Nothing and Something

How do you talk about something while not talking about it at all?  I feel that would be a question to ask the cast of Seinfeld, I mean how often did they talk about nothing and everything at the same time.  To the people who like Seinfeld this will come as no surprise, but to those that don't it seems to me that the true genius of Seinfeld is that it claimed to be a show about nothing, yada yada yada and all that, but commented on friendship, relationships, and family in insightful ways while remaining highly hilarious.

I wish I knew how to do that.  Then I could talk about some controversial things without talking about them at all.  Or I could talk about movies, like Prometheus, without giving away the plot points to those who have yet to watch it.  So I guess, without saying anything about anything the question I have is, what would you ask God if you could?  If you were guaranteed a response what would your question be?  And at the same time how disappointed would you be if you asked the question only to find a God that couldn't or wouldn't answer you?  What would that do to you?

What if like Alanis Morisette in Dogma God's voice isn't fit for human ears, if the mere utterance of sound would cause even angels to die?  What if it needed interpretation and we just didn't have the knowledge needed to understand?  What if we didn't like the answers that we received?  There's a song by Andrew Peterson called the silence of God and it goes like this.

It's enough to drive a man crazy; it'll break a man's faith 
It's enough to make him wonder if he's ever been sane 
When he's bleating for comfort from Thy staff and Thy rod 
And the heaven's only answer is the silence of God 

It'll shake a man's timbers when he loses his heart 
When he has to remember what broke him apart 
This yoke may be easy, but this burden is not 
When the crying fields are frozen by the silence of God 

And if a man has got to listen to the voices of the mob 
Who are reeling in the throes of all the happiness they've got 
When they tell you all their troubles have been nailed up to that cross 
Then what about the times when even followers get lost? 
'Cause we all get lost sometimes... 

There's a statue of Jesus on a monastery knoll 
In the hills of Kentucky, all quiet and cold 
And He's kneeling in the garden, as silent as a Stone 
All His friends are sleeping and He's weeping all alone 

And the man of all sorrows, he never forgot 
What sorrow is carried by the hearts that he bought 
So when the questions dissolve into the silence of God 
The aching may remain, but the breaking does not 
The aching may remain, but the breaking does not 
In the holy, lonesome echo of the silence of God

The aching may remain, but the breaking does not, maybe that is why our questions aren't always answered, not because they are bad questions, and not that we are bad people, but the sad truth is that this life is filled with sorrow, this life is filled with pain.  And the truth is that answers aren't as helpful as we think they might be, my father died because the cancer that ate away his bones took away his life.  But that answer, that truth, doesn't take away the pain.  In just about 5 months I am going to be a father and mine isn't around to ask questions to, and no matter how much truth I find that will remain the same.

I always say that the only question I have for God is 'why poop? it's smelly and disgusting, couldn't you have figured out another way for us to expunge things from our body?' but that is not true at all, my questions for God mount up almost everyday, but I imagine that when I finally encounter my creator, redeemer, and friend I won't much care about the answers to the questions, not even the poop one.  For on that day I will no longer hear the silence but rather I will feel the embrace.

Peace and Love,
Pastor K