Not Yet
When I was appointed to Valley View UMC and started youth activities, I realized that I wanted to issue a challenge to the youth. To give them an opportunity to think deeply about their faith and perhaps even challenge them. To date, they have not yet managed to stump me with a theological question, but I keep hoping they will find one.
First, of course, because I set the challenge, I have designed it in my favor. Knowing that rote memory is not necessarily my strong suit, or rather, what my brain chooses to remember for more than a brief period of time is not a conscious choice, I set a simple limit on this challenge. No rote memory. Why do I know the preposition song we learned in 5th grade but have to look up the ten commandments? Maybe because one was set to music? God knows, but I do not. Therefore, anything that one could Google and get a clear answer was out. They could easily stump me if they asked me to name all 12 of Jacob’s sons (for which there is a song), but those are not the challenging theological questions I am hoping they will ask.
It is also important to me that I give the youth credit for the questions they have asked. Some of the questions have been good questions. Unfortunately for them, I have answers to questions like “why do bad things happen to good people?”. And maybe that’s cheating because so many theologians have attempted to answer that question of theodicy and solve the conundrum that comes from worshipping an all powerful God, who we also know is good, but there is evidence of bad things happening despite those two truths. The short answer is free will. The long answer is also free will, but with an explanation on how we, collectively, as humans get to make choices that may result in harm coming to others regardless of our intentions, hopes, or plans. We have been the beneficiaries of an abundant and unending grace that is not cheap. We have a responsibility to do no harm, do good, and attend to the ordinances of God.
Faith is nuanced and complicated. This gift of life that we have been given requires us to use our brains to love God, but also think about what our words and deeds may mean beyond ourselves. Scripture reminds us from time to time that the gospels include some difficult teachings. The burden of guilt may be light, but the responsibility to participate in the transformation of the world is not. The Holy Spirit is hopefully at work in you, as it is in me, so that the world might give God glory all the time, not just sometimes. We are both transformed and not yet… not yet perfect. May God help us along the way and may we remember to give the same grace to each other that God grants us.
As a memory challenge, how many of these can you complete without having to look up the answers?
https://www.sporcle.com/games/g/twelvesons
https://www.sporcle.com/games/g/beatitudes
https://www.sporcle.com/games/g/commandments
https://www.sporcle.com/games/Sforzando/bible_200
https://www.sporcle.com/games/g/biblebooksold
https://www.sporcle.com/games/HappyWife/bible-decisions-genesis-multiple-choice
https://www.sporcle.com/games/salman_anna/lords-prayer
https://www.sporcle.com/games/Bigcatbill/23rd_Psalm
https://www.sporcle.com/games/g/plaguesofegypt
