This is somewhat off-topic, but it is an offshoot from excitement I had regarding conversations I had with some youths/early 20 somethings in the last 72 hours.
Is there a place for questions and what questions should I be asking? Ironically, those are the questions I frequently find myself confronted with. This weekend, I spent some time at a beautiful Christian camp and got to experience, to an extent, what it would have been like to grow up in a Christian environment. There are some things I wish I would have known, and there are some other things that I did get a chance to know that I would not have if I had gone to such a camp. As far as the color spectrum went, let's just say there weren't many prisms around to break up the white light.
What was awesome and uplifting was the message preached on Sunday morning, titled "Four Questions."
The culture of asking questions, I think, is a healthy change from what I've always perceived as mainline church attitudes. This is addressed in a blog from the links section (Pontifications of the Sinister Minister) who speaks about home-schooling and discusses the perceived attitude in some church circles of not being exposed to things that may bring out questions. If there are no questions, then there are no struggles.
I contend that if there are no struggles, then there is no growth. In the KJV translation, when Acts (which I'm obsessed with right now) talks about Saul's converstion, Saul asks two questions: Who are you, Lord? What do you want me to do? I want to be the part of a movement in the body that urges every single human it comes in contact with to ask these questions, over and over again when necessary.
Where is the line? Is there are a line? I want to be available if people have questions, but I don't want to find myself in a debate that is going to lead to nothing but being emotionally and mentally drained.
Church leaders have to ask questions, too. Their title does not protect them/us from having to communicate with God, though the Acts 29 link on the right of this page shared alarming statistics that most pastors only read the Bible when preparing sermons. Are people growing? Am I helping people serve and love one another? Am I pastoring an inwardly-focused community or am I leading people to reach out? Am I making it so comfortable that people don't want to reach others? Am I making it so uncomfortable that people are distracted from the true purpose of church? Am I talking to Jesus? How is Jesus speaking to me, and what is He saying? (Note in the last question, that it is not "Is Jesus speaking to me?" I may not be able to hear an audible voice, but I think Jesus' movements in my life are there if I look for them.)
A crazy question that needs to be asked because of the financial focus of our culture: Am I trusting in the Holy Spirit in my church's pursuits/finances/seekers while still being responsible with what God has given me in light of our current culture?
Here's one last quote from the Hues in the Pews article:
The Culver Palms UMC, one of 300 "excellent" U.S. churches recently publicized by writer Paul Wilkes, celebrates its ethnic mix but doesn't target percentages. "What we are very serious about is spiritual growth and spiritual challenge" in the Methodist tradition, said pastor Terry Van Hook. "We feel that everyone whom God has brought here has a chance to strengthen their faith and their passion for a ministry that God has given them," he said.
I think this part is important: "What we are very serious about is spiritual growth and spiritual challenge." There is a challenge involved. There is an idea of openness about an ongoing and very personal struggle. There are questions involved that don't have easy solutions. It plays into the idea of having something worth fighting for, a concept that is universal. It is a concept that can spread like wild-fire, if it is shared with acts of love and servitude. It gets my heart beating and begs me to ask, "What do you want me to do, Lord?"
That ended up being about three times as long as I intended it to be.
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In the first case, when the ruling group determines what is "good," the exalted, proud states of the soul are experienced as conferring distinction and determining the order of rank.
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2 comments:
I think your post shows how there is an ongoing change in how we do sermons today. I was thinking last night about how my preaching style might be different from others around me. (Not that I've had a chance to speak here, but comparing it to past opportunities) I was thinking, that I love asking questions and find that a well placed question can work in someone's life better than a statement.
"What will you do with Christ?" will speak to our generation today much better than "You need Christ in your life."
I know for me I love to think for myself. I don't want to be spoon fed.
I think this change from people wanting declarative statements to wanting well-placed questions is an example of our society today. Nobody wants to be told what to do. We all way to find our own "way."
We love questions.
I would posit that I still think there are struggles even when there are no questions. The kids that aren't allowed to ask questions are not prepared to answer them when they're asked later in life. This can lead to a dogmatic, black and white view of life, or an abandoning of the faith.
I would also say that there is a line somewhere in asking questions. When I was taking some classes in counseling we learned that questions are very powerful. It matters very much what questions you ask and how you ask them.
As we ask questions in the church, we need to be aware what kind of answers are are hoping people will fine.
A few examples:
on the negative side:
"Do any of you really think this happened?"
on the positive side:
vs. "Believing this really happened, how do you react to this story?"
in the middle:
"How can we react to this story?"
We have to be careful how we ask questions. Sometimes we can show our own personal negative biases or unintentionally force people to give negative answers based on how we ask questions. Another example, if you asked a kid, "Do you really think Jesus could have done that?" The answer would undoubtedly be more negative.
Basically I'm saying that as we value asking questions, we need to be aware that there's a lot of power in asking questions and need to be careful about that.
Something we can discuss in subsequent posts is this: growth to what end?
It is great to focus on spiritual growth, but why? What does success in this area look like and what is the desired result?
Just something to keep on the radar.
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