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Between Sundays for Week of September 30, 2024

Be curious. Ask questions. . . . of scripture! Our curiosity and questions about scripture can yield a host of questions. For some we can learn answers from a good Bible commentary or a thoughtful Bible study (like BLC’s Wednesday morning Bible Study)! For some we lack the time, the capacity, or the resources to dig into to find answers. That can make us feel like our commitment is not strong enough and our faith is inadequate. As though the point of our life of faith is about finding answers, and gaining knowledge and wisdom, but that is not the case.

What is more significant than finding answers to our questions is remembering that God is open to our questions. Our curiosity is never too much for God. We are never too much for God. Our questions — in whatever form they take — are part of our ongoing conversation with God who welcomes them, and us!

In James 5:13-20, we hear the writer of James commending prayer to God’s faithful people. You don’t have to know what you are praying for or what you are asking through prayer, just pray, the writer says.

Are any among you suffering?

Pray

Are you cheerful?

Sing songs (which Martin Luther is often credited with saying, is like praying twice!)

Are any of you sick?

Call the elders and pray. 

Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another.

James’ commendation to prayer is another way of reminding us that our questions, our wonderings, our curiosity is all part of embracing the humility that Jesus commends to those who follow him. We don’t have to have all the answers. We don’t have to know all the things. Our faith, more often than we care to admit, leaves us with more questions than answers, and here is the good news: it is all welcomed by God. In our prayers, no questions are off limits. No wondering can be left unsaid. We may not always receive answers, and when we do, we may not welcome them. Ask. Seek. Knock. That is the journey of faith.

Be curious. Ask questions . . . of scripture and of God. All of it is prayer!

For in struggle we discover

Truth both simple and profound;

In the knocking, asking, seeking,

We are opened, answered, found.

(from hymn Ask the the Complicated Questions, Text: David Bjorlin, b. 1984)

P.S. View Sunday’s worship service to hear Amy’s sermon on BLC’s YouTube Channel). Watch past services on the Share in Worship page of BLC’s website!

P.P.S. Learn about Lutheran Disaster Response and respond to Hurricane Helene.

Faith Connection at Home

In Worship for Kids and JOY, we use a scaffold called the Faith Five. The Faith Five is 5 practices designed for building connections between ourselves, children/youth and God. This scaffold was designed for use in the home. We are using it at church so that children and youth will be familiar with it when families use it at home. The Faith Five looks like this:

STEP 1: SHARE your highs and lows of the day

STEP 2: READ a Bible verse or story

STEP 3: TALK about how the Bible reading might relate to you or what is happening in your life

STEP 4: PRAY for one another’s highs and lows

STEP 5: BLESS one another

Over the next few weeks, I will explain these steps in more depth and provide some resources or examples that families can use to help bring Christ’s presence into home.

Patty Chaffee

Family Faith Formation Coordinator

Between Sundays… Be Curious. Ask Questions. Abby and Amy get curious about grief. How do we pay attention to it? How do we live with it? What does our faith say about grief? Listen in and let us know if there’s a topic or question you’d like to hear us wrestle with on a future episode. Connect with us through Bethlehem Lutheran Church’s website.

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Ponderings

A Litany for Loss – a Celtic prayer turned into a litany by an unknown author. Our questions become our prayer: How could this happen Did I miss something important? Did I do something wrong? Practice silence after each sentence.

Do not hurry as you walk with grief; it does not help the journey.

Walk slowly, pausing often; do not hurry as you walk with grief.

Do not be disturbed by memories that come unbidden. Swiftly forgive and let God speak for you unspoken words. Unfinished conversations will be resolved in God. Do not be disturbed.

Be gentle with the one who walks with grief. If it is you, be gentle with yourself. Swiftly forgive; walk slowly, pausing often.

Take time, be gentle as you walk with grief.

Come now, God, live in us.

Help us to stay in you, since if we are all in you, we cannot be far from one another, though some may be in heaven and some upon earth. Amen