Wellbeing
Part of wellbeing is emotional health. The last decade has been very challenging for many with political chaos, a pandemic, and global strife. There is much to mourn - but how well do we handle grief? How can our theology help us?
What happens when our simple formulas for faith collide with the complexity of real suffering? This powerful exploration invites us to reconsider one of Christianity's most familiar refrains: 'Jesus is the answer.' Growing up with neat theological packages and three-chord hymns, many of us learned to fit every question into predetermined answers. But life has a way of shattering our containers. Through the lens of devastating personal loss, we're challenged to see that perhaps Jesus isn't the answer we've been waiting for—perhaps Jesus is the question that invites us to partner with God in creating answers for our broken world. This isn't about abandoning faith; it's about moving from simplicity through complexity to a deeper, more mature simplicity on the other side. We discover that holding mystery and tension isn't a failure of faith but an honor, as Proverbs suggests. The message resonates with Jesus's own cry from the cross—'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?'—reminding us that even God incarnate held questions without immediate resolution. This journey asks us to embrace a relational theology where God isn't a distant problem-solver but an omnipresent love entangled in every fiber of our existence, feeling every pluck of pain on the web of creation, dying with us in our cars and our crises, inviting us not to passive belief but to active partnership in bringing love where there is no love.
Things to think about…
How has your understanding of faith shifted from seeking simple answers to embracing complexity and mystery, and what triggered that shift?
Jonathan suggests that 'Jesus isn't the answer so much as Jesus is the question asking us to partner with God to be the answer.' How does this reframe your understanding of faith and action in the world?
When have you experienced God's presence not as intervention but as solidarity in your suffering, and how did that change your theology?
What aspects of your faith have you had to let go of in order to grow spiritually, and how did that process of release feel?
How do you reconcile the tension between believing God is love while experiencing or witnessing profound suffering and loss?
In what ways has your prayer life evolved from making requests to something more relational or experiential?
Jonathan speaks of finding beauty in complexity through music, nature, and people. Where do you see God in complexity rather than simplicity?
How does the image of Jesus dying with a question on his lips ('My God, why have you forsaken me?') change how you approach unanswered questions in your own life?
What does it mean practically to 'put love where there is no love' in relationships that have been strained by grief, theological differences, or other challenges?
How might viewing all of life as interconnected, like a web where every string affects others, transform the way you understand prayer and God's presence?