Good Question!
Happy New Year!
As we embark on it together, I want to open up to the transforming work of God… through some good questions.
I don’t think I ever truly realized how many questions Jesus asked… and how few he directly answered. There might be something there. Maybe there’s more value in asking a good question, than there is in providing someone a good answer.
That’s not to say that we shouldn’t seek answers. In fact, it’s the seeking that’s so important. The journey, the path – kind of like the Magi, following the star – that can be so transformative. It takes time and effort and energy. God does some of his best work as we walk and work and wrestle on the way. And at the same time, we can circumvent that work by throwing out a thoughtless answer. We can shut down that transformative work before it even gets going.
I’d like to follow Jesus’ way and lean into some good questions.
So… that’s what we’re going to do in this New Year.
Beginning January 11, we’re going to take some time to look at some of Jesus’ questions – and ask our own. As I try to say, there are no dumb questions. So, let’s not short-circuit God’s work by immediately ignoring or too-quickly answering a question. What questions come to mind for you, when you take a moment to just think? What pondering do you have?
I’d like to lift these up together – not to provide an A to a bunch of Qs, although, that may come in time. But more as a way to open ourselves up to the work God wants to do in us. Not every Question even as an Answer anyway. Or at least, not every Question is Answerable on this side of Glory – and it’s ok to acknowledge that we don’t have definitive answers. But it’s also important to acknowledge that we have questions. And sharing them, asking them, can do something profound.
It can draw us together.
It can draw us to God… by asking a good question. By asking an honest question, with an open and curious heart – because that’s the kind of posture that puts us in the path of God to be able to encounter and be transformed.
I’ve got questions. You’ve got questions. Jesus had LOTS of questions that he posed throughout his life and ministry, and many that were posed to him. In and through those questions – mine, ours and Jesus’ – I think we can begin the year with something special.
Go ahead and write down your questions. Go ahead and share them with me, with us too!
Welcoming You to Grow in Jesus – as we ask good questions together,
Pastor Don