Yes...No...Maybe

 

In the current book being read by the AFC Book Discussion Group, Walk Humbly, the Vicar of St Martin in the Fields, Sam Wells writes there are always three answers to every question: Yes…No…and Maybe.  And usually, the best one is number three.

That may frustrate us if we tend to look for those binary choices of yes or no.  Yet life is rarely that straightforward, and neither is faith. 

Most answers do have to factor in Maybe.  The maybes of life have to take into account you, me, others, events, history; the list is endless because context is so important.

It's because binary choices are so rarely available that law making is so complex and religious thought is always evolving. 

In one of the recent TV Election debates I was horrified to see that candidates were only given 45 seconds to answer the question.  Tik Tock has a lot to answer for!  As a society we really do have to become more serious as we wrestle with the big issues that are never clear cut.

During his ministry Jesus so often challenged his hearers to think outside the box and reject the standard answers of the day.  He lost his life because he was so radical in challenging the status quo.  Part of being a disciple of Jesus today is to seek to be a thinker; someone who looks for answers that are longer than 45 seconds, answers that may be Yes or No, but will probably more often be Maybe.

Crucial to that process is always seeking to factor in God’s love, justice, mercy and kindness to the issues that are before us, because the character of God is always part of the answer to any question we might ask.

So, keep asking the questions and in the struggle may you hear the whisper of God helping you through.