If your worship this week includes John 20: 24-29 (the story of “doubting” Thomas), here’s an act of worship and intercessory prayer you might consider.
Befriending Doubt
A large question mark on card is carried to the place of display.
Music may be played during this.
One: ‘Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?’
Two: I envy those who have never doubted.
I would like to have such certainty.
But things happen to me and to other people
that make me question Your power O God.
And every funeral I attend
invites me to travel the Emmaus road once more.
One: It takes courage and trust to befriend doubt.
You need to be prepared to journey.
Apathy, inaction, complacency and self-centredness
are the opposites of faith—not doubt.
Follow the way of Christ.
Pray, praise God and love Your neighbour as yourself.
For it is in the acting out that we find the answers.
Two: Only by faith can we live the questions.
I have experienced incredible breakthroughs in faith.
(list or testimonies)
Both: We are witnesses of these things.
ALL: We pray for those who live in perpetual fear.
We pray for those who are crippled by their insecurities.
We give thanks for those whose strength of faith
upholds and encourages others in the face of adversity.
We praise God for the reassurance of Jesus,
that when we reach out and touch our ghosts
we too will discover that Christ is alive. Amen.
— from Resources for The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and throughout the year (2010), jointly prepared and published by The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and The Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches. Posted on the World Council of Churches website.
