"But Why" by Pastor Welty

We who are parents have all experienced it,  our child asking a multiplicity of questions that all begin with the words,  "But why?"  It can be cute for a minute, but then it can become annoying and exhausting.  Or we try to give our children instructions or directions and the child responds by asking, "But why?"  Then out of exhaustion we might respond in a way that we promised ourselves we would never respond: "Because I said so", we say as we invoke our "parent card".  We didn't want to go there, but somehow we arrived. 

Beth and I spent Easter at my daughter Abby's house in Worcester, MA.  She carried on her mother's tradition of celebrating an Armenian Easter, complete with all the delicious foods we looked forward to every year.   The event took on an interfaith feeling as Abby's sister-in-law led us in an abbreviated Passover Seder.  After the Seder, I was asked to offer a blessing, and I tried to tie the meaning of the Passover and Easter together, without sounding too "preachy."

Part of the Seder revolves around 4 questions focused on the overarching theme: How is this night different from all other nights?  Here are the four questions: On all other nights, we eat chametz (leaven) and matzah. Why on this night, only matzah?
On all other nights, we eat all vegetables.  Why, on this night, maror (bitter herbs)? ​On all other nights, we don't dip even once. Why on this night do we dip twice?
On all other nights, we eat either sitting upright or reclining.  Why on this night do we all recline?  

Questions are a part of the Jewish Tradition.  Remember the story of the man who asked his Rabbi, "Why do you always answer questions with questions?"  The Rabbi responded:  "And what's wrong with that?"

Questions are good and important as they cause us to really examine our experiences. So starting April 30, we'll take a cue from our children and from the Passover Seder by asking some why question about our worship.  I want us to spend time examining the motivation for our worship by evaluating why we conduct the various components of our worship experience.

Here are the questions: 1. Why do we gather? 2. Why do we sing?  3. Why do we read and study God's word? 4. Why do we pray? 5. Why do we offer gifts to God?

 Socrates famously said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”  I suppose the same is true for our worship experience.  We never want to get into a rut where we perform the same action over and over without understanding why.  I hope that when we complete this series, we'll have a much better understanding of our motivation for worship.