Happy Easter! Happy Passover! Happy Spring!

 
SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2019 

VOLUME 13 NO.16

DOUBTING THOMAS

Easter is about a lot of 
things: Dresses, lilies, 
dresses, bunnies, eggs, 
peeps, but at it’s core is 
a historical claim: Jesus 
of Nazareth put through 
the rigors of crucifixion, 
was raised physically and 
bodily from the grave…
but more—theological 
claim: God is not absent, 
he is present, he enters 
in and bear our sin 
and shame and takes 
on darkness and comes 
out the other side. And a 
cosmological claim: Old 
world is put to an end—
God is ushering a new world, he will flood creation 
with his justice, love, and new life. 

It is so good: This is news is fertile ground for hope, 
faith, love, freedom, joy, radical sacrificial action…So 
much to find—Julian Barnes (I don’t believe in God, 
but a miss him). It has brought hope in the face of 
death, stirred people up to action of justice, brought 
tremendous comfort and peace (Peter John Courson: 
“Dad, it works”). 

But it is so dramatic (almost too good to be true), that 
for most of us have asked, “is it true?” is also cause for 
some doubt. We have our questions: Did it happen? 
Does God really care? Is Jesus God incarnate, come 
into the world to make everything new? Is there life 
after death? Will I really be reunited with loved ones. 
Some of us at different times in our life have asked that 
question—or find ourselves haunted by doubts.

Many of us find ourselves—in both places—doubt and 
faith. 

You are not alone. Sometimes – people will ask you as 
a pastor, “Pastor, do you ever doubt” and I say: I never 
doubt. Ever. Years ago one of my kids Crying—I know 
a lot of parents—greater faith and they think, we should 
pray and teach kids to turn to God with the little things. 
I thought, what if she wets her bed! It would be so 
obvious and what would it do to her young faith, and 
what will it do to mine? 

Charles Taylor—A Secular Age: What does it mean 
to live in a secular age? Sure, there a fundamentalist 
believer and unbelievers. But those are on the far 
edges. Most of us are not fundamentalist believers or 
unbelievers, but somewhere in between. Believers 
are fraught with doubt. Doubters haunted by belief – 
transcendence, that there’s got to be something more. 

Jaime Smith: “Faith is fraught…it is haunted by an 
inescapable sense of its contestability. We don’t believe 
instead of doubting; we believe while doubting. We are 
all Thomas Now.” 

Do you see what he is saying? If you have doubts, you are 
not alone. It’s normal. Asking questions is important. 

Doubt does not discredit faith / Doubt is a sub-category 
of faith. The opposite of faith is not doubt, it is unbelief 

Disbelieve = I will not believe! = that is the opposite of 
faith. / But faith is a sub-category of faith. 

Faith and doubt are companions on the journey. It 
presses and moves you in the hunt for truth. 

Both the fundamentalist believer and fundamentalist 
unbelievers simply doubt and make it hard to talk about. 
Religious people: say it’s a terrible and threatening 
thing and they don’t make it safe to express doubt. And 
secular people see perennial doubt as the only position 
of sophistication. It’s intellectual maturity. But Jesus 
has a different approach….and you see it in the story 
of Thomas.

On the one hand Jesus welcomes and is incredibly 
generous and understanding towards doubters. On 
the one hand it encourages trust – stop doubting, and 
believe. Questions are good. It’s important. But the 
point is to lead to a life of trust and commitment. 

A faith without some doubts is like a human body 
without any antibodies in it. People who blithely go 
through life too busy or indifferent to ask hard questions 
about why they believe as they do will find themselves 
defenseless against either the experience of tragedy or 
the probing questions of a smart skeptic. A person’s 
faith can collapse almost overnight if she has failed over 
the years to listen patiently to her own doubts, which 
should only be discarded after long reflection.” – Tim 
Keller

In the story Thomas moves from doubt to a place of 
deep trust. We know him as doubting Thomas (what a 
bummer to get that label for the rest of your life), but he 
actually makes one of the greatest confessions of faith in 
the NT. How? We will see….

1.The Reality of Doubt

Read 20:24-25: “Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called 
the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the 
other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” 
Where we pick up the story it is the first day of the 
week (the first Easter) resurrection, the disciples are 
gathered, and Jesus shows up. And Thomas missed it. 
This is one of the reasons you should never miss church. 
You never know when Jesus might show up. You don’t 
want your friends to say, “You should have been there! 
Jesus really showed up.” Don’t miss church. They say, 
“We saw the Lord!” 

Notice his response (25b) Thomas is incredulous. He 
can’t believe it. There was reason for him to believe. 
He saw the miracles, he heard the words of Jesus. The 
disciples received the Holy Spirit. They all say the same 
thing. Their demaener is transformed. Tears have 
yielded to Joy, their fear gives way to confidence. And 
still he does not believe. He is adamant. “Unless I see…I 
will never believe.” 

Why did he doubt? What is the cause of his skepticism? 

(Continued on page 3)

$20,000 

REWARD 

OFFERED IN 
ARCADIA 
HOMICIDE 
INVESTIGATION



LOS ANGELES COUNTY – 

The Board of Supervisors unanimously 
approved a motion by Supervi-sor 
Kathryn Barger to offer a $20,000 
reward for information leading to 
the apprehension and/or conviction 
of the suspect(s) responsible for the 
heinous murder of Chyong Jen Tsai, a 
76-year-old Arcadia woman. 

 On Tuesday April 9, 2019, at approximately 
7:00 a.m., Arcadia Police 
Department officers were dispatched 
to the 300 block of East Forest Avenue 
in the City of Arcadia. Responding 
officers found 76-year-old Chyong 
Jen Tsai’s body in the backyard of the 
home, and the victim was sub-sequently 
pronounced dead at the scene.

 Investigators are also searching for 
the victim’s 2005 Lexus RX 300, plate 
number 5LOG473, believed to be stolen 
from the home at the time of the 
burglary. The victim is survived by 
her husband and 2 children.

 Investigators believe the offer of a 
reward will encourage witnesses to 
come forward and provide information 
to this investigation. 

 Supervisor Barger encourages anyone 
with information about this crime 
to contact Sergeant Richard Biddle 
from Los Angeles County Sheriff’s 
Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500 
or provide information anonymously 
at “Crime Stoppers” by dialing (800) 
222-TIPS or by visit-ing: lacrimestoppers.
org. 

PAUL HAGEN CHOSEN AS 
2019 SIERRA MADRE OLDER 
AMERICAN OF THE YEAR

The City of Sierra Madre and Sierra Madre Senior Community 
Commission are pleased to announce Paul Hagen as the 
Sierra Madre Older American of the Year for 2019. 

Every May, the Administration on Aging, part of the Administration 
for Community Living, leads our nation's observance 
of Older American's Month. Connect, Create, Contribute, 
the 2019 theme encourages older adults and their 
networks to connect with friends, family, and services that 
support community participation.

Paul Hagen is a thriving example that you are never too old 
(or young) to take part in activities that can enrich your physical, 
mental, and emotional well-being.

Paul willingly served his community as a dedicated volunteer 
Sierra Madre firefighter for 25 years, while working for the 
Sierra Madre Water Department for two decades. Paul’s passion 
for public service is further exhibited through his fundraising 
efforts for the Home Boy Industries "Fun Run 5K", whose motto is "Jobs are better than guns." 

Paul will be honored at the Older American of the Year Reception on Friday, May 10th at the Hart Park House 
from 4:30 to 6:00 P.M. 

For more information on the Older American Reception, or on how you can assist with honoring Paul Hagen, 
please contact the Hart Park House Senior Services Desk at (626) 355-7394; or (626) 355-5278 x704 or x703.


Josh Swanson, Pastor

Christ Church 

Sierra Madre

By Rebecca Wright

On August 18, 1920, almost exactly 
72 years after the Seneca Falls 
Convention, the 19th amendment 
was ratified. This amendment 
guaranteed women the right to 
vote. While both the 15th and 19th 
amendment have not always been 
upheld properly, Nan Johnson 
describes these amendments as 
“work[s] in progress, just like a 
democracy”. Johnson is the founder 
of Pasadena Celebrates 2020, an 
organization that, as part of the 
celebration of 100 years of women’s 
suffrage, will have a float in the 
2020 Rose Parade. 

Johnson is from North Carolina but 
moved to New York for college. She 
studied at Barnard College, attended 
Cornell for one year, and received a 
Master of Political Science from the 
University of Rochester. Johnson 
went on to develop and teach 
many courses for the university; 
these courses included Women 
in Politics, Women in Law, and 
Women’s Politics in Science 
Fiction. In addition to teaching, 
Johnson volunteered quite a bit. 
In the 1960’s, New York saw a 
preservation movement. Rising 
community organization and 
the threat of newer buildings let 
many to fight for the preservation 
of historic homes, avenues, and 
districts. Thanks to the involvement 
of people like Johnson, Rochester 
established a Preservation District 
before New York City did. 

In 1975, Johnson ran for a seat on the 
County Legislator. In New 
York at the time, counties did 
everything; they managed jails, 
traffic, health services, and more. 
Monroe Country, where Johnson 
was running, had a population of 
700,000 people. It also was home 
to several famous names such as 
Kodak, Xerox, and more. At the 
time, Johnson was teaching night 
classes at the college. She describes 
being asked to run as this: “women 
were asked to run in [certain] 
districts where they were sacrificial 
lambs,”. The county could show that 
they were progressive enough to 
have a woman as a candidate while 
still keeping men in power. That 
was not what was going to happen 
to Nan Johnson, however. Her 
chairman, a physicist from Kodak, 
helped run a (contiued on page 3) 

WORLD RENOWNED 
CLIMATOLOGIST 

DR. BILL PATZERT 

TO SPEAK 

World renowned Climatologist, Dr. Bill 
Patzert will speak to the Sierra Madre 
Kiwanis Club on Tuesday, April 23, 
2019at noon. 

Patzert has been a research scientist in 
oceanography at NASA’s Jet Propulsion 
Laboratory, California Institute of 
Technology, since 1983. He explores 
the ocean’s role in climate variability, 
seeks to improve climate forecasting 
using NASA-generated global data and 
communicates scientific knowledge to 
the general public through popular 
articles and media interviews. 

 Patzert also is a member of NASA’s 
Sea Level Change Team. Prior to 
joining JPL, Patzert was a research 
oceanographer at the Scripps 
Institution of Oceanography, 
University of California, San Diego.

On Tuesday, he will speak on our ever 
changing climate and California’s 
forecast.

The Kiwanis Club meets at The Lodge, 
33 E. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre. 
Lunch will be served at noon ($10). 
The program, which is free, will begin 
at 12:40. 

For reservations, please contact 
Kiwanis President Judy Webb-Martin 
at 626-688-2273.

CELEBRATING 100 YEARS OF VOTING


Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com