QUESTIONS, QUESTIONS
I mentioned a quote from Friedrich Buechner a couple of weeks ago in a sermon (something like): 'questions and doubts are the ants in the pants of faith. They keep it alive and moving.'
I have two recent questions (as well as many others...) that are causing ants in my pants:
1). This one comes from Guy Sayles and his blog at First Day. We often focus on the question of "Do you believe in Jesus?" This is an important question and rests at the heart of the Christian faith. But sometimes we, wrongly, stop at that question, as if saying yes settles all matters of faith and discipleship. There is a second and also very important question to ponder after asking "Do you believe in Jesus?" and it is: "Do you believe what Jesus believed?" Go check out Guy Sayles thoughts on this one here. It's a very important question for followers of Jesus.
2). The second question follows the readings I've been doing for our forthcoming retreat for our worship team. There is a lot of focus on the need for worship to be authentic today. It's been something that I've focussed a lot on. Today I read an article that gave me a kick in the pants. The article is by Graham Redding who is the Minister at St John's in the City, a Presbyterian church in Wellington. In the article he asks "What is authentic worship? Authentic to whom?" Is it most important to be authentic to the people gathered to worship (in which case, who decides if the bar of authenticity has been reached?) or to the Triune God of grace revealed in Jesus Christ? Who is worship directed towards, the people gathered for worship or the Triune God of grace?