I’ve watched this video 4-5 times so I may have a head start in pinpointing what’s happening inside of you as you watch it.
That surprising cocktail of hope, affection, and encouragement welling up in you – that feeling – you are experiencing a deep sense of shared humanity.
The questions raised in this video are deeply human questions. By that I mean that they are questions all thoughtful people need to answer. By contrast, the question of, “what’s the best lesson plan to help high schoolers learn about World War I” is a much more important question for my wife, a high school history teacher, than it is to me. Or, the question, “what’s the best way to get an 11-month-old to sleep through the night?” is the most pressing question in our home but might not be yours.
But these questions:
Who was Jesus Christ?
What is the nature of reality?
Does this world have any hope?
Is God real?
What is the good life?
These are cornerstone questions. These are questions that impact everything we do even when they’re impact seems opaque and our answers seem fuzzy. It’s like my relationship to my car: (1) My life would be close to impossible without that metal box (2) there are countless mechanical processes which make a car go about which I am exceedingly ignorant (3) so, I am trusting my life to something to which I have given very little attention. When the car’s running smoothly, that ignorance is unoffensive; but when that check engine light goes on, that lack of attention becomes an issue.
In the same way, (1) our lives are shaped by our answers to the human questions (2) we often haven’t fully processed our answers to these questions (3) so, we’re trusting the direction of our lives to a set of answers to questions to which we have given little attention.
We all must consider these questions. We just don’t always have a safe space to do that – until now. It’s called Alpha -- this is your official invitation. Alpha is a 6-week course where each week participants will eat a home-cooked meal, watch a video on Christianity’s contributions to the big questions of life, and process the work-in-progress nature of how we work these questions out in a relaxed and respectful setting.
If you have questions, bring them to Alpha. If you’re confused by the answers you thought you had to the big questions, bring that to Alpha. If you want to walk closely with a question-asker, bring them to Alpha.
We would love to have you join us.
Peter Nittler
College Pastor of First Baptist Church of Davis California
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