Service Sunday May 31, 2026
HIGHLAND HILLS UNITED CHURCH
Minden, Ontario
All are Welcome!
Worship Leader: Rev. Max Ward
Music Director: Melissa Stephens
Watch a video recording of the whole service using YouTube below
(For a Printer Friendly PDF version click this link)
Message: “Having Doubts? Lend a Hand Anyway!”
Listen to an audio recording of the Message below or read it at the bottom of this page.
Due to illness, the remainder of the webpage will be left undone at this time.
Sermon 2026 05 31
“Having Doubts? Lend a Hand Anyway!”
Matthew 28:16 - 20
Gracious God, be with us today in this place, in the Scriptures and in our words.
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts praise your Holy name. Amen.
Matthew begins by talking about the 11 disciples.
There are only eleven because this story takes place after Easter, after the suicide of Judas.
The number eleven is an incomplete dozen.
It reminds us that, even in the early days following the resurrection the followers of Jesus were scared.
But even if the number eleven is incomplete, it is the number of the church that Jesus sends into the world.
It is fallible & imperfect.
Sort of like our experiences sometimes.
The church is made up of very ordinary people.
Most of the church’s work gets done by ordinary people.
Most of the church’s offerings come from people of ordinary and limited means.
But what is even more important is that Jesus uses this group - our unimportant, fallible people - to do his work.
If we take the words of Matthew at face value - “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” - it doesn’t seem like a wise choice!
With all the power such authority implies wouldn’t you want to call on the professionals instead of the beginners?
But Jesus takes an imperfect church and gives it an eternal vocation.
He takes ordinary Christians and puts them to work doing extraordinary things.
But that first group doesn’t just limp in numbers.
When they gathered there on that mountain in Galilee, “they worshipped, but some doubted.”
Let’s be clear.
They all worshipped and some of those who worshipped also doubted.
In other words, here in this foundational story of the church, there is capacity for doubt and faith to coexist.
Maybe their doubts can give us a clue to our own.
It would not surprise me if many of us, even as we gather in worship, have doubts.
I know I have my doubts.
We may wonder about our doubts.
We may feel guilty about them.
We may even think that they disqualify us or make us into “not very good Christians.”
Yet maybe the doubts of some of those eleven can throw some light on our own.
Not long ago, I remember reading an article in the Toronto Star.
It said, “If God is all good, then is there any logical way to explain pain?”
Professor of Bioethics, Peter Singer makes strong arguments.
They fill me with a sense of doubt.
We all have times of doubt.
Can you think of one of those times?
One of those times when you really didn’t know what to believe or do?
For me, one of those times is when a young person dies.
I doubt that God is a loving God.
I doubt that my longer life is somehow worth living more than that potential life that was lost.
I doubt the words that I try to say that seem so feeble and inadequate but what can be said?
Then I get thinking about how a loving God is also grieving with me.
I get thinking that every life is precious, no matter how long or short.
I realize that it is not so much the words that I offer but the intent and presence that matter more than the words.
I remember that I am not alone and that the Spirit is always with me and somehow I can manage to continue.
I am able to put one foot in front of the other and some days that is all I am able to manage.
Most days, I can manage much more, and I am thankful, and I am happy, and I am refilled full of life once more.
For me, I hold it all together, loosely, by having faith that the God that I worship is saddened and grieves the loss of life happening around the world.
We share those doubts across the centuries, when we are hard-pressed to see what good our faith does in our life.
We may confess that Jesus is Lord, but lots of other powers seem to have a more obvious and greater impact on our lives.
We may pray “thy will be done” but there are lots of other kingdoms in this world that seem to have more clout when it comes to getting what they want.
So we wonder and we may doubt.
This is where we all have a choice.
We can either…
A. dwell on our doubts and be stuck in misery. OR
B. we can follow the call of Jesus despite our doubts.
The disciples went out and did Jesus’ will.
The answer to their doubts and ours - go and do.
You may have heard, WWJD; What Would Jesus Do?
I am suggesting, WCID; What Can I Do?
There are many good examples of that in history and perhaps in our own lives.
Where people weren’t sure they could do it, or do it all, or weren’t even clear what the “it” was that they were supposed to do.
But in the going, and the doing, in Christ’s name, clarity came forth.
You may have noticed the emphasis on action.
On actually living our faith and putting it into practice.
Whether or not we have doubts; doubts about the faith, doubts that God is good and loving or even if God really exists, we can still live a life of loving action.
We can still help each other like a neighbour or a friend.
What Would Jesus Do?
What Can I Do?
Thanks be to God. Amen.
