{"id":1584,"date":"2022-05-04T15:56:34","date_gmt":"2022-05-04T19:56:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redchairblogs.wpengine.com\/holymoly\/?p=1584"},"modified":"2022-05-04T15:56:34","modified_gmt":"2022-05-04T19:56:34","slug":"live-life-and-ask-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/2022\/05\/04\/live-life-and-ask-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"Live Life and Ask Questions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three years ago today the world lost Rachel Held Evans, a gifted theologian and writer. Emma Green writing for The Atlantic argues that Evans\u2019 legacy is \u201cher unwillingness to cede ownership of Christianity to its traditional conservative-male stewards\u201d and that her \u201cvery public, vulnerable exploration of faith forged in doubt empowered a ragtag band of writers, pastors, and teachers to claim their rightful place as Christians.\u201d (Green, Emma. <\/span>Rachel Held Evans, Hero to Christian Misfits<\/span><\/i>, The Atlantic, 2019.) <\/span><\/p>\n

Rachel died following an allergic reaction to medication for an infection. Her sudden death at 37 sent shock waves across Christendom and beyond. For those of us with whom her writing resonated, the grief was, and remains, palatable. Every time I read\/reread one of her books, I still cannot believe she is no longer physically with us. Ironically Rachel died on May the 4th, when Star Wars fans boldly proclaim, \u201cMay the fourth be with you,\u201d a play on \u201cMay the force be with you.\u201d Rachel Held Evans was a force who inspired multi generations of folks with hope and empowered them to unapologetically ask questions.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

My current Evans read is <\/span>Faith Unraveled: How a Girl Who Knew All the Answers Learned to Ask Questions<\/span><\/i>. For those who know me, questions are my thing. I ask them all the time. I have been known to ask questions that inspire additional questions and leave a conversation with more questions than answers. In the introduction Evans writes, \u201cFaith can survive anything, so long as it\u2019s able to evolve\u201d (p 17) and \u201cWhen you count each one of your beliefs as absolutely essential, change is never an option\u201d (p 18). I have so many questions, both personal ones and institutional ones. Truth is – as Rachel\u2019s words marinate – more questions pop into my head.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Asking questions and being persons who question are often not compatible with conformity and homogeneous systems. Yet questions, and those who dare to question, are essential for system health and wellness. In questioning, even in questioning faith, growth and system evolution become possibilities.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Higher education is a perfect environment for questions. One could argue that questions are not only expected, they are required. The same can be said for faith. The academy uses terms like faith formation and spiritual formation to describe faith\/spiritual developments that occur along the life cycle, many inspired by questions.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

My favorite question comes from Mary Oliver. I have art in my office and all over my home and several notecards reminding me of her question, \u201cWhat is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?\u201d
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

As the semester comes to a close I invite you to wrestle with Oliver\u2019s question. \u201cWhat is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?\u201d Life is precious and fragile. Don\u2019t wait for your life to begin, or put things on hold until you reach certain milestones. Live life boldly and unapologetically today.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Carpe Diem (Seize the Day\u2026 or more literally, \u201cpluck the day because it is ripe\u201d [Luu, Chi. <\/span>How \u201cCarpe Diem\u201d Got Lost in Translation<\/span><\/i>, JStor Daily, August 2019]).
\n<\/span>Katrina<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Three years ago today the world lost Rachel Held Evans, a gifted theologian and writer. Emma Green writing for The Atlantic argues that Evans\u2019 legacy is \u201cher unwillingness to cede ownership of Christianity to its traditional conservative-male stewards\u201d and that …<\/p>\n

Live Life and Ask Questions<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-katrina"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1QIf6-py","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1584\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}