Love the Question, Live the Answer

The Rev. Dr. Whitworth Ferguson III
Manassas Presbyterian Church
Manassas, Virginia
June 14, 2009

Love the Question, Live the Answer
Selected Proverbs

“An intelligent mind acquires knowledge,
and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.”
(Proverbs 18.15)

This is just one of the many Proverbs that speaks to wisdom,
speaks to learning,
speaks to knowledge:

“Keep hold of learning;
do not let go;
guard her,
for she is your life.” (4:13)

“Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise.” (13:20)

“Give instruction to the wise
and they will become wiser still;
teach the righteous
and they will gain in learning.” (9:9)

“Whoever heeds instruction is on the path to life.” (10:17)

The Book of Proverbs seems like an appropriate book
for us to read from as we celebrate the accomplishments
of our young people who have graduated
from high school and college.
And we do celebrate with them, with great joy.
We celebrate their hard work,
their learning,
and all their accomplishments.

Even as they graduate, though,
even if their time in classrooms has come to an end,
we know that their learning hasn’t ended.
Our learning never ends, does it?
At least it should not…
for any of us.
God calls us to learn – always.
God calls us to grow in knowledge
so that we can grow in wisdom
as we grow in faith.

The Book of Proverbs is part of a section in the Old Testament
referred to as “Wisdom Literature”.
All the various writers of the different Proverbs
sought to help their readers grow in wisdom
throughout their lives.
The gateway to wisdom is knowledge:
knowledge of history,
of math,
of science,
of literature and language,
of arts and culture,
of the world all around us,
this world God created.

We learn and grow in knowledge in classrooms;
we learn in this Sanctuary;
We learn in family rooms and dining rooms,
in museums,
on playing fields,
hiking trails…
We can learn anywhere, any time.

As we grow in knowledge,
we begin to make connections
that help us to grow in wisdom.
As we read through the history of
the children of Israel for example,
we realize how we humans tend to repeat our mistakes,
how we don’t learn from the past.
We learn how just how stubborn we can be,
how “stiff-necked”,
to use that wonderful Old Testament expression.
As we grow in knowledge and understanding
we appreciate the wisdom in Santayana’s powerful observation,
“Those who do not learn from history
are doomed to repeat it.”

If we learn from our own histories,
from the mistakes we make,
we are more likely to avoid them in the future.
Do you remember the story of the adulterous woman
in John’s gospel?
That’s where Jesus invited “the one who was
without sin to cast the first stone.”
The Pharisees dropped their stones
and walked away.
And then Jesus spoke to the woman,
and his teaching for her and for us
could not have been clearer:
“Go and sin no more.”
(John 8:11)
In other words:
learn from what you did wrong
and don’t do it again.

Of course we can also learn from successes
we read about in history,
and build on those successes:
That’s history worth repeating.

The more we learn of literature, language
and culture,
the more we learn how much we have in common
with those who may speak different languages,
or come from other cultures.

In our Wednesday morning Bible Study group,
we have been working our way through a study of
comparative religion.
We are learning not only about
the other Abrahamic faiths – Judaism and Islam --
we are also learning about Hinduism,
and Buddhism,
Shintoism, Tao,
and others.
We are learning how those faith practices
differ from our own,
but more important,
we are also learning how similar we all are
as we live out our faith,
even if we don’t worship the same God.

Two weeks ago when we marked Pentecost,
we learned that language is no barrier to faith,
that the Gospel transcends all languages: Greek, Latin,
Hebrew, French, Spanish, …
and even that notoriously difficult language, English.

Back in March we talked about how
the more we learn about science,
the more we can see God’s awesome,
creative powers at work all around us.
The more we learn about science,
the more we realize that science and faith,
even the science of evolution and faith,
can happily and easily co-exist.

The Book of Proverbs is a book of wisdom,
filled with helpful reminders
that call us to keep open minds,
call us to walk in faithful humility,
call us to remember that none of us has all the answers,
that the moment we think we do
we risk looking prideful and foolish.

And the Book of Proverbs has harsh words for fools:
“A fool takes no pleasure in understanding
but only in expressing personal opinion.” (18:2)
“Fools think their own way is right,
but the wise listen to advice.” (12:16)
“The wise lay up knowledge,
but the babbling of a fool brings ruin near.” (10:14)

The word that we translate from the Hebrew as “Proverbs”
means “to compare”.
The Book of Proverbs is filled with comparative aphorisms:
“doing this is good,
but doing that is bad.”
“A fool gives full vent to anger,
but the wise quietly holds it back.” (29:11)

Proverbs also teaches us to compare,
to analyze,
to reflect,
and to discern
as we seek to live wisely.

To live wisely is to live fully in life.
“To possess the virtues of the wise
is to live deeply and intensely,
in rich relationships with all of life,
and, ultimately, with God.”
(Kathleen O’Connor, The Wisdom Literature, 41)

To live wisely is to learn that we should go through life
filled with questions, always asking,
always seeking answers.
That’s how we grow in knowledge.

Living in faith is not living in blind obedience and acceptance;
living in faith is living in the tension between
belief and certainty,
testing what we hear, learn,
see and experience.

Three thousand years ago Moses told the children of Israel
that other prophets would follow him after he died.
The children of Israel asked Moses how they would know
a true prophet from a false prophet.
The answer that God gave through Moses and
gave through all the prophets who followed Moses
was the same:
you’ll have to figure it out for yourself
through faith, wisdom and discernment.

Three thousand years later,
false prophets find ready audiences
among those who have not learned this lesson,
who don’t want to think,
who aren’t willing to do the work,
who don’t want to grow in wisdom or understanding.

Jesus is the master teacher of wisdom.
His favorite teaching tool was the parable,
those riddle-like stories that cause us
to have to read them three or four times,
discuss them, unpack them,
and even then we are not sure we’ve got them.
Parables force us to think,
to reflect, and discern.

Jesus used exaggeration and hyperbole, as well,
telling us to gouge out an eye or cut off a hand
if they cause us to sin (Matthew 5:29-30)
Aren’t we glad we don’t read the Bible literally?
We hear Jesus’ teaching and we have to figure out
what it is he’s trying to have us learn.
Jesus wants us to grow in wisdom as we grow in faith.

It was the German poet Rainer Marie Rilke,
who advised a young person much like our graduates
to go through life always questioning,
because in the process of questioning,
we learn, we discern,
and we find understanding.

He encouraged the young person
..to try to “love the questions themselves.”
and even more, to “live the questions”,
for in time, he wrote, if we live the questions,
we will live our way into the answers.
(Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet)

There is much in life that we should question.
We should question why there are men, women and children
dying right now of malnutrition and starvation
in other parts of the world
when obesity is one of our major health problems in this country.
We should question why we as a nation consume so much food;
why we waste so much food.
We should question why we aren’t working now
to find better ways to distribute food to assure
that no one dies for lack of something to eat.
As we ask the difficult questions
we will live into the answers.

We should question why we seem to turn a deaf ear
or even tolerate those who spew hatred
against men and women because of their ethnicity,
the color of their skin,
their gender,
their religion,
their sexual orientation.
We should question why we seem to think such talk is acceptable
because the talker is on prime-time television,
or speaks his hate-filled words into a gold-plated microphone.
We should question words that are so antithetical
to everything Christ teaches,
words that can trigger senseless violence
such as the murder of the doctor in his church,
or the guard at the Holocaust Museum this past week.
As we ask the difficult questions
we will live into the answers.

We should question why we are still so caught up
in the endless debate that has paralyzed the larger church
about who we should and should not ordain.
I have lived the question for most of my adult life.
I grew up in a decidedly homophobic time
and environment.
But as I have lived the question,
I have found myself living into some answers
--That the person I had looked at as different,
is a child of God,
and bears the image of Jesus Christ.
--That whatever sins I may think a person has
will be dealt with in time by the only judge who matters,
our Lord Jesus Christ,
just as Jesus will judge my own sins.
--And a call to service, ordained service in the church,
a call to serve as an ordained
Minister of Word and Sacrament,
or ordained Elder, or ordained Deacon,
is a call that comes from God,
a tap on the shoulder from the Chief himself,
as the Reverend Peter Marshall might have put it,
and there is no place for me between
God and the person God chooses to call.
As I have lived the questions,
I have lived into the answers,
answers that I think Jesus would approve of.

I have found the words of a wise pastor
helpful as I try to live these and other questions,
and live into the answers:
“It’s always a good time to change your mind
when to do so will widen your heart.”
(WS Coffin, Letters to a Young Doubter, 116)

Widening my heart:
that sounds to me like a proverbial statement
that will guide me on the path to wisdom:
Transforming myself,
transforming my thinking
becoming more accepting, open, loving,
“Learning in my own experience
what is fully pleasing to the Lord.”
(Ephesians 5:10)

If I were to offer a graduation address to our new graduates
mine would be short.
In fact, I would not call it a graduation address;
I would call it a commencement address
as a reminder that each day we are graced
with the commencement of new life in Jesus Christ.
So I would say very simply:
Live the questions;
live into the answers.
Grow in knowledge;
seek wisdom;
nurture your faith.
Widen your heart;
Love broadly, love deeply.
And may the Lord bless you and keep you
and make his face to shine upon you,
and give you peace
now and always.
AMEN