of your noblest capacities.

• The faith you merely inherit, without ever questioning and struggling with it, will never truly be your own.

• An honest doubter, by subjecting his own doubts to the process of doubt, can come to faith by process of elimination.

* * *

I jotted down some thoughts of my own while listening to the bishop. Here's an edited version:

Doubt arises from a willingness to admit we don't know it all; a willingness to remain open to the reality that God wrought, instead of claiming (in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary) that we already know everything we'll ever need to know.

Doubt is thus an important contributor to faith as defined by the Rev. Barbara Brown Taylor: "[An] openness to truth, whatever truth may turn out to be."