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United Church of Paducah
4600 Buckner Lane
Paducah, KY 42001
(270) 442-3722
Worship Times
Sunday Service: 10:00a
Refreshments &
Fellowship: 11:15a
Christian Education
For All Ages:
11:20a - Noon
Nursery Services Provided Handicap Accessible
All Are Welcome!
A Congregation Of The
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From August 26, 2007
Just Asking
Psalm 15; Luke 9: 18-20
A marvelous little book entitled
Children's Letters to God gives us a way to listen in as
youngsters quiz God about all sorts of mysteries. Here are
some of my favorites:
Dear God, one child writes, in Sunday School they told us
what you do.
Who does it when you are on vacation?
How did you know you were God?
Dear God, I read the Bible. What does begat mean? Nobody
will tell me.
Dear God, on Halloween I am going to wear a devil's costume.
Is that all right with you?
Dear God, are you really invisible or is that just a trick?
Dear God, is it true my father won't get into Heaven if he
uses
his bowling words in the house?
Did you mean for the giraffe to look like that or was it an
accident?
Instead of letting people die and having to make new ones,
why don't you just keep the ones you have now?
Dear God, I went to this wedding and they kissed right in
church.
Is that OK?
Dear God, I like the Lord's prayer best of all. Did you have
to write it a lot
or did you get it right the first time? I have to write
everything I ever write
over again.
God, it's OK that you made different religions but don't you
get mixed up
sometimes?
Dear God, in Bible times did they really talk that fancy?
Dear God, is Reverend Coe a friend of yours, or do you just
know him
through business?
Dear God, my grandpa says you were around when he was a
little boy.
How far back do you go?
Dear God, I am American. What are you?
Dear God, how come you didn't invent any new animals lately?
We still
have just all the old ones.
How come you did all those miracles in the old days and
don't do any now? *************************
Even as we chuckle over these questions, let's not forget to
burrow down past their sweet innocence. When we do, we
notice that there are some mighty important matters on the
hearts and minds of children. Who are you God? What is
important to you? How do you want us to live?
I love the freedom I hear in these questions. No subject is
off limits. Even when a question is questioning God, it's
still OK to voice it.
So... where are the new and improved animals, God? Or, hey
God, why not keep us around forever rather than sticking
with this flawed system you have in place?
What fuels our young question-posers' freedom? Some might
call it naivet, but I call it trust. Trust that God is near
and listening with great interest. Trust that God is a
responsive God, a God who can and will supply answers.
When did we stop trusting God like that? When did we lose
our self-assurance around God and instead become
self-conscious, relating to God in much the same way as we
would with a new boss or our future in-laws?
When it comes to God, forget the Emily Post manners and just
be yourself. Asking a question of God is not a no-no. In
fact, I know no better way to deepen your relationship with
God or strengthen your faith.
That's not just me talking. The Bible is full of times when
God's people trusted that they could ask God their hard
questions.
The Psalms, for instance, are filled with questions for God.
Psalm 101: "I will sing of loyalty and justice; to you, O
Lord, I will sing. I will study the way that is blameless.
When shall I attain it?
"How long, O Lord?" the writer of Psalm 13 asks. "Will you
forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?
"O Lord, who may abide in your tent? Who may dwell on your
holy hill?" Our psalmist this morning asks straight out.
What follows is God's immediate and fitting response. "Those
who walk blamelessly, and do what is right, and speak the
truth from their heart...."
The Book of Psalms isn't the only place you'll find God's
people asking questions.
Remember Abraham testing God's resolve as God prepares to
destroy the city of Sodom?
When Abraham gets wind of God's plan, he asks God the
unthinkable. "If I find fifty righteous people, will you
spare the city? What about forty? What about thirty or
twenty or ten?" Imagine having the moxie to ask God to
negotiate!
Further on in the Old Testament, the Lord speaks to Moses
out of the blue, informing him that God has seen the Hebrew
people's suffering and will use him to liberate them from
slavery in Egypt.
Moses responds with this gutsy query: "When I return to the
people and they demand your name, what shall I tell them?"
In other words: "Are you for real? People will want to
know."
Later in Israel's relationship with God, God hand picks
Jeremiah to be a prophet. Jeremiah questions God's judgment.
"I'm only a boy," the lad says in his best grown up voice.
"What do I know about such things?" And God immediately
begins helping Jeremiah see the wisdom in God's choice and
to trust it.
And finally one last example, perhaps the most heartbreaking
question in all of scripture. Even those who aren't Bible
readers know it: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
Jesus pleads in earnest from the cross.
Despite what we have learned from so many of our human
relationships, despite what authority figures have
encouraged us to think, asking questions of God is not a
sign of disrespect or a test of God's sovereignty. Our
questions do not threaten God.
Quite the opposite; our questions please God. No matter how
heretical or ridiculous or laden with doubt they may seem to
us, our questions delight God.
Really? Well sure. First, because God has nothing to defend.
And second, God embraces our questions for the same reason
you and I welcome the questions that arise in healthy
relationships, because they help foster intimacy and deepen
our love one for the other.
Catholic priest Henri Nouwen suggested that if we want
spiritual answers we have to keep looking for spiritual
questions. If we want spiritual answers we have to keep
looking for spiritual questions.
This remark can strike people like us--inhabitants of the
information age--as ridiculous. We adore our answers. And
our experts. To be encouraged to look for spiritual
questions strikes us as folly rather than wisdom.
And yet think about Jesus' ministry. He knew how dangerous
it can be, how foolish even, to be in hot pursuit of the
right answer.
This is why when people came to him with burning questions,
often he responded with a question of his own. He knew how
seductive answers can be. Once we have them, we often quit
searching.
Which is what Henri Nouwen hoped we would understand. Our
quest for intimacy with God is sustained by cozying up to
good, soulful questions rather than a mad dash to know
what's what so that we can get everything right.
That said, I am well aware that when it comes to asking
questions, not all of us know how to take Nouwen's advice to
heart. Some of us are born with a knack for asking meaty
questions. Some of learn how. But others of us draw a blank
when it comes to knowing what we want to ask.
If this is the case for you, then my counsel is to turn to
the gospel stories and keep company with what Jesus does and
says.
Spend time in any of the four gospels. Along with the
stories Jesus tells, right there alongside his debates with
the Pharisees and his ministry of healing, tucked next to
his miracles and his conversations with his followers, you
will find Jesus tossing question after question in our
direction.
In today's reading from Luke, for example, Jesus asks a
question of considerable magnitude: "Who do you say that I
am?" A question that some spend a lifetime exploring with
heart and soul and mind.
If that's not your question, then let Jesus ask you a
different one. There are many to choose from. In fact, just
as I did with those earlier questions, let me share a few
that Jesus asks in the gospels.
Listen and see if you don't detect Jesus speaking directly
to you.
The point, remember, isn't to hurry to supply an answer. The
point is to let the question sit in your heart, soul, and
mind in the same way you let an imported chocolate sit on
your tongue; give it time to offer up its subtle gifts.
So listen now for Jesus' gentle, open-hearted voice in these
questions.
"What are you looking for?"
"Do you want to be well?"
"What are you thinking in your hearts?"
"Why are you terrified?"
"Do you believe that I can do this?"
"If I am telling the truth, why do you not believe me?"
And finally this question, the one Jesus asks most often,
the one that speaks volumes about our place in Jesus' heart:
"What do you want me to do for you?"
The mark of every good relationship, every life-giving
relationship is open dialogue. When we in the United Church
of Christ proclaim "God Is Still Speaking," surely, surely
we understand that when God speaks it isn't just an
information-packed monologue.
What is the question you have for God? What is God's
question to you?
Open your mouth. Open your ears. Open your hearts. Open your
life. God is still speaking. God is always listening. Amen.
© Rev. Karen Winkel
United Church of Paducah (UCC) You might want
to check out The Questions of Jesus: Challenging
Ourselves to Discover Life's Great Answers. Written by
Father John Dear, the book organizes Jesus' questions around
themes and includes thoughtful, approachable comment
following each one. |
"Never place a period where God has placed a comma." - Gracie
Allen
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