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BY MARK SCHAEFER

Asking questions is an essential part of our faith.

A mature faith is not afraid to ask questions, to hold up its own precepts to the light of reason, to the light of spiritual reflection, and to reflect upon the deeper meanings therein. And so now in the pursuit of a healthy and mature faith, we explore some of the questions that have been submitted to me throughout the week from students at American University.

Q: My sister, a devout Christian, has gone through several traumatic events that have caused her to go through deep depression. Despite counseling and anti-depressants, she has suicidal thoughts. Why would God allow her to be so depressed that she?s contemplating suicide? How can this be a part of God?s will and how can good come out of it?

This is the main question isn?t it? We look around and see things that are unfair and wonder why God allows them to happen. The truth is we don?t always have the ability to figure out why something is happening. God?s ways are mysterious.

Some years ago we would have answered this question with, 'She must have committed some sin we don?t know about.' But I don?t believe it?s that way at all. I believe that the innocent do suffer through no fault of their own. Our job as Christians is to figure out what we?re going to do about it. And in this case, we?re going to give this person all the love and support she needs.

There are so many ways we can respond to help those who are in need. We can let them know though our own love that through us God is present, that God is still with them, even when we are unable to discern the answer.

So the short answer is simply, I don?t always know why God allows us to suffer, but perhaps these mysteries become our opportunities to respond. Our option is to respond in love to help another in her time of need.

Q: Why is Jesus? humanity often underplayed in the church?

Well, that depends on what church you go to. I think we all go through times when we need Jesus to be more than human to us, when we need that resurrected Christ who defeated death, the one who will usher in the Kingdom of God and the reign of peace.

But there are also times when we need to be in solidarity with one who suffered. There are times we need to know that our sufferings are shared by God.

The church confesses that Christ is truly God and truly man ? that he was once immanent, personal, limited and vulnerable and at the same time eternal, invincible, immortal. We need both Jesuses. It?s a pendulum that swings back and forth, both in the life of the church broadly and in our individual lives.

Q: Why is there such a great emphasis on Revelation and the fear of going to hell? What is the purpose of keeping the congregation in fear to the point that they see a need of converting others for the sheer sake of 'saving them'?

You can get people to do anything you want if you scare them badly enough. That, unfortunately, is a truth the church discovered. But I think that misses the point.

Jesus came, lived his life, died and was raised again so that we could be free of fear. The whole message of the Gospel is that God loves us and that God has acted decisively in our lives for our salvation. Our response is simply to accept this with joy and thanksgiving and to live out a life worthy of that free gift.

But sometimes I think we?re not comfortable with free gifts. We?re inclined to think it?s too good to be true. God?s grace can be a lot like that. We assume that it has much more to do with what we have to do to avoid punishment rather than to embrace life.

It?s interesting that the Book of Revelation is used so much for this purpose, because if you actually read the Book of Revelation, you?ll find that it?s a book of hope.

Those of us who are using our Christian faith as fire insurance ? rather than as a Gospel of hope ? are doing so because of our own fears and insecurities. We want to know that we?ve made it, that we?re safe. And for some reason we have a hard time trusting God when God says, 'You are.'

Q: How can we help people through faith and what does the Bible tell us about this?

Faith is holistic. Faith in the biblical perspective and in the Wesleyan tradition, is something that is lived, not just professed. God sows the seeds of our faith through a grace that invites us into a relationship with him. God then gives us the grace and the faith to accept that he has saved us. This we refer to as our justification, our being reconciled with God.

But we also believe that God gives us faith that makes us grow to be more holy, sanctifying us ? enabling us to do acts of piety, worship, devotion, as well as social justice, compassion, charity and mercy.

So the short answer is that our faith is to help other people; I think sometimes that if our faith is lived right, and if we truly believe in the message that God is for us, we will live our lives so fearlessly, loving each other so extravagantly, that that couldn?t help but change the world.

Q: Jews often state their main reason for not believing in Jesus is that the world hasn?t become a better place, as it should have been if the savior had been here. Why is there a need for there to be a savior in the first place?

Anyone who doubts the strength of that Jewish objection hasn?t looked around lately. The Jewish objection to Jesus as the Messiah is: 'Look at the world!'

Christians have to be honest: the world is not yet redeemed and any messiah worth his salt, would redeem the entire world. We were promised peace on earth. We were promised God dwelling with us here. We were promised the restoration of all that is broken.

So, are we just wrong? As Christians, we believe that Jesus? saving work was begun on that first Easter, but is still in the process of being completed. We are expecting Jesus to return, we are expecting Christ to bring peace, to raise the dead to new life, to restore all that is broken.

Our faith in Jesus is no less true and no less assured merely because we are still waiting, but it does require that we wait with some honesty.

Any questions?

This commentary was excerpted from a sermon, the Rev. Mark Schaefer, campus minister, preached at the Kay Spiritual Life Center at American University in Washington, D.C., in February.