Friday, December 8, 2006

More Questions than Answers

The Christian Century recently introduced me to a statement by Sir Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Commonwealth. Fingering around the tension between spiritual conviction and hunger, he asserted that "...to be without questions is not a sign of faith, but a lack of depth." I've become so intrigued by the claim that it now follows my signature at the bottom of e-mails.

Why has it hooked me? I recognize its negative potential; one can read it as a put down. No one, after all, wants to be seen as shallow. But when did questions become grounds for dismissal -- symptoms of weakness, inadequacy, or benign simplicity? When did politicians or preachers or CEO's conclude that they no longer had permission to be growing and "in process," -- no longer able to honestly and boldly confess, "I don't know," -- required instead to possess every answer? When did we conclude that wisdom meant having all the answers?

The older I get the more convinced I become of my own incompleteness. As many have observed before me, "the more I learn, the more I realize how little I know." Nowhere is that more true than in my spiritual life. After all these years, all the Bible Studies and books and prayers and retreats, I am still trying to fathom the depths of God. If I passed over them at 25, now 50 I pause over Isaiah's words, lingering longingly, hopefully:

Seek the Lord while he may be found,
call upon him while he is near;
let the wicked forsake their way,
and the unrighteous their thoughts;
let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
(55:6-9)

Perhaps discipleship, after all, is less about claiming the best answers than asking better questions.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

This makes sense. I wonder, though, why is it that the churches that offer answers seem to be the ones that are growing?

Anonymous said...

I certainly can identify with that--I've probably learned more about the Bible and raised more serious questions since I've retired than in forty plus years of ministry.

Anonymous said...

To December 12th anonymous. I suspect that the churches that give people answers are growing because it is easier not to look for answers but to have them spoon fed to you. That way you don't have to think or dig for the answers yourself.

Anonymous said...

I believe that "...a lack of depth" is a major reason why the CCDC is not booming -- and regardless of the growth hype I do not believe that we are growing. We may have
some numbers "up" but that which makes us what we are at our best does not sell well. I would preach on the text emphasizing the need to
"...increase in wisdom" far more "stature". People are very bright and very ignorant about what Christianity is. So as James D. Smart wrote, "When you do not have the real Christ you have the imagined Christ."
That latter virus is what in increasing or so I think.

granddaddy said...

Remember Buechner: Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith.

granddaddy said...

Remember Buechner: Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith.