“LOVING THE QUESTIONS”
Second Baptist Church of St. Louis
Sermon preached on June 17, 2007
Dr. Stephen D. Jones, preaching
Texts: Luke 13:18-21;
Genesis 17:15-19; Philippians 3:10-14
In 1976, Carol Etzler wrote
a provocative folk hymn:
“Sometimes I wish my eyes
hadn’t been opened, Sometimes I wish I could no longer see,
all of the pain and the
hurt and the longing
of my sisters and me as we
try to be free.
Sometimes I wish my eyes
hadn’t been opened.
Just for an hour, how sweet
it would be,
not to be struggling, not
to be striving, but just sleep securely in our slavery.
But now that I’ve seen with
my eyes, I can’t close them, because deep inside me somewhere I’d still know
the road that my sisters
and I have to travel:
my heart would say, “Yes!”
and my feet would say “Go!” .
“Sometimes I Wish,”
Sisters Unlimited, Atlanta, Ga.
Does it surprise you that the fastest path to growth for churches in our
society is to offer “pat” answers? What if I stood before you and said, “I
know God’s answers. All you need, and nothing more, is to receive this answer
and your life will be successful”? If I came to St. Louis with that message,
and you bought into it, we would likely pack these pews with frantic people who
would gladly compromise themselves for answers given by an authoritative
pastor. People are that desperate for answers.
One person left the congregation I was serving. When I met her later, I was
surprised by how much she had changed. She said, “My pastor has one message of
salvation, which he repeats every Sunday, and I never tire of hearing it.”
There are so many people who crave that level of certainty. There are many
people who want a Comfort Religion with a three-word mantra: “You don’t
question.”
An old-time pastor known as an autocratic leader announced at a testimony
meeting, “Tonight, I tell you, give up your sinful ways! Now who’ll go first?”
Finally, one man stood, “Well, I’ve been sneaking around smoking a
pack of cigarettes a day, and I’m going to quit.”
That motivated the next parishioner to stand and say, “I’ve been
drinking three cans of beer a day, and I’m going
to quit.”
The next parishioner confessed, “I’ve been cursing an awful lot, and
I’m going to quit.”
Next, a woman stood up and said, “I’ve been flirting with a married
man, and I going to quit.”
Caught up in the excitement of the moment, an elderly woman stood up
and said, “Well, I haven’t been doing anything…and I’m going to quit!”
Americans have little tolerance for questions. We prefer the Quick Answer. We
won’t tolerate uncertainty, and in-between times are maddening. Your doctor
enters the room and says, “We’ve found something on your test that concerns us.
We’ll get the results back next week.” Waiting for answers can drive us crazy.
Many persons work in a competitive business climate in which today’s
instantaneous answer is preferred to delayed answers offering longer-term
results. With national test scores weighing on today’s classroom, many teachers
are frustrated because they are no longer honored for opening students’ minds,
but rather preparing them for test results. With the Internet’s instant
answers, we are no longer a society that “lives with the question.”
We’d rather tear into a question and settle for the first thing that comes our
way. There are so many disillusioned people who have given up on the church
because they were sold that bill of goods. The first time life handed them
something that did not fit their easy answers, their faith fell apart. And they
walked.
Too many churches promote rote repetition instead of original thinking. A
visiting preacher was met at the end of the service by a man with a blunt
appraisal, “That’s the worst sermon I have ever heard.”
The visiting preacher was disturbed and told the pastor what the man had said.
“The pastor said, ‘Oh, I wouldn’t worry about Billie. He’s never had an
original thought in his life. He just goes around repeating what everybody else
is saying!’”
I would be shocked if there weren’t a roomful of people here this morning who
have walked out of churches because the answers were too simplistic and they
came to Second Baptist Church because they were offered the freedom to think for
themselves. That is what Baptists mean when we speak of our historic commitment
to soul liberty. On the opening page of your website, which is your gateway to
the wider world, there is an amazing statement adopted by this church in 1957,
“Second Baptist Church stands for freedom of the individual in all matters of
faith and practice of religion… The tradition of freedom in this Church is
truly a spirit which has been passed on to our generation. It is the very
atmosphere of our Church, the refreshing air we breathe.” Dr. William Bitting,
your pastor from 1905 to 1924 stressed “the right and duty of ministers and
laymen to think.” And an integral part of thinking is questioning.
This is what you offer every person who walks into this church. They come
because you are a congregation that historically loves questions. Because you
have preached a more tolerant and open gospel, you have been kicked out of
fellowship with St. Louis Baptists not once, but twice in your feisty history!
What were you thinking hanging out with the Christian Scientists, Unitarians and
Jews and peaceniks and abolitionists?! Second Baptist Church, you have so
frequently waded into a Questioning Frontier and have paid the price. Will
people come if they hear you will offer them space to ask their questions?
Probably not by the hundreds, but by the discerning dozens, thinking and
seeking people will come if they hear that you will not ridicule their
questions. And you won’t diminish their questions by imposing your answers upon
them.
There aren’t many places in our society offering that kind of respect for and
freedom to ask questions.
Can people fly? Orville and Wilbur Wright lived with that question. Is there a
cure for polio? Jonas Salk lived with that question. Can we learn from Outer
Space? The seven astronauts on the Columbia gave their life for that question.
Can we care for the least desirable? Mother Theresa lived that question
everyday of her life. Can we rid ourselves of racism? Martin Luther King, Jr.
died for that question. Can we introduce revolutionary change without
violence? Mahatma Gandhi answered that question for his beloved India.
We can compromise for easy answers: the Three Steps to Salvation. But, what if
you require four steps to salvation, or as a quick learner, you need only two?
The Four Spiritual Laws. But what if you come up with five? The Nicene Creed.
But what if those familiar words ring empty to you?
If you read the Gospels, you get the sense that the people around Jesus were
trying to get him to state plainly who he was and what was his relationship to
God. “Are you the Messiah? Tell us!” (Mt 26:63; 27:11;
21:23)
They demanded answers! Typically, he would side-step such requests for easy
answers. You can’t reduce Jesus to a cliché, or a formula, or a
tightly-reasoned argument, though thousands have tried. But he breaks free of
every straight-jacket tied around him. He simply won’t stand for it, not then,
and not now.
The first five letters of the word QUESTion is the word QUEST. A question sends
you on a quest for an answer. A question suggests an inquiry, a journey.
People seeking answers want only the destination, but not the journey.
What if you woke up tomorrow morning with this question: “How can this day be a
blessing?” What if that question was your quest tomorrow? And on Tuesday, what
if you woke up with this question: “Where can I find the Spirit of God today?”
And that became your Tuesday quest. And on Wednesday, you woke up to the
question: “Will I meet God in a stranger today?” You can substitute your own
daily questions. A morning question can be that day’s quest.
There are good questions leading to good quests and unhelpful questions leading
to bad quests. I want to be a part of a Questioning Community because I need to
be in a community where my questions are respected and challenged. Not the
right to ask them, but whether they are the right questions for me. Is this
question going to lead me in a positive direction? Is there some “eternal”
packed into my question or it is narrow and restrictive? There must be
compassionate circles in the church where we can test our questions.
I’m not suggesting that the Gospel offers no answers, not at all! Questions and
Answers belong together. I’m suggesting that the church offers the Gospel of
Jesus Christ as a wide framework through which questioning people discover
answers.
Sam Keen once said, “It isn’t what you know that is who you are; what you ask is
who you are.”
When I noticed you include an Epistle reading in each worship service, I
explored the writings of Apostle Paul to find an appropriate text. What I
discovered is that Paul dwells on answers. Often he asks a question, but he
answers it in the next verse. Suddenly, it became clear why the church has been
so answer-focused: because we have been influenced by Paul. The Inquisitive
Approach of Rabbi Jesus has rarely held its own in the church.
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus asked 89 “teaching questions.” In Matthew, he
asked 85 teaching questions. More than any other technique, Jesus used
questions in his teaching.
Jesus asked, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what should I compare
it?” And he told a parable of the mustard seed. Then he asked again, “To what
shall I compare the kingdom of God?” And he told the parable of a woman mixing
yeast with flour. (Lk 13:18f.) Few explanations, just questions and
parables.
The real artistry of a first-century rabbi was not in his answers but in his
ability to frame the right question. Jesus disarmed his detractors with
questions. “An expert in the law stood up to question Jesus. ‘Rabbi,’ he asked,
‘What must I do to inherit eternal life?’ And the Good Teacher replied, ‘What
is written in the Law? How do you read it?” (Lk 10:25-26) If Jesus
asked questions, why does his church press people with answers?
Questions frame reality. As we consider a move to St. Louis, I have been asking
the Psalmist’s question, “How can I sing the Lord’s song in a new land?” How
can I speak to this city and congregation? The answer will unfold over time.
The truth is, I can’t answer your questions. And neither can any preacher or
theologian. As a pastor, I can ask leading questions. But, you are the only
person who can answer your questions and follow their leading.
Poet John Ciardi says, “A good question is never answered. It is not a bolt to
be tightened into place but a seed to be planted and to bear more seed toward
the hope of greening the landscape of ideas.” (Reader’s Digest, Dec. 1,
1980, p. 144)
Love the questions! Love Questions! What question are you asking? Typically,
we are either asking a question or avoiding one. I’m not talking about
informational questions: Will you wear a suit and tie tomorrow? What color is
your new dress? In fact, I’m not talking about questions you have, as much as
questions that have you.
What is your question? The question that engages you? That hounds you? That
never seems to clear your mind? I think for many people there is one question
that returns again and again in different seasons of their lives.
Abraham and Sarah were promised as young adults that their children would become
a new race of people, a blessing to the nations. And they waited. And nothing
happened. How could they be cursed and yet promised to be a blessing? And they
lived with that question. They tried to find answers through Hagar, Sarah’s
slave, who had a child by Abraham. It wasn’t until old age that the question
began to form itself into an answer, into Isaac.
A question that has followed me, and hounded me, is, “What is ministry to me?”
I knew the answer as a teenager. Ministry meant being a holier-than-thou
pastor, nauseatingly sanctimonious. If everyone else was genuine leather,
ministers were plastic. I didn’t want anything to do with ministry.
In college, I experienced an unwanted call to ministry, and ministry became my
burden. It would be years before I allowed myself to view ministry with joy.
What is ministry to me? I was called by my first church, 35 years ago this
week-end. I respectfully declined to be ordained. Ordination was not the
answer to my question.
With five congregations, I have had to ask the question, “What is ministry to
me?”, and in each context, the answer has been different. I have no idea how
I’ll answer that question with you. It will unfold. If you asked my former
congregations what my ministry meant to them, the answers would differ in each
context. I won’t come with a loaded agenda, for that would disrespect the
question God sets before us.
Coming to St. Louis would again raise the question, “What is ministry to me at
this time and place in my life?”
I don’t have that question. That question HAS me. I don’t raise that
question. The question keeps stirring me. And the question isn’t through with
me yet.
One of the blessings of my work is that I often get to hear peoples’ questions.
People come to me with their questions: Am I worthwhile? Is my work
worthwhile? Am I doing anything of consequence? Why am I afraid to reveal my
inner self to others? Why must my loved one suffer? What purpose is there to
life? Can I forgive myself? Can I be hopeful again? How will I be
remembered? When will my grief end? How can I have a healthy relationship? How
do I connect with God? Does God care about me? Why can’t I hear God’s voice?
What’s your question? Questions can be frightening and paralyzing. Yet, it
does little good to run from a question because it will pursue you. It won’t
let go. It won’t go away. It likely will gather steam as you ignore it.
When your room-mate is struggling with uncertainty, rather than say, “God is the
Answer,” you might be more helpful asking, “Could God be in your question?”
What is your question? Could God be in your question?
I say to you, “Love the questions.” Love those questions that seem to come to
you. You didn’t ask for them, you don’t know “from whence they cometh,” but
they seem to arise and you cannot put them down.
Love the questions! Love the questions! Cherish them. Do not put them away
with a simple answer. If God be in the core questions of our lives, then by
cherishing the questions, we cherish God. By clinging to ready-made answers, we
circumvent God. As Jesus taught and modeled: Follow the Questions, for in so
doing, you follow God’s Questing Spirit!
One of my favorite quotes is in the “Letters to a Young Poet” by Rainer Maria
Rilke.
“…I would like to beg you, dear Sir,
as well as I can, to have patience with everything unresolved in
your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked
rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don’t search for the
answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to
live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now.
Perhaps then, someday far off in the future, you will gradually, without even
noticing it, live your way into the answer.” (p. 49-50, Shambhala)
Let me close with a brief testimonial:
I was raised on the Answers. Not bad answers, but clichéd answers.
I went seeking my own Answers, but they were mostly reactive to those of my
childhood. They led nowhere.
Then I discovered questions, first my own, but they were easily answered and set
aside. Then, I found myself open to Questions that came to me, bigger
questions, full of mystery and significance that have sent me on a journey to
cherish those questions and the new ground where the Holy Questing Spirit
leads. I can’t answer these questions, I can only live my way into the answers,
slowly, haltingly, imperfectly.
Now my pastoral calling can be stated as helping life’s Great Questions, full of
mystery and meaning, find people where they are and take them to new places
where God leads them.
And thereby teach them to love the questions. Love the questions! Amen.
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