Each Wednesday,     Tim Carson shares 
the wonderings of heart and mind and the inspirations and quandaries of the spirit. You are invited to wonder along with him through the telling of stories, reflections on faith and observations on the events that shape our lives.  

Tim Carson

 
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Wednesday Wonder
June 8, 2016

Our Summer Series - What Did Jesus Ask? - was inspired by the book of the same name published in 2015. This anthology of Jesus questions and the thoughtful reflections of Christian thinkers upon them became the genesis of our own worship series.

We have often addressed what Jesus said or did but rarely what questions he asked. Questions may lead the engaged listener to deeper and deeper levels of clarification and understanding. Whether in the West, as with Socrates, or in the East among the Jewish mystics, the posing of questions leads the searcher toward truth.

In the first chapter of Genesis we find the archetypal story of the creation and first garden. Up until this moment in the story the earth creatures are living an enchanted innocence similar to the na�ve simplicity of childhood. When Adam defies the boundaries and eats of the fruit of the tree of knowledge they are ushered into an expanded consciousness. They become self-aware and aware of the distance between themselves, others, nature and their creator. In an almost humorous effort, one that strikes a chord with most of us, they attempt to hide and cover themselves. But the all-knowing One already sees and understands. And then comes the first question of the Bible, one addressed from God to humanity: "Where are you?"

It is a brilliant and telling question because our minds have already raced ahead to question the question: God already knows where Adam is, so why ask? The question, of course, is not really about geography. And the question is not posed to address the curiosity of God. The question is really for the earth creatures. Where are you?

Once this universal question is posed we earth creatures feel compelled to answer it. We must answer it as we attempt to hide. We must answer it as we strive between what can be known and what can never be known. We must answer it as the question leads to even more questions; not only where, but who, why and how?

Sacred questions.  If they don't lead us to conclusive answers now they do lead us toward the places where such answers may be glimpsed. This reminds me of Rilke's now famous quote:
"Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer."
 

@Timothy Carson 2016

 

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Broadway Christian Church
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