Liturgy of Lent: Questions
Day Six
call
God of curiosity, lead us not into the temptation of certainty.
meditation
“So my advice is this-don’t look for proofs. Don’t bother with them at all. They are never sufficient to the question, and they’re always a little impertinent I think, because they claim for God a place within our conceptual grasp. And they will likely sound wrong to you even if you convince someone else with them. That is very unsettling over the long term. “Let your works so shine before men,” etc. It was Coleridge who said Christianity is a life, not a doctrine, words to that effect. I’m not saying never doubt or question. I’m saying you must be sure that the doubts and questions are your own, not, so to speak, the mustache and walking stick that happen to be the fashion of any particular moment.”
Marilynne Robinson, Gilead
reading
Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?
John 3:1-10
prayer
Lord, you created us to think, to question, and also to find comfort in categories. This is a great mystery to us, a tension with which we wrestle each day. Like Nicodemus, we find ourselves asking questions sometimes because we are genuinely seeking to understand, and sometimes because we are seeking to sure up our certainty through disproving something we feel challenges us. Like Nicodemus, lead us into a place where we can say to our own people, “let’s find out more.” Form in us the courage to stand on uncertainty as a robust expression of faith. Let our questions be our fervent prayers for the world.
confession
Perhaps it is a bit of sarcasm to ask Nicodemus, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?” We confess to all the many, many times we have used our certainty, righteousness and status as a shield against disruptive questions. We confess to rejecting disruption in favor of comfort and safety, while also leaving those outside of that comfort without whatever empathy or help we might humbly offer.
benediction
May the Lord bless your questions; may the Lord make your curiosity a blessing to His beloved creation.