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

September 20, 2022 — Make Them Known to Your Children

“But take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children’s children—” Deuteronomy 4:9

“In crafting a sermon on this or another passage, we have occasion to reflect on preaching as necessary repetition of the story and of the commandments that strengthen faith and lead to life. It is not necessary to find or invent new stories each week. Moses cautions the people against adding on to the word God has given. He also cautions against holding back, or subtracting, whether by conscious effort to trim off the parts we do not like or by quiet omission and neglect of the parts we do not understand. We share Moses’ hope that our children will have the blessing of life. We want them to cross into a place where we will no longer carry them, where they will enter and claim the inheritance God has prepared for them. Our children stand at a threshold. We — preachers, parents, catechists, neighbors, priests, deacons, elders — are their teachers. We are entrusted with our people’s memory and testimony. May our preaching and our life together show to our children the wisdom and justice of God’s teaching, so they may trust in God’s promise and receive abundant life.” Dear Working Preacher, Commentary on Deuteronomy 4, Anathea Portier-Young, Associate Professor of Old Testament, Duke Divinity School, Durham, NC

Moses says “…take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children’s children.”

So how are we doing? With the mass migration of young people away from the Protestant Church, I am not so sure we have done such a good job in teaching them the ways of the Lord. Why has this happened? It is hard to answer the question “why?” The major new survey of more than 35,000 Americans by the Pew Research Center finds that the percentage of adults (ages 18 and older) who describe themselves as Christians has dropped by nearly eight percentage points in just seven years, from 78.4% in an equally massive Pew Research survey in 2007 to 70.6% in 2014. And yet many of the Millennials will report themselves as being “spiritual” and report praying with the frequency of their grandparents.

I guess it is possible that the “old ways” just do not resonate with those between the ages of 18 years and 25 years of age. That means that our churches need to find some alternatives — so we can meet the needs of the aging Baby Boomers and the newer millennials. That will be a challenge, but most likely — but we also know that the beginning of any change must happen on the local level. As pastors and congregations assess their individual context including the makeup and needs of their community, it may be possible for people of all ages to find meaningful worship and ministry opportunities — that is if the congregations will trust G-d to lead them to new landscapes and new opportunities — just as the Israelites trusted Moses.

The question is: Will we be able to make those changes in time, or will the church lose another generation of people?

Let us pray,

Lord Christ, you remind us to teach our children your ways all the days of our lives. Give us the strength and the courage to do just that. Amen.

Pastor Dave