"Why, God, why?"

I read a story this past week about an American athlete whose career was being presented as a “comeback”.  This person runs the hurdles; an event in which the margin for error is extremely slight. Despite consistently performing at a world champion standard, and having every reason to expect to do the same at the last Olympics, the athlete made a mistake, bumped a hurdle, and became an also-ran in an instant. As she paced the track in tears after the race, what she was muttering under her breath was, “Why, God, why?”

That question is, of course, a human classic. It is our “go to” question when things don’t turn out as expected. And that leads us to the question of what we expected, and why. Not the least of the realms in which we have expectations is the realm of faith – what we expect from God. Our expectations of God are rooted in our beliefs about the nature of the world; how things should operate under God, and how things should go for us as a result.

This week we’re going to take a look at the context for the introduction of humanity into the story. Along the way, we will gain some context for the cosmic “why” as well. My hope is that it will be helpful as we face whatever life brings.

By the way…we’re changing the seating again to make more room, and also working on helping the folks in the back corners hear better. It is, like so many things at The Table, something of an ongoing experiment. So come on out, grab a cup of coffee, and act like a really smart lab rat…

Peace,

Tim