In one of my executive leadership courses we read about the “five whys.” Developed within the Toyota Motor Corporation, the process is a problem-solving process meant to get to the deepest root causes of a problem by asking the simple question, “why?” repeatedly. While this was intended for manufacturing processes, the “five whys” found its way into all industries as a way to help teams focus on the root of any situation.
I have often said that at church, understanding your “why” is really important. Using a system like the “five whys” to get to the root of a challenge before the Vestry, or a situation before the staff, or even to problem before lay leaders, discerning the real “why” before us helps us address the issue at hand at a deeper, much more relevant manner.
This autumn, our parishioners have been sharing their “whys” with our congregation about why supporting ministry at Hickory Neck Church is so important. Through short video testimonies we have heard all kinds of whys, learned about the impact of ministries in our faith community, and been able to see the deeper meaning people are finding in our spiritual home. Why would we want to know that? Well, as we consider how we want to support the church with our time, talent, and treasure, knowing our whys helps us convert our giving from obligation to gratitude. Once we understand our why more deeply – and the whys of fellow members – we begin to see the wideness of God’s mercy in this place, and begin to feel more committed to supporting this place that blesses us and others so richly. Slowly, we see we are not being pressured to give, we are being invited into a vibrant, life-changing, purpose-making place that we can enable with the resources God has given us.
We’ve shared the case for Hickory Neck, we’ve heard from fellow parishioners, and now, we are invited to ask our “five whys” about this place we have come to call our spiritual home. I look forward to hearing about the abundance and grace you find when you ask your “five whys” this week. I suspect your whys might inspire my own!
This sermon was delivered to Virginia Theological Seminary on the occasion of our annual Convocation for alumni, faculty and staff, and seminarians.
Photo credit: The Rev. Matthew Tucker
I live in a pretty “purple” district in Southern Virginia. My Congressman represents a different party than my own, but I make a point to stay on his mailing list as a way to remind him that he represents a politically diverse district. Every month he sends out polls, and I dutifully respond to them. But with every survey I find myself frustrated. My Congressman either has never taken a class in crafting an unbiased survey or he is simply not interested in different opinions. The questions are always phrased something like, “In your opinion, how bad of a job is our president doing: terrible, really bad, pretty bad, or I’m not sure.” Or without any nuance or explanation about the background of the issue, the poll will ask something like, “The Congress wants to pay illegal immigrants who knowingly broke the law hundreds of thousands of dollars. Should we pay these illegal immigrant criminals, yes or no?” Or, one of my favorites, “Which of these issues should be the priority of Congress?” (PS, none of the options listed talk about caring for the poor or our neighbor, and there definitely isn’t an “other” category). But I dutifully take the surveys, hoping my voice is part of my representative’s decision making.
I have been pondering the ministry of Jeremiah and thinking his prophetic ministry is a bit like trying to engage my Congressman. For those of us not taking Old Testament this semester, Jeremiah is prophesying in a time of political decline. The northern kingdom, Israel fell to Assyria nearly a hundred years before, and Judah remains in a tenuous situation. The Assyrians are still in control, but in the course of the book of Jeremiah, Babylon defeats Assyria and takes control of Judah. There are rebellions against Babylon, in particular by King Jehoiakim who we hear about today, but they are eventually unsuccessful.[i] Like any good prophet, Jeremiah is attempting to get the people and king to repent and return to the Lord. And like all people of all time, the people refuse to listen to God. King Jehoiakim is particularly egregious in this refusal. In fact, just verses before our reading, the King has his attendant read Jeremiah’s prophetic scroll three or four columns at a time, then cuts those columns off the scroll and throws them in a fire. King Jehoiakim is not alarmed by the prophecy, and certainly not repentant.
But here’s the funny part. In the verses we read today, the Lord tells Jeremiah to rewrite the entire scroll and add in a little final judgment. Like me, sitting down with yet another poll from my Congressman, he sits down and does the same thing over again. I have been of two minds about this passage. On the one hand, and no offense toward the Lord’s prophetic practices and policies, but how many times are we to keep doing the same thing and expecting different results. As if King Jehoiakim is going to receive the second scroll and say, “Oh, a second scroll? Okay, I guess I won’t burn this one and will change my ways!” If this pandemic has taught us anything this pandemic has taught us we cannot keep doing Church the way we always have and expect the Church to thrive (or in biblical terms, to repent and return to the Lord). This pandemic has made us nimble, agile, creative, and versatile. This pandemic made us stop thinking about hybrid ministries and digital relevance and demanded we start doing and being those things. And God help us if our churches just want to “return to normal” after the pandemic – if we just want to write another scroll.
But as I mentioned, I am of two minds on this passage. On the other hand, despite what seems like poor strategy on the Lord’s part, God’s covenantal relationship with us has never really made sense. The entire salvation narrative is about failure after failure on our part as the people of God to listen and respond to the Lord. Promise after promise, covenant after covenant, even the sending of God’s Son has meant the Lord’s corporate strategy is a case study in what not to do to thrive in business. But that’s what we love about the Lord, right? God keeps writing another scroll, God keeps giving another chance, God keeps holding out hope and promise because God’s love is not meted out in a logical, economical way. Despite all of the innovation which has been entirely life giving during this pandemic, in some ways, what we have offered to a hurting world is the same as what we have always offered: a community of faith, redeemed by God’s grace, commissioned to love God, self, and neighbor. Perhaps that is why I am of two minds about this text. Although this pandemic has not changed who we are and what we offer a broken world, this pandemic has changed how we are. Our core values as the Episcopal Church have not changed. But throughout this pandemic we have learned that how we go about living into those core values certainly can, should, and hopefully has changed. And, as the Genesis writer would say, “…it was very good.”
In this particular season of the Church, many of us are feeling a longing for rest, for relief from constant pivoting, for a sense of normalcy. Many of us would like to sit down and just write the same scroll over again. In Jeremiah’s day that second scroll meant suffering and exile, and there would be more than twenty years before the people of God would see God’s promise of restoration realized.[ii] But I do not think that is the invitation from scripture today. I do not think the Lord is inviting the Church to write another scroll or fill out another poll. We have a whole Bible full of examples of how doing the same thing over and over does not lead to the fulfillment of the kingdom of God. Instead, the invitation from scripture today is to see the patterns of the resistance to love, and find a new way to love. God is not inviting us to change our “who” or our “what,” but to change our “how.” Your “how” might be different from mine. But Jeremiah shows us time and again that the same repeated “how” does not turn hearts. Our work in this season is to listen to what new “hows” the Holy Spirit is showing us, and then be willing to be vulnerable enough to try them. Because, Lord knows, we do not need another scroll. Amen.
[i] Josey Bridges Synder, “Jeremiah,” The CEB Women’s Bible, (Nashville: Common English Bible, 2016), 953.
This spring I took a class on Design Thinking. Technically speaking, “Design thinking is a non-linear, iterative process that teams use to understand users, challenge assumptions, redefine problems and create innovative solutions to prototype and test.”[i] In layman’s terms, design thinking is a non-traditional way of getting to innovative idea. Within design thinking are several methods to help people get out of their traditional ways of thinking. One of my favorites is The Five Whys Method. You start with a problem, and you ask why the problem is happening. Then you look at the first “why?” and ask the question again. Why is that answer happening. And on and on until you get to the root of the issue[ii] – almost like peeling layers off an onion. At first, the Five Whys feel a little silly. But the more you play with the method, the faster you realize the problem you are looking at is not the actual problem. And when you finally hit the right answer, you may be surprised by how uncomfortably honest the answer is.
In our gospel lesson today, the disciples clearly have never heard of the Five Whys Method. In fact, when Jesus, privately teaching the disciples, tells them he will be betrayed, killed, and will rise again on the third day, the disciples say nothing. The text tells us they do not understand Jesus, and they are “afraid to ask him.” They are afraid to ask why. They are afraid to go beyond that first layer of the onion because they do not even like the layer in front of them. We talked last week about how Peter tried to discourage Jesus from this same fate: because a Messiah is not supposed to suffer and die – a Messiah is supposed to free them from oppressive power.[iii]
We can understand their fear. When taking that class on design thinking I practiced the method using a challenge we were facing at Hickory Neck. To be honest, I do not even remember the actual presenting problem. But what I do remember was getting the answer to the third why. When I answered why to that third question, the answer took my breath away. I was mortified and ashamed: surely that was not the answer to the problem. As I stood stunned at the words that had just come out of my mouth, and after some awkward silence, my partner asked me again, “Okay. But why?” As I shook off my paralysis and answered the fourth why, I started getting some more honest clarity. By the time I got to the fifth why, I was sold on the method. The method helped me name the thing I could not name just staring at presenting problem.
After the conversation with the disciples, Jesus introduces a child into the teaching with the disciples. Scholars have many theories about the introduction. Thousands of years ago, children were not regarded with honor. As Sharon Ringe explains, “A child did not contribute much if anything to the economic value of a household or community, and a child could not do anything to enhance one’s position in the struggles for prestige or influence. One would obtain no benefit from according to a child the hospitality or rituals of honor or respect that one might offer to someone of higher status…”[iv] Most scholars agree Jesus does not introduce children because they are cute and to be loved (even if they are!). But I wonder if Jesus, having known a few children, knew that children are particularly adept at asking, “why?” Any of you who has known a preschooler has known the incessant way they can ask the question, “why?” And as children age, the question does not stop: the question just gets increasingly uncomfortable. I think Jesus knew the disciples were stuck on their own conceptions of the Messiah and their role in the divine narrative, and Jesus wanted them to start probing why that narrative mattered to them. Jesus wanted them to start peeling back the narratives, but saw they were afraid of truth.
That is our invitation today. Our gospel scene is an invitation for us into deeper, more honest, more probing relationship with Jesus. Instead of taking our relationship with Jesus at face value, instead of being afraid of hard questions, instead of being afraid of scary answers, our invitation today is to engage in our faith in the same way we engage in innovative thinking: to keep asking the whys over and over again. The good news is we have a community of seekers who can ask those whys with us and hold us in the uncomfortable answers until we get clarity. The good news is we have tools to help overcome our fear and silence, and kids in our community who will keep us honest. The good news is we have a Savior who is willing to engage with us in a brutally honest, yet radically salvific relationship. Thanks be to God! Amen.
Seeking and Serving 