One of the great fictions that runs through the Christian Churches is that we are not supposed to ask questions, that we are not supposed to doubt.Whether consciously or unconsciously, many folks think that they can’t call themselves Christian or that they shouldn’t come to worship unless they have all their questions figured out. I don’t know how many times I’ve had folks who were discerning a call into covenant with the Church say to me some version of the following: “I don’t think I’m ready because I still have so many questions; I still don’t understand what it means to have faith, so serve Christ, to be a disciple.” My response is often something like this:“If we were supposed to have it all figured out before we take the leap of faith that is Christian discipleship, then there would be no one (who’s honest) who would call themselves Christian and there would be no Church.”
The fact is that all of us have questions; all of us wrestle with what faith means, with who Jesus Christ is, with what it means to follow and to serve, with why any of it matters. While there are those who claim to have the answers, who boil the Christian faith down to Seven Steps to Being a Highly Effective Christian, I contend that these approaches are dishonest at best and destructive at worst. To remove the ambiguity and questioning, the wrestling and the challenging, is to remove the opportunity to actually have FAITH. Because faith is the step we take, the leap we make, when we are uncertain of the answer, unsure of the outcome. Faith is what we learn in the midst of questions, because when we are unsure and uncertain, we know that we must depend upon God—because we have no other choice.
One of my favorite quotes—from the first philosophy class I took in college—is this: “Show me someone who is not confused and I’ll show you someone who’s not been thinking.” (John Ciardi) If you have questions, if you are confused, then that is simply a sign that you care enough to engage your brain. And, at the end of the day, I believe that’s what God really wants from us—real engagement, real relationship, honesty, and trust. During Lent, come and bring your questions and doubts. We won’t try to provide any easy answers. But we’ll try to live the questions together. We’ll try to learn—together—what it really means to have faith.
Living the questions,
Ginger+
