Day 718 - Why?

OT Reading: Micah 6:1-8
NT reading: Mark 12:28-34

I have been thinking about the question of " Why?" I admit the impetus for doing this was a video by Simon Sinek called something like "The Golden Circle and Power of Why?" His presentation is a little overdramatic but his point strike true.  (Microsoft just passed Exxon as the second largest US company behind Apple.)

Especially in our congregations we get caught up in the question of "What?" A classic line of thinking might be, "Our congregation is dropping in numbers so we need to do something. what? Well, let's try building a new sanctuary so folks will be attracted to our new presence." Or, it might go, "Let's  start a early worship service with some praise bands so we attract young speople."

What is missing in those two questions? I suggest what is missing in the preliminary quote is the subversive question, "Why?" "Why am I sitting in this pew in a worship service?

I suggest you dwell on the question, and seek an honest answer. But consider the reading from Mark first. The Scribes and Pharisees sought to trap Jesus to justify his arrest. After some arguing, one Scribe  seeking to trap Jesus asked, "What is the greatest commandment?" The answer was the Shema, "Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, The Lord is one. You shall one The Lord with all our heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength."

 And then, Jesus would not stop but continued,  "The second is this, "you shall love your neighbor as your self. There is no other commandment greater than these." The Scribe voiced his affirmation of the words of Jesus, and Jesus replied, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." Mark concludes, "After that, no one dared ask him a question."

I suggest to you that the answer to the question,  "Why are we here?" lies in this exchange with the scribe. We are hear to glorify God with our entire being, and the central striving in that striving is to love our neighbor she love ourself."

So, the "Why?"  question forces the question, "How do we do it?" We need to ask "How do we glorify God and love our neighbor?" Do we do it with a new sancturary or a early youth-oriented worship service? Or do we do it another way.

A student asked one of the elders at Hope 808, the Presbyterian ministry house on  the campus of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, "Why are you doing all this, making these big meals, inviting anyone who comes by to enter and eat, sitting around listening to our worries and the like?"

The answer to her why is our answer, we do it because we seek to glorify God and love our neighbor unconditionally. We have answered the how, we offer an open ministry, we have answered a "How" offer meals. And that ministry has grown from 6 or so students to over a hundred when we serve ouch on Tuesdays.

The answer the students hear is "We don't judge you or want to see your religious credentials. We just want you to know our loyalty to God, our reason for "Why are we hear?" is to love you. Come with us and get a little closer to God."

It is a subversive question because we have to say, the big steeple and different worship service are the "what" things we do may help us achieve a sense of closeness to God, but do not necessarily tell the world who we are or why we are here.  A young person might say, there are homeless people all around your church, why are you building a new sanctuary instead of building housing for them?   There may be numerous good reasons for building the sanctuary (we do need a place to worship) but what the world sees us doing suggests why we are here. The young person might opine there are too many steeples full of people who judge me and disinvite outsiders or are members of another congregation that they see as practicing errant Chrisitan belief.

Let's put the questions in order: "Why do we believe who we are?" "How we do to tell the world why we believe who we are?" "What is required of us?'

The "Why?" Question becomes the most subversive because it challenges us to ask the how question, " how do we love The Lord and love our neighbor?" and to answer the "What" question. We make think it is up to us to work out the "What and how," but really the "What" question was answered by the prophet Micah (6:1-8), "He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"

Please heed these words of Micah before you go off and define your own "What shall we do?" and be sure you have honestly answered the "Why?"  It will challenge you to do things you have not done, to approach worship and life in new and powerful ways, it will demand of your heart, your soul, and your strength. It is subversive because it will change your life.

Grace and peace,

Henry