A place where people know your name

The article I wrote for our church's e-newsletter yesterday: Quite a few years ago when I was going through the process of being ordained, I attended a conference with other pastors. As I was walking by myself in the lobby, I spotted a person who was pretty powerful in our denomination. He saw me, smiled, and waved, which made me feel pretty good because when you're still a "newbie" pastor, it's not a bad thing when influential people know you and like you. I smiled, waved back and started toward him. He stuck out his hand to me and said, "Hi Sean, how are you?" "I'm fine, I'm fine, thanks," I said through gritted teeth. Sean? Who's Sean? Does he even know me? It was a humbling experience. Trey talked about the power of name in a sermon a few weeks ago. We all like to hear our names said. We like to be known. There were so many people who came to one of our worship services last Sunday. More than 200 people total and many were there for the first time! Praise God! Our hope certainly is that many of you return for worship, but also that you find places where you might begin to be known. Our small groups are a great place to start as are three events coming up: a Taize worship service outing on Nov. 5, our first UVC pot luck on Nov. 7 and a bowling night on Nov. 13. You may not be quite ready to be known by others in our community, but even if you're not, know this: "...thus says the Lord: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine" (Isaiah 43:1." We are known (by name!) by God. Deeply and lovingly. No matter how many people I know in my life, that is what truly gives me peace and joy.

Questions

I've just started a Bible study last night looking at the Old Testament and whenever I begin a group like this, it's almost always the case that someone will bring up the issue of dumb questions.

We've all heard time and again that there's no such thing as a dumb question, but when it comes to God/faith/religion, it seems like people are really nervous about asking questions. Will God strike me down? Will my faith seem illegitimate? People who have grown up in the church seem particularly nervous about this. And yet all of the questions that were asked last night (like, does God change? It seems like God's character changes throughout the Bible. How can this be?) were provocative and have been fodder for wonderful discussion throughout our faith's history.

As well, a cursory look through the Bible shows that not only is questioning God acceptable, it's a given! Most of the figures of the Old Testament, many psalmists, all the prophets and even Jesus (Why have you forsaken me? is one of the most memorable questions of the Scriptures) all questioned God. And they weren't stricken down (though you could probably point out a few--like Zechariah in Luke 1--where their questioning leads to a less-than-positive outcome).

Questioning deepens faith and that includes questioning God and questioning religious leaders. Certainly it's a good thing to come out the other end at some point with an "I believe" statement or two, but I find that good questions usually gets you to stronger belief statements.