Well, it’s that time of year...the grass is getting greener, the weather is getting warmer, flowers are getting ready to come up, every spring, every year at this time after Easter we are filled with hope, we are filled with the promise of new life, the promise of possibilities, this time every year we hear the good news, we hear the message: that good will overcome evil, that victory is ours, that this is the year God will make things right, this is the year we will see God’s hand at work in the world and in our lives, yes, this is the year...that the Red Sox will win the World Series.

I say that for the benefit of all you Red Sox fans out there, even though I myself, am a Mets fan. My father was a Mets fan, his father before him was a Mets fan and God willing, my children will be Mets fans, too. While all you Red Sox fans were in your backyards pretending you were Carl Yazmstremski, and Carlton Fisk, we in my neighborhood were pretending we were the Miracle Mets - winners of the 1969 World Series: Cleon Jones, Tug McGraw, Ron Swoboda and Tom Seaver - I was Cleon Jones.

Since living in York, however, I have developed an affinity for the Red Sox, I even root for them if it looks like the Mets aren’t doing very well which has been the case lately. I’ve been to Red Sox games and had a great time - at home we gather together and watch them whenever they’re on T.V. I even think, like everyone else, that they’ve got a great team and an awfully cute general manager - which is just how I judge a team, and they might even have a chance this year.

But what really impresses me about the Red Sox is the fans - and raise your hand if you’re a Red Sox fan...what really impresses me about the fans, what really impresses me about you is your undying belief, that this is the year...this is the year the Sox will win the World Series...and you believe it every year... and you’re not kidding.

I heard on the radio last week that a movie has been made about last year’s American League Championships Series and instead of calling it something like, "the agony of defeat", or "Oops, we did it again", the title of the movie detailing the ups and downs, of last year’s Championships is "Still, we Believe". Still, we believe that the Red Sox have a chance. Still, we believe in the team, still we believe it will happen. Still, we believe.

And the amazing thing is....it doesn’t matter what has happened in the past, it doesn't’ matter that the Sox haven’t won a World Series since 1918, it doesn’t matter that last year the hopes and dreams of fans everywhere was snatched from their grasp in the last seconds - deep down in the hearts of all Red Sox fans, deep down in your hearts, you believe that it can and will happen. That this is the year. Still, you believe.

There are doubters of course - those who say it’ll never happen. Yankee fans, the occasional sports writer and analysts. You’re just dreaming they say, look at your record! But the Red Sox fan stands firm and says, No. It will happen. It happened once, it can happen again. There is precedence. There may not be any actual eye witnesses left to that great day in 1918, but there is historical evidence that it happened and people have been telling the story of it ever since. Others may doubt, but still, we believe.

There are those nay sayers who say, not this year, the Yankees have A-Rod - they continue to be a force to be reckoned with. To which the Red Sox fans says, "Are you kidding? Have you seen our team? They’re great! Nomar is almost off the injured list. It looks like Manny will earn his salary this season, we’ve got Trot Nixon and Varitek, the good-looking outfielder John Damon and the outstanding first baseman Kevin Millar and now..... and now, we’ve got Curt Shilling. Sure, he talks funny but boy can he pitch. Oh yes, the Sox fan says, this is the year.

But you’ve had so many setbacks, the doubters continue. For starters, there’s the curse of the Bambino, you never should have traded Babe Ruth to the Yankees. And there was the moment in game 4 against the Miracle Mets in 1986 - when the ball went through Bill Bucker’s legs at first base and last year... last year game seven against the Yankees when Pedro Martinez pitched a little longer than he should have. To which the honest Red Sox fan says, true, but look at all the good that has happened over the years...

The Red Sox produced Cy Young and Ted Williams, the greatest player ever to play the game, we’ve won the Pennant 16 times, been to the W.S. and won 3 of them. And think of all the joy the Red Sox have brought kids and adults everywhere over the years. There are many more good things than bad.

It will take a miracle, the doubters say shaking their heads. That’s o.k., the Red Sox fans says, we believe in miracles. We’ve seen it happen to other teams.

Christians everywhere, of course, can relate to the beleaguered but ever hopeful Red Sox fans, we know what it’s like to go through life spending half your time trying to live out your faith and the other half defending it from doubters and nay sayers.

People we know and even those we don’t know, who can’t figure out why we gather each week to worship a God we can’t see, who can’t understand why we follow a Savior whose birth and death and resurrection defy the laws of all science and physics and a few other laws as well.

And they always ask these deep theological questions at the most inopportune and unexpected times - over a quick cup of coffee at Carla’s, or in the frozen food section at Hannafords, over what you thought was a nice quiet dinner with friends. "Do you really believe in Jesus Christ? Can you explain the resurrection to me? I don’t get it." And try as we might, it’s hard to answer deep theological questions – especially when we’re caught off guard and the person asking is looking for a simple, one sentence answer usually involving some proof. Simply saying, "because I do, that’s why, or "because the bible tells me so" is generally not enough. My husband once received a letter with these questions.

"Can you explain the Trinity? It’s so confusing. How about the resurrection? And how do we know there’s such a place as heaven?

And the letter ended with, "I look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible". A week later I found the letter buried under a pile of paperwork, because as Brad explained, he was still trying to figure out how to respond..there are no quick or easy answers because so much of our faith requires believing in those things we cannot see; those things that to many people don’t make sense, believing in those things that defy logic, believing in miracles.

Like I said, we have a lot in common with Red Sox Fans.

Believing without seeing is hard. Most people have trouble doing it. And at some point or another we all go through it - it’s part of our faith development. You talk to a child about Jesus and they eat it up; they’re with you, they believe it, what’s not to believe? You tell them Jesus died on a cross and was raised to new life with God and they’re right there with you shouting Alleluia. Their faith begins way over on this side of the pendulum

Then they turn 10 and they start to question and doubt...which is o.k. doubt is part of faith...it’s part of the learning and growing process. But, this time, when they hear the stories of Jesus, how he healed people and how after he was crucified he was resurrected - we don’t know how - it was a miracle that God did for him, that God did for us - after we say all these things they look at us with those all knowing eyes and say, "Sure, mom.". And some of that skepticism dissipates over the years but some if stays - we are a culture that encourages having concrete evidence, using mathematical and scientific equations to solve the mysteries of the world. We are much more likely to believe something after we’ve seen it than not.

And it’s not just us. Even Jesus’ disciples had trouble believing in something they could not see for themselves. In the gospel of Mark, after Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to Mary Magdalene, she went out and told the others but when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.

And in the gospel of John, the disciple Thomas said to the others who had seen Jesus, unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger - it wasn’t enough to see Jesus - unless I put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe. A week later Jesus appeared to his disciples again and had Thomas do the very thing he needed to do, and Jesus said to him: Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.

Believing without seeing is hard. And yet that’s exactly what Jesus asks us to do. To believe in him so that we may have life.

So I want to suggest to you this morning two things that may help...that may help us being among those who have not seen and yet have come to believe. ...the first is to try to see with something other than your eyes. One of my favorite quotes of all times is from St. Exupery’s book, the Little Prince - in the book the fox is sharing a most important secret with the Little Prince, a secret about life and he says to him: What is essential is invisible to the eye. It is only with the heart that one can see rightly.

Years ago I was teaching a confirmation class and we decided to have a debate; is God real, is Jesus real was the topic. We divided the kids up into two teams - one team’s objective was to prove that God is real, the other was to prove God does not exist. They were able to use their bibles, any other books they could get their hands on including personal experience.

Both teams accepted the challenge with great enthusiasm - there’s nothing a bunch of 14 year olds like better than trying to prove a point - their point. The side trying to prove there is no God came out firing the first shots - the whole Christmas story - it doesn’t make sense, they argued, Jesus born to a Virgin, how would that happen? And Jesus going around performing miracles - there’s no such thing - raising people from the dead and that whole resurrection thing on Easter - couldn’t happen - laws of physics or gravity or something. Besides...they added...has anyone ever seen God? Or Jesus? Have you?

We rest our case...and they sat smugly back in their chairs, confident they had won.

The other team hadn’t expected such an onslaught - but they tried to regroup – "Well," one boy began. "All that stuff you said. It’s in the bible so it must be true. Cause the bible’s been around forever and things just don’t hang around forever if they’re not true. Besides, he said, there were witnesses...he flipped to the gospel of John...because all good confirmands know their bible...there were women with him when he was crucified and his brother, too. And Mary saw him after he was crucified and then Jesus appeared to his disciples in the upper room. So that proves he was alive and did what he said he was going to do.

Yea, the other team countered, but have you ever seen God? Have you ever seen Jesus? The team for God became silent...this was a tough one, how do you respond to this...when one girl who had been on a mission trip that summer to Kentucky said...well...while I was helping to put on a roof for a family this summer on the mission trip, we got to spend time playing with the kids - there were three little girls - and they were so happy to have us there to play with and to work on their house.

They didn’t see many other people living up on the mountain, and their house really needed fixing up, and when we left at the end of the week the mother hugged us and cried and said we were angels sent by God to do the things we did and that she would never forget us. I don’t know if I saw God that week but I know I felt God in my heart. So that’s why I believe in God and that’s why I believe in Jesus.

After the girl finished both sides declared victory and the class fell into complete disarray as confirmation classes sometimes do but the point had been made and heard. When we see with our hearts, believing without seeing is possible.

The second thing I hope you will try is very simple. Try repeating in your prayer time a passage of scripture - The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want or a Creed, like the Apostle’s Creed, I believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth... see what comes of it, see where it leads you.

In her book "Amazing Grace" Kathleen Norris tells of student at seminary who was having trouble saying some of the creeds of the church.

What can one do, he asked a priest when one finds it impossible to affirm certain tenets of the Creed? The priest responded, "Well, you just say it. It’s not that hard to master. With a little effort, most learn can learn it by heart." Feeling that he had been misunderstood, the student asked again, "Well, what am I to do when I have difficulty affirming parts of the Creed - like the Virgin Birth?" And he got the same response. "You just say it. Particularly when you have difficulty believing it. You just keep saying it. It will come to you eventually." The student raised his voice. "But how can I with integrity affirm a creed in which I do not believe?" And the priest replied: "Eventually it may come to you," he told the student. "For some, it takes longer than for others..."

Some scholars criticized the priest saying, you might as well just keep repeating to yourself, "the earth is flat, the earth is flat." Others complained that he was suggesting people not think for themselves. But Norris disagreed. He was, she says, challenging the notion that Christianity is a purely intellectual endeavor. It is, she says, "in acts of repetition that seem senseless to the rational mind that belief comes, doubts are put to rest, religious conversion takes hold, and one feels at home in a community of faith. It is head working inseparably from heart; whole body religion. Much thought, prayer, questioning and pondering go into the process, flowing like currents in a river, steering us in directions we might not have chosen for ourselves"...steering us toward belief.

Have you believed because you have seen me? Jesus asked Thomas. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe. I tell you these things, says John, so that through believing you will have life in Jesus’ name. And having life is what it’s all about.

Still, we believe, says the Red Sox Fans, who by the way, are playing the Yankees this afternoon at 2:00.

Still, we believe, says the Christian, dear God, help our unbelief.

Amen.