Finding Faith ... in our daughter's unabashed and unjaded curiosity

EDITOR'S NOTE: In October 2021 I began a new venture writing a newspaper column titled "Finding Faith" for the Forum Communications Co. network of newspapers and websites. I was asked to contribute to the company's ongoing conversation about faith, lending a Lutheran and fairly ecumenical approach to the discussion. The column was published in several of the company's papers and websites, including The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead. This column originally appeared as a "Finding Faith" column on Jan. 26, 2024.

The Rev. Devlyn Brooks at his home church, Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn.

By The Rev. Devlyn Brooks

“11 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” -- Hebrews 11:1

Discussing faith with intellectually curious teenagers is one of the greatest delights of being a pastor … and it turns out, of being a stepfather too!

Many teenagers haven’t lived enough life to allow the daily doldrums of just getting through another day to have jaded their curiosity as much as their adult counterparts. And, frankly, they just don’t buy into society’s convention that some faith questions are off limits either!

Some of my conversations with youngsters stretch my pastoral soul, imagination and intellect to enjoyable lengths. … The youth do so unwittingly and so unabashedly. And, I absolutely love it!

At dinner the other night, our daughter Siri out of the clear blue hit us with this unexpected question: “Do you think that Cody (our longtime dog who died in September) looks down at Howie (the new rescue pup) and thinks that we replaced him?”

“No,” my wife Shelley said, “Not at all. I think he loves that we’ve given another rescue dog a loving home.”

But, our daughter wasn’t done, and in rapid succession hit us with these zingers: “Is heaven real? Like a real place?”; “But what if there is something else, you know?”; “Do you really see a light when you’re dying?”; and “Do we keep our same bodies when we go to heaven? Because, you know, I don’t want to be all wrinkly in heaven!”

What a hoot to have our daughter be so open with us about her faith questions! 

When I receive these kinds of questions from teens, I like to flip them on their heads. I find it far more fascinating, informative and more important to find out what the questioner thinks about their own inquiry than what I think. And, honestly, I often find that their question was more of a passive request to share what they think with me anyway. … A sort of testing the water, so to speak, before they dive in!

Our daughter’s questions instantly brought to mind the Hebrews 11 scripture passage that reminds us that our faith is not built on what is seen, but rather unseen, admittedly a premise that doesn’t inspire confidence in a lot of people who are questioning faith.

No, Siri, I can’t prove to you as pastor the existence of heaven. I can only point you in the direction of scripture, but beyond that, there’s little I can give you to hold in your hand to assure you what the Creator’s kingdom will be like.

But as your stepdad, what I can tell you is that getting to see your brilliant mind at work is all I need for proof of God’s handiwork here on earth! … So, I’m just going to trust that heaven stuff is all true too! … Amen!

Devlyn Brooks is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and serves Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. He also works for Forum Communications Co. He can be reached at devlynbrooks@gmail.com or comments and story ideas.