If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. – James 1:5 (NIV)   

I recently visited the Shrine of the Black Madonna, a vibrant UCC church in Detroit featured in The Black Utopians, a book by Aaron Richardson that has been a lifeline for me this past year. It is one of those remarkable historical works of nonfiction that is written with the storytelling gifts one might find in a novel. Trust me, it’s a page-turner, and in these tough times for churches, it was a hopeful story from the past that gives me hope for the future.  

That Sunday at the Shrine, I recall there had been bad news the preceding week in the nation and the world, but the preacher, Rev. Kenda Milton, didn’t feel obligated to recount current events. In a deft introduction, he simply assured us that he watched the news too.  

From that point on, the sermon’s focus was on the call of Jesus to put the community before the individual. By worshipping something other than ourselves, in community, suddenly we all stop investigating scripture and allow the scripture to investigate us instead.  

As good preaching always does, the sermon asked more questions than it answered, and that was the gift I received from attending church that day: the comfort of knowing I was not the first generation to ask the questions I thought were simply about today, connecting me to the history of the mighty cloud of witnesses, some of whom were at church that Sunday at the Shrine. 

Prayer
Still speaking God, open our minds to your answers and our hearts to the questions that are more important than the ones we have already thought of asking you. Amen.