Day 16 - 40 Days of Prayer - Debbie Rundlett

Living the Questions

Jesus, you are the Great Questioner.
Keep our questions alive,
That we may always be seekers rather than settlers.
Guard us well from the sin of settling in
With our answers hugged to our breasts.
Make of us a wondering, far-sighted, questioning, restless people
And give us the feet of pilgrims on the journey unfinished.
--Macrina Wiederkehr, OSB

We are a theologically diverse denomination; no doubt about it. We cover the spectrum, which is one of the things I most appreciate about the PCUSA (at least most of the time). We are family of believers who have come to Christ by many different paths. Such diversity, however, does not come without some tension… especially in General Assembly years!

There are times when we have to agree to disagree. And there are other times when we find ourselves having to re-examine what we believe and why. Together we are called to live the questions. Yet, all too often, we feel we need to have the answers.

Yet it is the questions that provide us with “the feet of pilgrims on the journey unfinished.” Living the questions is rarely a comfortable experience, but it is a faithful one. As poet John Cicardi one said: “A good question is not a bolt to be tightened into place, but a seed to be planted toward the greening of the landscape of faith.”

As we prepare for the 219th General Assembly, may we dare to keep the questions alive that the Spirit might open us to the new in our midst?

Holy One,
Help us live the questions that we might not settle for the easy answers,
But rather follow in your way.
In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Debbie Rundlett
General Presbyter
Muskingum Valley Presbytery