Hello Broadway!
Our word this week comes to us from Russian - which I realize is a country with a lot of deserved negative connotations right now, but that is not the fault of the language - or most of the people that speak it, and refusing to acknowledge the humanity and positive things about the culture and language doesn't help anyone, it just furthers the cycle of hurt and hate.
The word is почему́чка (pochemuchka) - which refers to a person, usually a child but it can be anyone, who asks many questions. It's a diminuitive form of the word почему (pochemu) , 'why'.
Sometimes it's meant in the sense that the questioner is annoying; again, like a small child that incessantly asks 'why'?
But sometimes it also just refers to someone who's very curious.
And sometimes, we are called to be the questioners. Jesus said to have faith like a child - should we not also question like a child, then?
When we see systems of oppression and hatred, should we not ask 'why'? And then seek to address those things, rather than simply accepting them as 'the way things are'?
When we don't understand where someone is coming from, are we not called to ask 'why'? So that we can understand, and be better able to appreciate them as our neighbor and love them as Jesus called us to?
It is not our place to judge others - but it is our place to interrogate why we are judging.
