Tom Ridenhour was my first preaching professor. A life-long Lutheran, he did not fit any stereotypical mold for Lutherans. As a native of North Carolina his ethnic foods leaned more toward grits than lefse. No Minnesota or Upper Midwestern accent. His was a southern drawl. His college and graduate years were with the Methodists of Duke and the Congregationalists of Yale with a stop in between with some Lutherans at Southern Seminary in Columbia, South Carolina. (By the way, ULC member and pastor, Jacqui Pagel also had Tom as her preaching professor.)
In preaching class the first weeks were spent on discussions and lectures on everything from the theology of preaching to ways to write a sermon for better eye contact. Then came the sermons, preached in class, by each student. You sometimes think it is hard to make your way through one sermon on a Sunday morning? Imagine having to listen to four or more in a single setting!
While an anxious classmate was up front preaching, we co-classmates, diligently sat at our desks filling out printed sermon evaluation forms commenting on eye contact, delivery, content, and more.
At the conclusion of each sermon, Dr. Ridenhour would stride confidently to the front, turn, and begin the evaluation discussion with a question. Quickly we learned that first question revealed his evaluation focus. Questions were often, “Where was the Good News in that sermon? How was the delivery? Could you hear him well or did she have good eye contact or seemed to be reading the sermon. Most memorable and most feared was the question, “Was that a sermon?” Now he would have to add a new question for some, “How would that appear on live stream?”
I wonder if Tom checked out his old students and their preaching once everyone went online. Somehow I think he had heard enough preaching from his hundreds of protégé’s during his forty or so years of teaching. I shudder to think that he might have caught me in the act on live stream!
Dr. Ridenhour asked questions so the preacher could learn and so those answering the questions could reflect and learn. Much of scientific, engineering, and even music, the arts and writing accomplishments were because someone had a question. “What would happen if we….? How might we be able to…..? What if we did this and/or that?”
Unfortunately, people of faith seem to fear questions regarding faith. Too much faith remains stagnant because we are unable to ask questions of one’s self or of our faith. If our faith seems a bit out of touch with today’s life it may be because we haven’t asked questions of it or have asked the wrong questions. It is also faith to which we must turn when questions seem to lack a definite or certain answer.
Jesus wasn’t afraid of questions. “What must I do to inherit eternal life? How can one be born again? Where do you get that living water? Who is my neighbor?” These are just some of the questions that came to Jesus.
Jesus responded to some questions with parables, straight answers, a healing, or a theological revelation about God. He was unthreatened by people’s questions. This ought to give us release from out anxiety about asking questions of our faith, or, for that matter, of God. Yes, it may change our faith. It might also strengthen it as we understand how it now relates to some new chapter of our life.
Imagine, finishing a sermon in class to your peers and a professor and have the professor begin with, “Was that a sermon?” I can’t remember what questions he asked after my sermons. I probably blacked them out because of fear or embarrassment. Regardless, many who had that question asked of an early preaching masterpiece no doubt went on to learn from it and become adequate if not very good preachers.
What if we saw life as more than pursuing answers to our questions. What if we saw life as having a consistent practice of asking questions of us? Think of your life. Of course you understand much more now than in the past. The future will provide even more insight. Yet has not life questioned you in the past? Will there not be further questions asked in time to come? As followers of Christ we need to work on being more comfortable in asking questions and more comfortable in having questions asked of us. A life of following Christ is not a linear progression of further understanding. It is also a bumpy path of trying to navigate what comes to us.