13 Jun Questions…
Happy Tuesday y’all!
And what an interesting Tuesday it has turned out to be weather-wise…4 seasons in one day it would seem.
Let’s get the reminders & specifics down & then I want to share something I learned again today.
- Zoom Bible Study Catch-up
Friday — 16th June 2023 @ 1:00 PM
Join Zoom Meeting — https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83586782734 — Meeting ID: 835 8678 2734
You know how this works! Click that link above & we’ll be digging deeper in the texts from Sunday, Exodus 2:11-3:22. It’s a big chunk of text so you’d do well to read it before we get together.
- Morning Tea this Sunday, 18th Should be a fun morning!
- I need a volunteer Senior Saint to be interviewed about how God’s been keeping promises in your life. Call me!
- Living Water 10th Anniversary Celebration – Sunday, 25th June. We’ll be having lunch together afterwards…and sure you can bring friends! Be prepared to share a few memories, a few “favourite moments,” and especially a few hopes for the next 10 years under God’s grace, goodness, and guidance. Be sure to talk to someone on the Steering Team this week to see if there’s a way you can help out.
- It’s the end of the financial year. A special gift to Living Water would be both a great help & a great way to celebrate our anniversary. Our leaders manage the cash very faithfully and it would be awesome if there was a little more leeway in our budget for the sake of emergencies or special opportunities. Thank you! in advance.
Now…I remember reading some years back that Jesus asked more questions than he answered. Well…in some reading I was doing it seems someone actually counted and here are the stats!
Jesus asked 308 questions.
Jesus was asked 187 questions.
Jesus answered 3 questions.
What do you notice there? Well…obviously he asked 101 times more than he answered. I wonder about that. It put me in mind of when I was in the Northern Territory back in 1987. I had met up with a Lutheran pastor in Katherine & rode back to Darwin with him. We stopped and spent the night at a cattle station somewhere off the beaten track for worship in a family home…the folks who owned the station. We slept that night in the worker’s quarters having had dinner with the family in the main house.
When we got to the bunkhouse, one of the station hands was making dinner for the 2 or 3 guys there that night…a big pot of stew and some homemade bread. It smelled almost as good as the roast we had with the boss & his family. I grabbed a book and sat down to read & chat with one of the workers while the pastor got into something of a theological debate with the cook.
The next morning on our drive to Darwin, he said, “That didn’t go very well did it?”
I wasn’t sure what he meant so I asked, “Were you trying to evangelize him?”
He blustered, “Of course! He should have been in the main house for worship but here he was not taking the opportunity to hear the gospel.”
I thought for a minute & said, “Did you ask him what he put in that stew? It smelled delicious!”
“No. Why would I want to know that?”
“Well…sometimes folks need you to be interested in them before they’ll be interested in your Jesus.”
I think that’s part of the reason Jesus asked so many questions. He was interested in people’s lives. He was interested in their circumstances & situations and what they thought about life…things that mattered or didn’t. He wondered what they thought about God, if they thought about God at all. He was deeply interested in their hurts and hopes.
I’ve told you I talk to a lot of people as I make my way around town every week. I start by asking questions. How’s work today? Did you have a good weekend? What do you do when you’re not working here? What’s that tattoo all about? Why you get that pierced? As I learn more…How’re your kids? What’s your partner do for work? Did you grow up around here?
Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 9:22-23 – Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some. I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings.
Some translations say, “I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.”
I don’t think Paul’s trying to be a chameleon…but a safe open presence that opens the door to a conversation about the most important relationship of all…the one Christ initiates with the Father by dying & rising for us. My only goal is to open that door…so whoever I’m talking to knows there’s someone who cares enough to ask…who’ll invest a minute to listen. Sometimes that means I get a chance to celebrate or commiserate. And then I ask if I can pray…sometimes they say “No” & that’s ok. I pray silently later.
I think we in the church sometimes want to answer too many questions. We think it’s up to us to know what ails the world because we do know what’ll make things right. But maybe we need to ask what’s “wrong” first…just remember 101 times more questions than answers. If they ask…then you might get to answer, but you may never get asked if you don’t ask first.
I’m working on that for the coming year…a way to move into our next decade.
Thanks
Somewhere along the way I’ve got a question or two for you… 😉
Peace
John
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