Biography
The Rev. Dr. Wyvetta Bullock is an ordained minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and was recently appointed Executive for Leadership Development in the Office of the Presiding Bishop. She is founder and CEO of Equipping Leaders Ministries in Oak Park, Illinois. Dr. Bullock also serves as a Pastoral Associate at Bethel Lutheran Church in Chicago and has written articles for several Lutheran publications. [Biographical information is correct as of the broadcast date noted above.]

"Must We See to Believe?" 
In the 20th chapter of St. John, we find the following text:

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced... But Thomas, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 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.”

Do you believe in things you cannot see? Growing up in the 50's and 60's in the southern part of the United States, I learned the value of believing before seeing. In the face of being devalued and discriminated against, I believed that my neighbor and I were created equal. And in the midst of being told that I did not possess the academic capacity of my white counterparts, I believed that I could grow and matriculate through schools of higher learning.

Now, my early years seemed to be filled with contradictions about what was real and what was believed to be true. Another way of saying "believe to be true" is "to have faith in." Webster’s dictionary defines faith as, "firm belief in something for which there is no proof." In the 11th chapter of Hebrews faith is described as, "the assurance of things hoped for, the [evidence] or conviction of things not [yet] seen." The poet, William Wordsworth referred to faith as "passionate intuition." So, one could say that believing or having faith is trusting to the point of knowing.

Trusting something or someone outside ourselves is not always easy. Physicians tell us that if a child doesn't bond with a parent or guardian in the early months of its life, it will have difficulty trusting others as it develops. And, in fact, if trust is not established early in the development stages, a fracture may occur in the child's spirit and affect its personality for life. We live in an interdependent, connected universe. If we are going to live healthy productive lives, we have to learn to trust others and believe in something beyond ourselves.

My parents were people of faith and trust. They passed on to me the gift of faith for believing in what seems impossible. And, in fact, my brother and I were products of their personal faith for children, as they were older parents when we were born.

When you think about it, each one of us uses faith. We all believe in something. Whether it is ourselves, a holy other, or Murphy's Law, we trust in something. What we believe about ourselves and the world around us makes a difference. Anais Nin said, “We don't see things as they are, we see things as we are.” What you believe sets a course for your future and directs your daily activities. Consequently, when we believe only what we can see, we limit ourselves to a whole world of possibilities.

Quantum physicists say that our universe is connected across space and time with this wonderful, invisible web of energy. In other words, what we see is created from what we cannot see. And even more than that, our thoughts, our intentions affect this invisible world for either good or ill. Our ability to create and respond to creation is linked to our beliefs. Our world is really created from the inside out. What is in our heart produces what finally is in our hand. Jesus said it like this, "Out of the good treasure of the heart good is produced." What is seen comes from what is unseen.

In today's scientific and technological world we have plenty of evidence and empirical data to engage our senses. As a result, much of the activities of our daily life go on without thinking about how this things occur. Now, for example, the chair that I’m sitting on. I don’t test to see if it will hold me up. Chairs have proven to be reliable so I don’t have to test it. Based on my experience and the sensory evidence of seeing and touching, so I sit without fear and I trust that the chair will support me.

I also engage the invisible world of technology each day as I imagine most of you do. That is, I use a wireless telephone and computer without thinking about how the information is actually being passed through the atmosphere. Now, although, I can’t see the waves that carry my communications, I believe they are there because of my experience.

There are other areas of my life, however, for which scientific evidence and historical data fall short for providing me with what I need as a human being. When I engage the deeper questions of the purpose and meaning of life, when I face relationships that require reconciling, or when I struggle with life's tragedies, I need something greater than what the current circumstances offer. When situations arise that leave me speechless or that are just too horrific for my thoughts, I need more than what I can engage with my five physical senses. I need to believe and trust in things not yet seen.

There is a story about a pre-civil rights African American community in Florida. The story says that during times of political elections, this community would rent a voting machine and go through the voting process. Now, they knew that their votes would not be counted, but they voted anyway. When asked by members of the white community why they did this every year, they replied, "Oh, just practicing. Just practicing.”

Believing in what is not yet seen means we practice or behave as if it is already exists. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.” This is what leaders and visionaries do. They believe in something bigger than themselves and they begin to act as if it is so.

In reality, we all practice our faith everyday. As we live our lives, we live them based on what we believe about who we are, why we are here, and what the future holds. If we believe the future holds promise for a fulfilled life, we generally work and play with positive expectations. If we believe that the future will not be friendly, we generally live with fear.

Several years ago my congregation's choir planned a trip to Southern Africa. We are a mid-sized congregation in a neighborhood that has many economic and social challenges. When people heard about our plans, they laughed. They said, “You are too small, too poor to make such a trip. You’ll never raise the money for 40 people to travel two weeks in Africa." Well, the circumstances seemed too great to conquer and the obstacles too many to overcome. But we believed. We believed that God was with us in our desire to make this journey and we believed that with that vision would come provision. That with the dream would come the means. So we took the first step and began to raise funds. Not only did we raise enough for our journey, but we gave a tithe of what we raised to our sisters and brothers in Africa. Our faith and trust in God's faithfulness was not disappointed.

Given the everyday challenges and stresses of life, it is not always easy to imagine what has not been done before. Some things may seem so far beyond our reach that they may see laughable. Life's unexpected circumstances can sometimes be so overwhelming that they’re almost too much to bare!

In the 20th chapter of the Gospel according to Saint John, the disciples of Jesus were presented with the overwhelming circumstances of Jesus' death. Their hopes and dreams were crushed by his crucifixion. How could they make meaning out of what had just happened to Jesus? What had happened to the purpose of their 3 years of ministry with him? How could they imagine a friendly future? Their leader was dead and because of their relationship with him, they might be next.

Well, in the midst of their doubt and despair, Jesus entered the room where they are hiding. Jesus talked with them, showed them the nail prints in his hands and feet. The disciples rejoiced to see him. Their leader, indeed, was alive. One disciple, Thomas, was not present when Jesus appeared. When Thomas heard about it, he was not convinced. It all seemed too impossible! Thomas needed proof. Jesus came again to the place where the disciples were gathered when Thomas was present and he gave Thomas the proof that he sought. Thomas saw, touched, and believed.

Jesus' life, and death and resurrection is proof of God's love for world. It is the evidence of life out of death and the assurance that things thought to be impossible can become reality.

Blessed are those who face contradictions with God given confidence. Blessed are those who hear the facts, but trust the truth. Blessed are those who have not seen but yet come to believe.

Interview with Wyvetta Bullock

Daniel Pawlus: Wyvetta, thank you for your message. You mention your parents in the message. How much did they help to form your faith?

Wyvetta Bullock: They were very instrumental in helping form faith. In fact, one of the first things I remember my father teaching me was how to pray. His expectation that we would have this relationship with God that was not only through and with them, but that it would grow and develop into something, that we could talk to God on our own. And then I watched how my mom and dad lived their faith when things would happen in the community. As I said, I grew up in the 50s and 60s, so you can imagine that there were conflicts in the community going on among the races, but also just everyday things. And I watched how they handled and treated things that, for example, needed to be forgiven, or where there needed to be reconciliation.

Lydia Talbot: Your father was a Baptist minister.

Bullock: He was.

Talbot:  And we were talking Knoxville, Tennessee.

Bullock:  Yes, near Knoxville, about 30 miles southwest of there. A small town called Philadelphia, Tennessee.

Talbot:  So you weren’t always a Lutheran?

Bullock:  No.

Talbot:  And what was that about your expectations that changed?

Bullock:  Well, actually it was a call to ordained ministry that called me to become part of a different faith community than the Baptist community. And then as I journeyed, following that call to ordination, the Spirit called me to the Lutheran church.

Talbot:  Wyvetta, I’m mindful of Corinthians 13 in the context of your wonderful message on faith: “now I see through a glass dimly, then face to face; now I know in part, then in whole.” How does that speak to you now in terms of your personal faith and what you want to say to others who might be doubting Thomases?

Bullock:  Well, I think God gives us the gift of faith. God awakens faith in us through God’s word. So where the word of God is, there’s always that possibility that faith will awaken. But I think when we journey through life and when we come into the different struggles and things that disappoint us, along the way there are generally signs of hope. At least I’ve found it in my own life. I found it in my parents lives. That things happen for which there is no other explanation but for the great grace and love of God and the people of God who intervene in those times of great despair. In the midst of suffering there will come that One to administer love, hope, peace, to bring light into an otherwise seemingly dark, or totally dark situation. So I think we do see darkly, we don’t see the whole picture that life is a mystery. But that’s OK. I believe we have been designed and equipped to live in a mystery that God holds with promise. And again the evidence for that, for me is Jesus, the Christ.

Pawlus: It’s interesting that you mentioned faith from both angles, really, of how we shape our faith ourselves and our faith shapes us. It was an interesting comparison I thought because if we approach it with a positive attitude, our faith in turn can turn out to be positive in the process. Can’t it?

Talbot:  Positive attitude. Positive expectations. However, let me be devil’s advocate for a minute. What do you say to Karen Ann, your eleven-year-old daughter, who may be watching the news one of these nights before bedtime and awakens the next day fearful of her own future? It’s not going to be a friendly future is the message that she’s getting bombarded with.

Bullock:  Well, I think it’s important not to withhold from children, or from anyone, the realities of life. I mean lots of things in life are going to happen for which we did not plan and which will be horrific perhaps in our life. But what I hold to comes out of...we can go back to 1st Corinthians, in chapter 10 where the Scriptures speak that God brings us through those things. So that it’s not for me so much that Jesus came to keep us from all the hurt and the pain, but to help us go through it so that there is a good end intended in our life. And that we can get through it so that we become a witness. My parents were a witness to me. I hope I’m a witness to Karen Ann. So what I try to teach her is that life will not be without its problems, but you are not without promises and those promises are from a faithful God. So that even in the midst of the struggle you can hold on to the hope that it can turn, that it can change and can change you in the process, you see.

Talbot:  And therein the assurance.

Bullock:  That’s right.

Talbot:  The assurance of God’s love for each one of us.

Bullock:  Exactly.

Talbot:  Let me just ask, we have about a minute left, Wyvetta. When you are serving on the westside of Chicago at Bethel New Life—a wonderful church and institution in Chicago—what is your experience at the level of the local church?

Bullock:  Well, as I mentioned in the message, the travel to South Africa came out of Bethel Lutheran Church. So I experience people of great faith. In fact, people who must use their faith on a regular basis to accomplish the things for God’s mission, for the community and for their own lives. So faith is not a luxury, it is a necessity in the lives of the folks at Bethel and we share it with one another. We hold each other in that God-given faith and it’s a privilege to serve with them.

Talbot: Thank you, Wyvetta Bullock for sharing that message with us today.

Bullock:  You’re welcome.