Jack McKinney

Pullen Memorial Baptist Church

February 6, 2008 – Ash Wednesday

Texts: Isaiah 58:3-5; Matthew 6:16-21

Living into the Questions

            I want to begin tonight with an experiment. I want to read you several declarative statements and after each one I will take the statement and put it in the form of a question. The experiment is that I want you to gauge your reaction to the statements vs. your reaction to the questions. Got it? It’s always fun to play a little game on Ash Wednesday. It’s kind of like laughing at a funeral. You are not sure if it is appropriate, but it sure feels good to do it.

            The first statement is taken from the Apostles’ Creed: “I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.” Now, here is a question taken from that statement: “Why is it important that I believe Jesus is God’s only son and was born of a virgin?”

            The next statement was inspired by the opening hymn in tonight’s service: “God is good and strong and does no wrong.” And the question, which is more true to the hymn, is simply: “How do I know God is good and strong and does no wrong?”

           The final statement is taken from our Gospel reading tonight: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth…but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven…” (Matthew 6:19-20) The question I want us to ask is this: “What is my treasure?”

            Is there a difference in the way you reacted to the statements vs. the questions? Maybe so and maybe not. It probably depends on if you have much interest in the statements and questions in the first place. But one of the things you may have noticed is that when declarative statements are put to us we typically respond in a fairly narrow fashion. We tend to agree or disagree with the statement. We may go well beyond yes/no in our response, but often we do not. Reacting to statements is not unlike taking a multiple choice test in school. We pick an answer and move on.

            But if statements have a tendency to narrow our responses to agreement or disagreement, questions have a different effect on us. Questions open us up to wondering and seeking. It is easy to affirm or reject the Apostles’ Creed, but when we are asked why we affirm or reject the creed we must go much deeper than yes or no. And now we are into an essay exam instead of a multiple choice test.

            Church is a place filled with declarations and affirmations. Most of them are good stuff, too. Jesus’ statement that we should not store up treasures on earth is a fine example. We have heard it in sermons, we may even quote it from time to time, but as long as the statement remains in that form we are free to say “Yes, I agree with that” and then move on with our lives barely ruffled. But notice what happens to us when the statement is turned into the very personal question: “What is my treasure?” That opens us up, perhaps in an uncomfortable way, to an examination of our lives and priorities. No one said essay exams were always fun.

            My college philosophy professor was famous, or infamous, for his mid-term exam on epistemology, which is the study of how we gain knowledge. The exam was one simple question: “How do we know?” And there you sat with ten pages of blank paper and two hours to answer that four-word question. Talk about panic setting in. I would have much preferred a multiple choice test, but then again, maybe the fact I still remember parts of my answer to that exam is the result of having to wrestle with it.

            Lent is that strange season in the church’s life when we are called to a particular seriousness about our faith. These forty days of preparation lead some Christians to make strong commitments that take the form of declarations: “I will not eat chocolate” or “I will pray every day” or “I will be more patient with the bozo at work who drives me crazy.” All of these intentions are noble and have merit, and may lead you to a deeper spiritual path. Then again, these declarations may just lead you to a record-keeping of how much chocolate you ate, or how many times you prayed, or the number of times you lost it with Mr. Bozo.  

            That is why we are encouraging you to live into your questions of faith during this season. Open yourself up to wonder and contemplation, and risk the uncomfortable spiritual work that will come out of such questioning. Each Sunday during Lent we will be posing questions for you to ponder, but the real questions you may need to face are probably deep inside of you. Embrace them, live into them, and let the wild Spirit take you on a journey guided by those questions.

            Blessings on you as you begin your Lenten quest. And as you do, I simply ask again: What is your treasure?