We live in a world filled with unanswered questions. And before we get to any attempts to providing answers, we want to acknowledge the prevalence of these questions. Much like you, we in the church deal with our doubts, our fears, our questions — often, seemingly unanswered questions. For we also see what you see. We see a broken world filled with hurts and pains and injustices and cruelties. We see a world where some things seem to improve while others take a drastic step back. We see ourselves, our families, our churches, and we see so much ugly where beauty is expected. Some people view these as legitimate reasons to completely disregard God. Others view them as the very reasons to begin considering the existence of God. We all have questions. Our invitation is that we ask those questions respectfully and together.
C. S. Lewis once responded to a Russian cosmonaut, who went to outer space in search for God. This cosmonaut returned to earth with the conclusion that he had searched and searched. And sure enough, there was no God to be seen. Lewis’ response was that a cosmonaut searching for God in outer space is much like Hamlet going up to his attic in search for Shakespeare. Lewis explained that the only way for Hamlet to come to any discovery of Shakespeare is if Shakespeare wrote himself into the story of Hamlet. And in our search for God, we are often unaware that He came searching for us first. The Bible tells us that the “author of life” (Acts 3:15) Jesus wrote Himself into the story when He “became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). And while other fields of study may seek to disprove God through natural evidences, God has most clearly revealed Himself in a story. Our invitation is that you would come and investigate, examine this story with us. And as we come across questions, our hope is that we would ask them together.
Your story is unique, and we’d love for you to share it with us. We have some unique stories too. At Christ Our Redeemer, our aim is to listen, to share, and to love. We do this in conversation, over dinner tables, and through laughter and tears. None of us have it all together, so you’ll fit right in. We can’t promise that you’ll be unscathed here in this community. But we aim to be a bandaging community, a covering community, an attentive community. Because that’s what Jesus did for us when He bled through the pages He wrote himself into.
