September 21, 2022 — Questions Are So Important

“Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.” Mark 9:33-37

“Our lives are dominated by those feelings of scarcity. In her book Daring Greatly, Brené Brown shares this assessment from Lynne Twist: For me, and for many of us, our first waking thought of the day is “I didn’t get enough sleep.” The next one is “I don’t have enough time.” Whether true or not, that thought of not enough occurs to us automatically before we even think to question or examine it. . . . Before we even sit up in bed, before our feet touch the floor, we’re already inadequate, already behind, already losing, already lacking something. And by the time we go to bed at night, our minds are racing with a litany of what we didn’t get, or didn’t get done, that day. We go to sleep burdened by those thoughts and wake up to that reverie of lack. (Our Reverie of Lack, Stranger G0d: Meeting Jesus in Disguise. Richard Beck)

One of the more curious observations I have made in my seventeen years of being a parish pastor is the lack of questions people ask about scripture, about faith, and about things that confuse them as they struggle to live out their faith. This has often confounded me. I have been trained (mostly from my Seminary Education) in the manner of asking many questions while teaching a bible study lesson. And so I may begin a bible study session by asking questions (rhetorical and not) — and then returning to them — and asking more questions throughout. And so often I receive a lot of silence to my questions because people lack the courage to say, well, anything.

I know there are things that people either do not understand, or issues where people do not agree with me, and yet those remain unasked, and unstated and this just adds to the feelings of “Lack” that Lynne Twist mentions in the above quote.

My friends, if we want to get passed the feelings of “lack” when it comes to our faith understanding, we need to ask questions because “Questions are so important.” Questions help us to grow in understanding, and help us to clarify that which confuses. Don’t be afraid to ask the questions, especially the really difficult ones. I guarantee you there are others who are in need of the same answers.

Let us pray,

Lord Jesus, even your disciples did not have the courage to ask you questions. And yet you continued to teach them and to love them. Help us to have the courage to ask the questions we need to ask — and to be open to the answers you give. Amen.

Pastor Dave