After the benediction Sunday I took up my
usual post in the foyer, shaking hands, hugging, arranging for a trip to the “snack
chest” for kids who looked at me smiling way too hard, and encouraging visitors
to connect and come back to Miles Chapel CME Church. One of them did.
Yesterday, after some texting, “Matthew”, a
24 year old father and Miles College student stopped by the church with his
friend and fellow Milean, “Sheryll.” We toured the church-community garden, and I
told him about our other outreach and ways they could get involved. Matthew told me some of his story. (Brother’s
done a lot to be only 24.) I told him
some of my story. That was good.
The whole time, Sheryll listened ----- like,
really listened. You know the way you
listen when you came along as a friend but you expect the preacher to say
something wrong at any minute and prove that he’s just like all the
others. That kind of listening.
I know that listening because that’s how I used
to listen when my college friends dragged me along
when they went to see their
pastor.
After the tour we sat down again, and I said
what I always say, “Do you have any
questions? Any? Anything you’ve wanted to ask a preacher about
God or the Bible but couldn’t or hadn’t?
You can ask me.”
We talked for another 2 ½ hours.
They asked (not necessarily in this order):
1.
If there
was only Adam, Eve, Cain, and Abel, where did Cain’s wife come from?
2.
Is
homosexuality a sin? Do homosexuals
automatically go to Hell?
3.
What does
“repent” mean? Can people just tell God
they’re sorry, and keep on doing wrong, and go to Heaven when other people who
don’t ask for forgiveness don’t do nearly as much bad
stuff?
4.
Was the
serpent in the Garden of Eden real or a metaphor?
5.
Were Adam
and Eve real people or metaphors?
6.
Did they
poison John the apostle? Is the book of
Revelations him hallucinating?
7.
Are all
gods the same as God?
Those questions (and others) led to more Bible searches and conversations
about
8.
Hominids
vs homosapiens
9.
The big
bang theory (the science not the sitcom)
10. Tectonic shift and prehistoric
supercontinents
11. Translating biblical language into scientific
language, and vice versa
12. Yahweh, Jehovah, Elohim, and Allah
13. Hoteps and denominations
14.
Why 46
year olds don’t text back as quickly as 24 year olds
The funny thing is: every question they asked me was a question I
had asked leaders in the church when I was a young adult.
Most of the questions came from Sheryll
because it turns out that she is who I used to be: a child of the CME church who had questions the adults in church wouldn’t address or
recognize. FYI: When church folk ignore or suppress an inquisitive kid's questions about the Bible, the kid doesn't forget the questions. The kid assumes church folk (a) don't know what they'r talking about; or (b) are lying about God and everything.
Then, like me, Sheryll went to
college and heard new stories and theories that contradicted what she’d been
told about God and the Bible. Some of it
sounded more plausible than what she remembered from Sunday School. Some of the new stuff sounded wrong, but she
couldn’t compare it to Biblical truth because she had too many unanswered
questions about the Bible, too.
While I was in college at Alabama State
University, a couple guys listened to my questions and searched Scripture with
me to find answers. After all the
wonderful preachers and elders and bishops I had heard and ignored; it was the Christians
who made space for my questions who led me to salvation in Jesus Christ.
I don’t know what “Michael” and “Sheryll” are
going to do. I hope and pray that they’ll
connect long-term with Miles Chapel, but I don’t know.
But I do know that they now know that there
is a church where their questions are welcome and that the answers to their
questions are in the Word of God.
When the church makes space for people’s
questions we make space for God’s saving grace.
---Anderson T.
Graves II is a
writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural
leadership development.
Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of
Miles
Chapel CME Church in
Fairfield, Alabama; executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth
Networking Organization
(SAYNO);
and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for
Human Development (
NIHD).
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
Support by check or money order may be mailed
to
Miles Chapel CME Church
P O Box 132
Fairfield, Al 35064
