Questions for Pastor Heather

The first Wednesday in Lent, I put out a box with a sign that said, “Questions for Pastor Heather.”  This came about because the kids were asking so many questions during worship on Wednesdays that I couldn’t answer them without completely derailing worship!  I also didn’t want to discourage them from asking questions, so the “Questions for Pastor Heather” box was born.

Each week the kids write their questions on index cards and put them in the box and I write back a response via their parents email.  There have been wonderful questions each week!  Sometimes the questions are HUGE -  “How do we know God is real?”  And sometimes silly - “Why am I short?”  But they have all been a lot of fun to answer and I found that there was always something important that came from even the most unexpected questions.

Here are just a few of the questions that have come through the question box along with the answers with which I replied (all questions shared with permission):

Q:  "Can you jump on God?"  - Charlie Ferris

A: I have never been asked that before!  The short answer would be, "No."  You can't jump on God, because God doesn't have a body like you and me - God is more like spirit, something you can't see or touch.

The longer answer is more complicated.  Because God is spirit, God is able to be present all over the place!  God is here with me in my office, God is with you at home and at school... If you hike to the top of a mountain, God is there.  If you swim to the bottom of a lake or deep in the ocean, God is there.  God is with the animals and plants that live all over the earth...  AND we also believe that we are all given the gift of God's Holy Spirit, so in that way, God is present INSIDE of you AND inside of your parents.  So, I guess when you jump on your parents, you are kind of jumping on God!  Not exactly what you meant, but still kind of cool to think about. :)

Jesus kind of talks about this when he tells the disciples that whenever they feed someone who is hungry, they are feeding him.  Or whenever they visit someone who is lonely, they are visiting him.  Because God's Holy Spirit is within us all, the way we treat one another is the way we treat God.  That is why we are called to treat everyone with love and kindness.

Thank you for your question!

Q:  Who came up with the Bible? - Cece Glesne

A: That seems like a simple question, but the answer is actually really long and complicated (and, honestly, a little boring if you don't like history).  So, I am going to give you a basic answer with the information that I have stored in my brain... if that doesn't fully answer your question, I can look up dates and details and give you more specific information.

The Bible is a collection of writings that were developed over more than a thousand year time period.  The first half of the Bible (often called the Old Testament) is various writings from the Jewish tradition.  These writings would have been read and studied by Jesus when he was alive.  Those writings started out as stories and teachings that were passed on from generation to generation in an oral tradition (they spoke them to each other from memory.  They weren't written down.) and then were eventually written down and put together in a collection known as the Torah and prophets, but most Christians call it the "Old Testament" or sometimes "Hebrew Scriptures."  Jewish people today still use these as part of their religious book.

The second half of the Christian Bible is called the "New Testament."  This is only used by Christians.  The books found in the New Testament were written by early followers of Jesus.  The first four books are the "Gospels" which are about the life of Jesus.  The book of Acts is about the early church and picks up where the Gospel of Luke leaves off.  And then there are a whole bunch of letters that were written to early Christian churches, mostly by a guy named Paul (but not all).  And the book of Revelation is the description of a vision that John had... that book is full of imagery and symbolism and is really difficult to understand unless you have experts (biblical scholars) help explain the meaning.  Just like the Old Testament, most of the new testament started out being passed down verbally - stories about Jesus that his followers shared with each other.  Then eventually they wrote them down and years later people in the church decided which of the writings were most important and they put those together in what we now use as our Bible.

So, a LOT of people were involved in putting the Bible together.  Lots of people shared the stories, different people wrote them down, and then different people decided which ones to put together into a book.  AND the writings were in different languages, so even more people were involved translating it all!

I told you it was complicated.  And that's just the parts I can remember!

Thanks for your question.  I hope this helps.

Q: Did God create Taylor Swift? - Violet Ferris

A: Yes.  God created you, me, Taylor Swift, and everyone else.  AND God created us in God’s image - so we are all meant to be creative!  Taylor Swift uses her God given abilities to create music.  What are some ways that you use your creativity?

Q: Who was the First Disciple? - anonymous

A: Each of the Gospel writers tells the story of Jesus calling the first disciples a little bit differently.  I will tell you the short answer, but I will also give you the Bible verses so that you can look them up and compare them.  Short answer: since Simon Peter is on everybody's list, he is usually considered the first disciples called by Jesus.

Matthew 4:18-22 - Simon Peter and his brother Andrew were the first disciples called

Mark 1:16-20 - Simon Peter and his brother Andrew (same as Matthew)

Luke 5:1-11 - Simon Peter was called along with James and John (who were brothers)

John 1:35-51 - Andrew (Simon Peter's brother) was called first and then he went and brought Simon Peter to meet Jesus

Q: Why was Jesus' cross put by other crosses? - Adeline Gitt

A: The answer to this is really sad.  The Roman government at the time of Jesus actually crucified lots of people - thousands of people.  They did it to scare people who might want to try and change things.  They were showing that they were willing to hurt lots and lots of people to keep their power.  Jesus taught the people that things shouldn't be that way - that people shouldn't be treated like that - even though he KNEW that Rome would most likely hurt him because of it.  

We believe that God chose to become a human - Jesus - to show us a different way of living and also to stand alongside those who were being hurt.  Basically, God was showing the world that God does not side with bullies, but with people who need help.  It also showed us that God does not lash out and hurt people as a way of changing the world... Instead Jesus showed us that we are all called to share God's love in response to all of the world's cruelty.  Jesus did not back down from teaching people about God's love, even when it meant that he would be crucified.

These are just a few of the amazing questions that kids have put in the question box.  What a wonderful thing to be part of a community that encourages our children to engage their faith and ask questions from a young age.  I hope that you are inspired by their curiosity to ask your own questions!