“We are closer to God when we are asking questions 

than when we think we have the answers.”  Abraham Heschel

   Most of us have been there and it’s not a place that we want to be. Back when I was in my early twenties, as jobs were limited in Wisconsin, I headed south and ended up working for a water well drilling company out of Odessa, Texas that supported the oil field. As many of you know, I’ve never been mechanically inclined and tend to have three left hands. 

  We were out on a job and the trailer got a flat tire. As I was the new guy, it fell on me to change the tire. My co-worker, Roy, had retired from the Army and was about as rough as they come. I was handed a hydraulic jack and told to climb under the trailer and jack it up. Big problem – I’d never seen a hydraulic jack before. (It didn’t help that there was a scorpion near where I was supposed to place the jack). As I crawled out from under the trailer, admitting that I had no idea how to work the jack, Roy essentially asked me what planet I had come in from. He seemed to find some warped pleasure in humiliating me.

  Most of us have had a similar experience. We learned early on that it was better to remain quiet, than to ask questions and expose our ignorance and risk humiliation and shaming.

  It’s wrong that our culture discourages asking questions. Being around a child that’s three or four usually means being asked a myriad of questions nearly non-stop. Those tykes have such inquisitive minds and know, it seems instinctively, that the way to find out things is to ask questions.

  Life is full of questions. All of us have them. What am I going to do with my life? What will I be? What’s the right career? Will my kids turn out all right? What will tomorrow bring? Add to that, there are the philosophical ones – which comes first the chicken or the egg? How many angels can fit on the head of a pin? Or the one asked in a philosophy class: “If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it fall, does it still make a noise?”

  Consider all the places where questions are used as a tool; schools, the legal system, employment tests, and even surveys (to name a few). Questions are an invaluable resource for learning. Yet too often questions are shut down and those who ask them are sometimes shamed that they don’t have the answers. It’s horrible!

  While most of us have an area or two where we feel very confident, many of us feel that we’re in the deep end of the pool when it comes to questions about God and the Bible. If you’ve been attending Grace, even for a short amount of time, hopefully, you’ve picked up that we welcome questions, particularly about God and the Bible. We’ll also freely admit that we don’t have all of the answers. Yet as much as we can we’ll dig into God’s Word with you for the answers.

  Many who attend Grace either didn’t grow up in a church or if they did, studying God’s Word for His answers often wasn’t encouraged. At Grace, we don’t want you to believe something about the Bible just because we say that’s the way that it is. We’re also committed to understanding the Bible, not interpreting it. God gave us His Word so that we would understand it. He wants us to know Him and desires a personal relationship with each of us. The very best way to know God is to read and study the “love letter” that He has given us – the Bible.

  That’s why we’re excited about a new study we’re offering at Grace that begins this coming Thursday, September 29^th at 6:00 pm – Christianity Explored. It includes dinner together and it’s an opportunity for us to not only better know God and His Word, but to get to know each other.

  This study will meet every other Thursday for seven sessions. Each one will last two hours or less.

  We all know what it is to walk into a dark room and turn on a light. We’ve then gone from darkness to being “illuminated.” During this study, we’re going to use the Gospel of Mark (the second book in the New Testament) and explore the answers about history’s greatest person, Jesus Christ. The Gospel of Mark is a biography of Jesus. We’re digging into Mark because when we know and understand who Jesus is, the rest of the Bible begins to make sense. You’re going to feel like a great big light bulb has turned on in your mind, and perhaps, another one in your soul.

  Christianity Explored will be your guide on a spiritual journey that will lead you to the answers for some of your deepest spiritual questions. This study is designed to give you answers for some of the common questions that are asked about Jesus and Christianity, yet it’s designed in bite-size chunks. Each study will be from the Bible and will be relevant and easy to understand. It will be very informal with opportunities for you to ask the questions that you have in a safe environment.

  Who Jesus is of absolute importance to every person who has ever lived. The Gospel of Mark provides an accurate account of Jesus’ life. Each study will include a short DVD segment. We’ll work through questions like: Who was Jesus? Why did He come to earth? Why did He have to die? What does “grace” mean? What about His resurrection? and What is a Christian?

  Most of our questions about God have a common element that’s illustrated by the following story:

  “A college sophomore tried to prove how smart he was one day by asking his professor the following question, “Is the bird I’m holding dead or alive?” If the professor said the bird was dead, the boy was going to free the bird and let it fly away, but if the professor said that the bird was alive, the boy was going to crush the bird. The professor wisely looked at the young man and said, “My boy, the answer is in your hands.”

  Our answers about God and Jesus Christ are in our hands. He has given us the Bible so that the most vital questions that need to be answered could be. 

  If you’re wondering about the Bible and who Jesus is, I hope that you’ll sign up for this study. Because we want it to be a quality interactive study, our space is limited. If you want to join us, please sign-up on your Connection Card or contact the church office.

  I’m so excited about this study! It’s going to be great!

Can we help you spiritually? Can we help you know Jesus better? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or, call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address.