Answering Questions in SRE Part 2

Answering Questions in SRE Part 2

“What if I can’t answer their questions?”

Anyone who has spoken to someone about teaching SRE will have heard this concern. It’s a concern that is shared by both new and experienced SRE teachers.

I love the questions the students ask in SRE. They’re thoughtful, imaginative and often unexpected. And some of them are hard to answer.

When I get asked a question during an SRE class I ask myself two questions: Should I answer this question? and if so, How should I answer it?

In part 1 I focused on how to decide if I should answer a question. Now it’s time to focus on how to answer questions.

Every aspect of our SRE lessons must be taught in a manner appropriate to the age and developmental stage of the students. When answering questions this means we need to consider both what we are saying and how we are saying it. In other words, the content of this answer and the language I’m using to explain it needs to be appropriate for this age group.

A few years ago as I was teaching the Easter story to a year 4 class, a student asked me why Jesus died on the cross. What was it about being nailed to a cross that caused him to die? It wasn’t a theology question – that might have been easier to answer! – it was a physiological question.

Crucifixion is a horrible way to die. There’s a reason it was saved for the worst offenders. While I know enough to have answered the question, I also know that the answer to that question is not appropriate for the age of the students I was teaching. Such graphic information has the potential to be very distressing for children. So my answer was simple, 

“The Bible doesn’t actually tell us that but let’s talk about what it does tell us about Jesus”.

Some questions will have answers that are completely appropriate to answer and what we have to think through is not the concept but the language we use. An often asked example are questions about the trinity. Usually, they will come in a form similar to this, 

“How can Jesus be God and God’s son at the same time?”

This is a great question and in theory perfectly appropriate to answer. But if I tell my year 1 class that the Son is consubstantial[1] with the Father they aren’t exactly going to be any clearer on the answer. It’s not enough to have an answer, I have to have age appropriate language to explain my answer.

This is challenging because we are attempting to explain deep theological concepts with simple language. This usually takes more time and effort, and more words.

Because of this, the best answers to hard questions usually aren’t the ones we come up with on the spot. The best answers are thought through, and planned in a way that is both appropriate and helpful for our students. So how do we get to those answers? Take some time. You don’t have to answer questions on the spot. Especially these tricky questions. Here are two phrases I use regularly –

“I’d like to think a little bit more about that, so can I answer that next week?”

“I don’t know but I’ll find out.”

Both of these phrases give me time. Time to go and read more from my Bible, to get wisdom from others and to plan how I can best explain the answer to my class.

And what about those questions that there are no answers to? Or that are just too hard for us to understand? I often tell my classes, if I could understand everything about God, that means God is only as wise and powerful as I am, and if that’s true, he’s not worth putting all our trust in. God has given us everything we need to be able to trust and follow him and I’m glad he’s much more powerful and wise than I am! 

[1] “Consubstantial with the Father” is from the Nicene creed (from p118 in the Australian Prayer Book) is ‘of one of being with the Father’