Questions for Our Lives Together

 

This week we are diving into and dwelling with the seven primal questions that Mike Foster writes about:

Am I safe?  Am I secure?  Am I loved?  Am I wanted?  Am I successful or filled with joy? Am I good enough?  Do I have purpose?

While we have focused on how these questions sit in us individually, these questions are also communally and collectively.  In some ways, as a country, we may have not felt safe and secure since the terrorist attacks of 9/11 or with COVID still lingering.  Someone may say he loves us, but we may not fully believe the words or feel the words or trust the words.  Someone may tell us we did a fantastic job, but our inner critic says, “She is just being nice.”  We know our families leave their fingerprints on our lives in good and sometimes not so great ways.  I know that growing up, I did not feel financially secure.  My parents struggled to make ends meet, we didn’t always have money for the latest and greatest fashions.  This continues to be a story that works unconsciously in my life.  Even when the balance in our bank account grows, I can still wonder if the safety net is big enough.  Or maybe you grew up being told that love was conditional or transactional, and that is how you understand God.  These questions exist within us and around us.  For the church, do we feel safe?  Do we express love?  Do we let loose God’s joy?  Do we encourage and equip people to try out gifts with grace ~ giving tons of permission to make mistakes and missteps?  In the coming months, the church will be discussing our Mission and Vision Statements ~ the words we will use give voice to our purpose ~ why we exist.  Why are we here, especially considering how many other churches also exist?  I wonder if our purpose as a church is to cultivate creativity and be a conduit for curiosity.  If we are a place where questions are welcome and there is plenty of room for doubt.  Remember that doubt is not the opposite of faith.  Rather the opposite of faith is certainty.  If we know 100 percent the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, we leave little room for God to explore or evolve or expand.  As you hold these questions for yourself, how can we hold them together with our friends and family and fellow church members?  I pray we will continue to let these questions guide us on in the unfolding quests/journey of life we travel together.