Today I want to talk about the purpose of doubt and the power of belief.

Sometimes, church members will tend to view doubt as something that is bad-even evil, or at least evidence of spiritual weakness. Sometimes they will even talk about doubt as sin, as something to be avoided at all costs, something to be repressed or denied.

I do not agree. I think doubt is not only part of what marks us as human beings who think, I view doubt as having a positive purpose. If we humans did not doubt, we would still be holding our cave-dwelling ancestors' views of life, the universe and God. Doubt questions what is, and what is needs to be tested from time to time.

I assume we have all heard the old story about the mother who came down hard on her children whenever they tossed their hats on a bed. Finally one of the children asked, "Why is keeping hats off our beds such a big deal?" The answer she gave was that her mother never allowed hats to be placed on beds. One day, when her mother was visiting, the children asked their grandmother, "Why did you make such a big deal about not allowing hats to be on beds?" The grandmother said she did not know what they were talking about. At that point the mother of the children jumped in the conversation and said, "Mother, you did make a big deal about hats on beds. I remember when some next door children came to play and we all tossed our hats on the bed; you had told us not to do that and when we did, you grounded me for a week." "Oh," the grandmother replied, "that was because those neighbors usually had lice in their hair."

Doubt and questioning can clear the air and set us free from irrelevant perceptions and practices.

If we are chopping weeds in the garden and mud clings to the hoe so that we are no longer able to chop weeds, we scrape off the mud so we can get on with the job. Doubt is what scrapes the mud and crud off of our assumptions and beliefs so that we are better able to get on with life.

Doubt has a purpose, and it is a positive one. As I see it, doubt is a good gift God has given us to set us free from misunderstandings from the past, and to enable us to the scrape off the social and cultural mud and crud that builds up over the generations.

But like every good gift we have received from God, we can misuse it and abuse it. It is one thing to have doubts, it is another to embrace doubting as a way of life. There is more to weeding a garden than scraping mud off a hoe. To be effective in our living, we must do more, much more, than question assumptions, perceptions and beliefs. As important as it is to do these things, what gives our living direction, meaning and vitality is what we really believe.

Doubt has a purpose in life, but what we really believe gives power to our living.

However, the beliefs that have power are not merely ideas or theories we consider to be accurate and true. It is one thing to believe God is; it is something else, to believe in God. It is one thing to believe with our intellect that the universe was created by God. It is something else to believe God is our Creator and the Lord of all that is.

The beliefs that have power are those beliefs that are the foundation on which our perceptions and assumptions are based. The beliefs that have power are the beliefs that shape our attitudes, influence the way we think and talk, and guide what we choose to do and leave undone, what we choose to support and what we choose to oppose.

Doubt has its roll to play in life. But what we believe, what we really believe, what we believe in, has the power to give our living direction and the power to motivate us to act. There is great power in what we really believe. This is true for good or evil. The beliefs of Adolph Hitler and his Nazi followers both gave direction to their lives and empowered them in their living. The beliefs of the apostle Paul or John Wesley also gave direction to their lives and empowered their living. But, my, what a difference between Wesley and Hitler.

Because what we really believe is what shapes our perception of life, our attitude toward life, and our words and deeds in life, the question of what we believe, really believe, is the most important question.

Today is Confirmation Sunday. In the 9:30 service the Confirmation Class was asked some ancient questions having to do with what they believe. But these questions are not for them alone. They belong to the whole congregation; in fact, they belong to all people everywhere who call themselves Christians. These questions have to do with basic beliefs-basic beliefs that are intended to give our lives focus and our living direction.

Of course, it is possible to view these questions as merely ritual, and to treat this service of confirmation as merely a church ceremony young people are expected to go through at this age. And if that is the way this service and these questions are viewed this service will be merely a meaningless exercise of religious and social window dressing, and the beliefs that are affirmed will be powerless. But if we are to be empowered to live as disciples of Christ, these are the basic beliefs that are to guide and shape our living.

The first question is: "Do you truly and earnestly repent of your sin?" Are you so sincere and serious about all this that you are going to turn away from the behavior, values and attitudes that separate you from God and keep you from being the person God intends you to be? "Do you truly and earnestly repent of your sin?"

"Do you believe in God, the Father?" Do you really believe that the Creator of all that is is like the ideal parent Jesus said God is-One who is for us and not against us? Do you really believe that our relationship with God should be like a child's relationship with the ideal parent? "Do you believe in God, the Father?"

"Do you believe in Jesus Christ?" Do you really believe that in Jesus God has shown us who God is and also at the same time shown us who we have been created to be? Is your living going to be guided by what God has revealed through Jesus? "Do you believe in Jesus Christ?"

"Do you believe in the Holy Spirit?" Do you really believe God is active in the world and in history? Do you believe God is present and active in your life? "Do you believe in the Holy Spirit?"

"Do you receive and profess the Christian faith as contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments?" Do you recognize that the Scriptures are the basic documents we have telling us about God, telling us about life, telling us about Jesus, and telling us about living? Are you going to take the Bible seriously, so seriously that you will set aside time to study the writings it contains? And are you going to allow the Truth revealed in the Bible to shape the way you live? "Do you profess the Christian faith as contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments?"

"Do you promise, according to the grace given you, to keep God's holy will and commandments and walk in the same all the days of your life as faithful members of Christ's holy Church?" Or, to say this in other words, will you allow the love of God that is at work in your life to shape the way you live? Do you promise to do the best you can to love God with all that you are and to love others as you love yourselves? And do you promise to remain connected to the family of faith that is striving to live Christ like love? Do you realize that it is in your staying connected with others who are also striving to be faithful that you will be able to love God with all you are and to love others as you love yourself? "Do you promise, according to the grace given you, to keep God's holy will and commandments and walk in the same all the days of your life as faithful members of Christ's holy Church?"

Doubt is part of life, and we should never be afraid of doubt. Doubt helps us identify what is true and false. But as important as doubt is, it is not enough to build a life upon. The real power in our living comes from what we believe, what we really believe, what we believe in. What we believe, really believe, matters. What we believe sets the direction we go in life and influences what we say and do along the way. Wrong beliefs lead to wrong living, sometimes living that is so wrong it is evil. Right belief empowers us to live as God intends us to live.

God, shape our beliefs so that we are empowered to live as you intend us to live. Amen.

Pastoral Prayer:
God, on this day our nation has set aside to honor mothers, we give thanks for our mothers and for all those who have been like mothers to us. For all those women and men who have provided the mothering nurture needed to bring out the best in us, we give you thanks.
We are also aware that for some, this day is not only a day celebrating their mothers, but also a day of grief because of their inability to give birth to children. Free them from bondage to regret, comfort them, and enable them to discover ways to express their abilities to nurture children.
And God, we know that others have painful memories of their mothers. Give them the grace they need to forgive what needs to be forgiven so that they will be set free from old angers and resentments and be able to move on, living the lives you intend them to live.
In a similar way, O God, heal the hurt within those mothers and fathers who are in pain because of the wrong and destructive choices their children have made. Give them the grace they need to move on with their lives.
All this we pray in the name of the one who taught us to pray: "Our Father …"