Hello World,

Did you eat your collard greens and black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day? I didn’t.  As far as I know, this is an American custom. I don’t think Jamaicans have a similar New Year’s Day custom – at least it wasn’t that way in my Jamaican household.

So rather than eating collard greens and black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day, I was at the movies. It’s been a long while since I’ve gone to the movies…I love movies, but I haven’t heard of very many movies lately that I’ve wanted to pay my money to see. But I must say I really enjoyed seeing the movie “Doubt.” I had heard about the movie, which stars Meryl Streep and Viola Davis, on NPR and “The View.” First of all, Meryl Streep is a beast, isn’t she? She is probably one of the best actresses of all time….She literally loses herself in every role. I loved her in “The Bridges of Madison County.” (Swoon, swoon) I hated and loved her in the “The Devil Wears Prada.” (She reminded me of my worst boss ever!) And in this movie, she is a tough-talking nun with a Bronx accent!  (And I believed it! She scared me!)  A beast, I tell you!

Also, I want to shout out Viola Davis too! You know I gotta shout out my black actresses! She is a remarkable actress with an equally remarkable story. Davis was the one actually featured on NPR and on “The View.” I really felt her pain as I watched her wide, wild, teary eyes accompanied by runaway snot in the movie.

Potential movie spoiler ahead! The movie is about a 1960s Catholic school in the Bronx that is undergoing “CHANGE” as its first black student has been admitted.  Sister Aloysius Beauvier, portrayed by Streep, is the principal of the school. Her no-nonsense demeanor and pinched face inspire dread and fear from the students to the teachers under her leadership. Her leadership and sensibilities are challenged by Father Flynn, portrayed by Philip Seymour Hoffman (a beast in his own right. Remember him in “Boogie Nights?” ) Flynn, a card-carrying member of the good ole boy priest network, wants to bring about his own CHANGE at the school by injecting secular Christmas carols during the school’s Christmas program, taking the students on camping trips and other practices frowned upon by the Sister.

The two get locked in a battle of wits and will when the Sister suspects, without very much tangible evidence, that Flynn is having an (ahem) inappropriate relationship with the school’s first black student.  However, her relentless pursuit of Flynn along with a little white lie ultimately lead to Flynn resiging from the school. (Actually, in spite of the accusations directed at him, Flynn is put in a higher position at another school.) By the end of the movie, it is never absolutely proven that Flynn is guilty, and the Sister sobs as she admits she has doubts. And she never reveals exactly what she doubts. I think she doubted if Flynn was actually guilty, but I also think she doubted the Catholic church which has had a history of protecting some of its priests while allowing children to be abused by these  same priests.

Anyway, ALL of that to say, was is it that you have doubted in your life? Some believe that if you have never doubted your faith, then you have no real faith at all. Perhaps, the most famous Biblical doubter is Thomas aka Didymus. I remember how my fifth-grade teacher at Pathway Christian School said, “Didymus.” Something about the way he said it made me want to giggle. I think he even dressed up as the apostle once, but I digress…

Thomas said that he didn’t believe that Jesus was resurrected from the dead. “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.” John 20:25  Rather than banish him to Hell or even chide him, Jesus came to Thomas and instructed him to touch His hands and His side to remove his doubt. Of course, Thomas believed then. Jesus said, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:29

It was revealed in 2007 that Mother Teresa, too, had doubts about God. Read an article about it here.  In spite of her of her God-given call to the poor, she often wondered if God even existed and cared.

So my question is on this first Sunday of 2009 is, do you ever doubt that God exists? How do you know that God is real? Unlike Thomas, none of us alive now have been able to actually touch Jesus, see the nail prints on His hands or put our hands into His side? Faith is “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” But sometimes, don’t you just wish you could see…

Any thoughts?