God of the Mountain and the Valley

 

Do you remember the fuller brush man? As a child, I remember this door-to-door salesman that sold brushes and other cleaning products. I thought that the name Fuller had to do with the fact that the company sold cleaning products.  (Actually the company name was from the Founder, Albert Fuller.)  Fuller is an occupation—or at least used to be. The person who was a fuller was responsible for cleaning and bleaching fabrics. A Fuller cleansed cloth of oils, dirt and other impurities. I share this with you because in the translation which I just read, the word fuller isn’t translated. In verse three we read about Jesus’ appearance, “his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them.” The Greek actually says, “such as no fuller on earth could bleach them.” Even those who were responsible for bleaching cloth couldn’t have made it as dazzling white as what Jesus robes looked.

         Here on this mountain top, with just the three special disciples, Peter, James and John, Jesus’ appearance makes clear who he is—He is divine. If his appearance weren’t enough, there are Elijah and Moses with him. These two had seen God face to face. Moses was one of the most revered of Old Testament figures and Elijah who was taken up into heaven without dying. Here Jesus stands with these two and it is clear WHO Jesus is—he is the divine one.

         Now, whatever we think about how this took place, clearly the disciples—as typified always by Peter—are not sure what to make of it. We are told that Peter did not know what to say, because they were so terrified. Now, this fearfulness wasn’t just ‘afraid of the dark.’ This was flat out terror like from watching a horror movie.

Most of us when that terrified are struck silent—we can’t think of the words to say. But, not Peter. Now, I believe a good rule of thumb, if you don’t know what to say, don’t say anything! But that is not Peter. Peter is never one to waste an opportunity to say something inappropriate. What Peter says next as NOT the right thing at this time. Peter wants to build dwelling places—for all the heavenly figures here. But, then the voice comes from the sky, “This is my Son, The Beloved. Listen to him.” In my mind, I hear God saying, “Peter, you don’t know what you are talking about. Please, just listen to Jesus!” And the next thing Jesus said to the disciples was to keep this experience to themselves until after he had risen from the dead.

         When I look at this story as a whole, there are a couple of messages that I take away from it. The first is that when we experience Jesus’s divine presence, we can be so overcome by it, that we fail to really listen to what Jesus is saying. We’d rather build a memorial – a dwelling place and just gaze on the spectacle of Jesus rather than live out the words that Jesus has said. And the other message is probably the more important to me right now: the Jesus who stands on the Mountain in dazzling white robes, is the same Jesus that walks down into the valley with us.

         Our temptation, like Peter’s is to believe that we are only close to God when we are on the mountain top. And so we have to try to build dwelling places where that divine God can stay. If you have seen pictures from the Holy Land, or traveled there yourself, you know that there are elaborate, beautiful structures that have been built in the places where Jesus was. The church of the Nativity is built where Jesus was thought to have been born. The church ofthe Holy Sepulchre is built on the spot where Jesus was thought to have been crucified and then buried. When we so enshrine Jesus in a sanctuary, we may be so overcome with Jesus’ appearance, that all we do is gaze at the portrait of Jesus that we have made. We no longer LISTEN to him. We can be so concerned to prove that Jesus is divine that we don’t live into who Jesus has called US to be.

     I would venture to say, that the vast majority of Christians have not had the kind of experience that Peter, James and John did. We have not seen Jesus standing before us in dazzling white robes. If that is what it takes to believe that Jesus is divine than we are all lost. Yet, it is often more in silence, and not spectacle that Jesus reveals himself to us. This knowledge of Jesus as the Divine, the Beloved of God, is something that comes to us when we most need it. The Jesus who stood in dazzling white robes didn’t come down the mountain looking like that. Jesus came as one of the common people. Jesus lived among those who were most forgotten in his time. Jesus wasn’t just the God of the Mountain, he was the loving savior in the valley.

      In my own spiritual life, there have been moments, that I might call spiritual mountain top experiences. But, those have been far fewer than the valleys that I have traversed. My valley experiences far outnumber the mountain top ones. Most of us live our lives in the valley. Yet, we really want to live on the Mountain, don’t we? Recently, I read about a young woman’s experience climbing a mountain. She was prepared for it. She had trained for it. She had dreamed of doing it. But, ultimately, the conditions were too difficult and she had to abandon her climb. That made me think about how few mountains I have climbed. Getting to the top of a mountain is not easy and it does take training and practice.

      In our spiritual lives, this is probably true as well. We have to practice our faith—spend time in bible study, in meditation and in prayer, in listening to God, in worship. When we practice our faith, we are draw into those mountain top experiences. However, most of us don’t live on the mountain. Our day to day living is mostly spent in the valley. For most us, the valley is where we live. And that is where I experience Jesus the most.

      Sometimes, we think of the valley as a dark and sad place. We think of the words from Ps 23 which says, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.” The valley isn’t just about suffering and death. The valley just happens to be where most of us live.  Now there are deeper valleys at time, where we feel that we have fallen into a pit. At those times, we might feel abandoned by God. We might find ourselves struggling to get out of that place. And in those times, it is not very often that the dazzling Christ that stands before us. Rather, it is then that we can listen again in silence for the whisper of Jesus telling us of God’s love. It is the Jesus on the mountain, who walks with us in the valley. Whether you are finding yourself on a mountain top, or in a valley, I invite you to listen more closely for Jesus.

     We are about to begin the season of Lent, this is a time of spiritual listening and practice. May you find a way to truly honor the 40 days with a practice that brings you close to Jesus by listening for his voice.

     I want to close with some of the words from a contemporary Christian song—you may have heard it. God of the hills and the valleys.

I've walked among the shadows
You wiped my tears away
And I've felt the pain of heartbreak
And I've seen the brighter days
And I've prayed prayers to heaven from my lowest place
And I have held the blessings
God, you give and take away

No matter what I have, Your grace is enough
No matter where I am, I'm standing in Your love

On the mountains, I will bow my life
To the one who set me there
In the valley, I will lift my eyes to the one who sees me there
When I'm standing on the mountain aft, didn't get there on my own
When I'm walking through the valley end, no I am not alone!
You're God of the hills and valleys!
Hills and Valleys!
God of the hills and valleys
And I am not alone!

 

YOU ARE NOT ALONE!

Let us pray:  Loving and Merciful God, who does not leave us alone, help us to feel your presence whether we are on the mountain, or in the valley.  Thank you for the mountain top experiences when we feel your Holy Spirit and see you before us so early. May they nourish our spirits in such a way, that we are empowered to walk through every valley. Lord, help us to remember that you are the same God, whether we are in moments when we feel close to you, or at the times when we feel far removed. Draw us closer to you each day. help us to truly feel your presence in the darkest days.

         Lord, we lift before you all those who are experiencing times of hardship and stress. We pray for those who are sick and suffering today whether it is in body, mind or spirit. May they know your healing touch restoring them to health and wholeness. We especially pray for those who are grieving may they find comfort in your spirit. Loving God, we know that you know the concerns which we each carry in our hearts. Help us to lay these before you that you might be at work in our lives. We ask this in Christ’s name and pray as he taught us saying

Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this Day our daily bread.  And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

All Things to All People: a sermon on 1 Corinthians 9:19-23

 ¹⁹For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. ²⁰To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law. ²¹To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law) so that I might win those outside the law. ²²To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. ²³I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.

How many of you have purchased an article of clothing that was sized as “one size fits all”? I’m sorry…. I don’t believe there is such a piece of clothing! I appreciate the ones that read, “one sizes fits most.” I have a little bit of a show and tell to illustrate sizing. This robe right here is an Alb. I purchased this robe about 30 years ago. I weighed much less than I do now. And yet, look at this robe…. (it is a fairly large white robe). It is a size SMALL—I think we can safely say that this is NOT a small in women’s sizes! In fact, this other robe, this is one that I purchased a few years ago—it IS a robe that was made to my measurements at the time. It is an XL.  (When you hold them up, you can see that the Small is LARGER than the XL.) One size does not fit all. And sometimes even when it has a size, it doesn’t fit right either!

One size does not fill all in more than just clothing. If you have ever been a parent or a teacher, a youth leader or even a cub scout leader, you know that every child is different and what works with one doesn’t always work with another. My father always liked to say that he could just look at my sister and she would cry, whereas for me… it took a little more.

         All of us are different and it takes a different approach to reach us. That is part of what Paul is saying in this passage from 1 Corinthians. In fact, in the last few lines of the scripture I read, Paul sums up for us what he has been trying to say, “I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some.”

         The scripture reading today actually continues with themes from last week's reading which was from one chapter earlier. If you remember, in that part of the letter Paul was speaking about eating meat that was sacrificed to idols. Yet, the overarching theme throughout this letter continues to be about love and community. The message Paul conveys is about what it means to be a household of faith and live as Christ's followers especially when they are a very diverse group of people.

         Paul begins by describing his own authority to preach but then he moves into speaking about what we can call his Adaptive Missional Strategy. This is that he has become a Jew to those that are Jewish. He has become as one under the law, to those under the law. He has become weak to those who are weak. He ends with that summary statement. “I have become all things to all people.” To us, these words might seem strange, because we like to say “you CAN'T be all things to all people.” However, when we say that, we mean that you can't please everyone all the time.

Paul is saying something different here. Paul’s overall message has to do with creating unity within the body of Christ. He is saying that in order to achieve such unity,

we have to be willing to give up our own selfish prejudices. We have to be willing to see things from the perspective of others. If we are to share the Gospel with others, who are not like us, we must transcend our own finite opinions, upbringing and prejudices.

We have to see what life looks like from someone else's perspective.

This may be one of the most challenging things that any of us can do. We all see life from a certain perspective. Some of us recognize our bias—like knowing that anyone that graduated from our favorite school has to be smarter than that “other team.” We joke about that bias. Paul might have written, I have become an Auburn fan even though I grew up loving Alabama, but if it will gain one disciple for Jesus, I will do this.

         We have biases that we know and understand, but we all have biases that we cannot easily see. It is because we are rooted in our perspective on things. I am sure that there are things that I have said and done while living in the South that those of you raised here would say, “well, she’s just a Yankee.” And yet, I don’t recognize those things in myself. It takes a conscious effort to see beyond the biases that we don’t even realize we have. I highly recommend taking an implicit bias quiz to help you discover the things about which you might have bias. You can google that and find several—implicit bias or unconscious bias test.

         In order to effectively share the grace and love of Jesus with others, we have to understand our own biases. If we are going to meaningfully invite others into the fellowship of the Body of Christ, than we have to see how this looks from their perspective. In other words, sometimes we can think we have the best of intentions but if we are only seeing from our perspective, we might not be really offering what we think we are.

         Several years ago now, I had the opportunity to preach at the Church of the Reconciler in downtown Birmingham. For those of you who might not be familiar with this congregation, on any given Sunday morning, a large portion of the worshiping congregation of this church will be men and women who are unhoused. I was there to share about the hunger ministries of Society of St. Andrew. After the service I was approached by one of the worshipers, who wanted to talk with me. In his own unique manner, he questioned me as to why people thought that it would be helpful to give him soap and shampoo from hotels when he had no place that he could bathe. He was basically saying that people didn't understand how he lived if they were giving him such items.

         We have to see things from someone else’s perspective, if we want to effectively share God’s grace. Paul understood this. It most certainly wasn’t about changing the gospel message. Sometimes people think that is what you are doing when you adapt to a new situation. I would say that Paul was not adapting the Gospel. He was adapting himself to embody the message. If we are truly following Christ’s self-emptying example, we are empty ourselves of the pride that our way of seeing things is the only or the best way of viewing the situation. How can the message of God’s grace be received by others, if we do not embody that message of grace. We have to be willing to be like Christ-to be willing to sacrifice our own goals and priorities and preferences for others.

Part of Paul’s concern through this letter is the conflict that is happening among the Corinthian Christians. Just like the issue of eating meat offered to idols, there were differences among the members of the church. If we think of Paul’s words in light of conflict between persons, we can see how the conflict changes when we see one another’s perspectives. If the Church were a place where people learned to be gracious to their opponents, what a beacon of hope the Church could truly be.

Think about how divided people are right now. Too often, we sit in our own echo chambers—only listening to, reading or watching people with the same viewpoints we already have. I am certain that there are people with differing political views in this congregation. I am certain that there are people with differing theological views in this church. What happens when we try to see the other’s perspective?

         I knew of a father who would have conversations about various topics with his daughter. These might be serious topics about God and faith, or they might even be as trivial as whether she could have another ice cream cone. But, in the midst of the discussion (or argument as the case may be), the father would say, “OK, switch sides.” The daughter then had to argue the opposite of what she wanted and believed. In this way, she learned to see both sides of an argument. She began to gain perspective.

         When we can see someone else’s perspective, we gain a greater understanding of our own. When I learned a French and Latin in high school, and then Greek in college, I learned more about English than I had ever known. By learning foreign languages, I came to understand English grammar in a way that I had never before understood it from only learning English! When we study a different perspective, we gain a greater understanding of our own. If we close ourselves off from even wondering, “why does he think that?” we may be closing ourselves off from the opportunity to share God’s grace.

         In chapter 10, verse 33 of 1 Corinthians, Paul writes, “I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, so that they may be saved.” Too often we think that people who like Paul are trying to please others simply have no backbone, or we call them people pleasing. But, what Paul is saying is that he is trying to please others NOT so that they will LIKE HIM, but so that he can reach as many people as possible.

         God calls us to move beyond our limited perspectives so that we can walk in someone else’s shoes and see their perspective. If we do this in authentic ways, we begin to LIVE the gospel and not just preach it.  There is not a “one Size fits all” way to share the Gospel. People need the robe that has been tailored to them. People learn and understand in different ways. If we as a congregation want to reach more people for Christ, we must begin to broaden our perspectives so that we can see and understand the experiences and perspectives of others. Paul invites us to enlarge our understanding so that we might truly EMBODY the gospel message.

To watch the sermon on Facebook : https://fb.watch/3yBiT9AI5p/

Anointing with Oil

 

Have you ever anointed someone?

Within the church, there is a tradition of anointing the sick.  

Anointing is placing a drop of oil on a thumb or finger and placing the sign of the cross on the forward.  Or it might be placing a drop on the crown of the head. Anyone can do this for another.

What are Essential Oils?

Take heart, it is I. Do not be afraid!

 Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

Matthew 14:22-33   

Have you ever seen a ghost? Or have you ever had an experience when you thought you were seeing a ghost? When I was in high school, my mother would often go to visit her parents by herself. They lived about six hours away. She would go for a few days. During one such visit, my father had taken my brother, sister and myself out to an event at the high school. My mother was to return late that night driving home after dinner.

         We came back to our home after dark. There were no lights on in our house. I was the first one in, as we entered the house through the front door and I turned left into the living room. Just as I did, this figure stood up from hiding behind one of the chairs. I was completely started because this person looked like my mother. But, my mother couldn’t be there because her car wasn’t in the driveway. My immediate thought was that this figure was a ghost. I thought that my mother had had a car wreck and this was her ghost in front of me. I began to cry. My mother immediately hugged me and explained that she was just surprising us. Her car was parked down the street.

         I had been terrified by what I thought I was seeking, but my mother comforted me and explained that it was indeed her, in flesh and blood. I can identify with the fear that the disciples felt when they saw Jesus walking on the water in the midst of a storm. He was out of place, he didn’t belong there and surely he was a ghost. Jesus’ first response is to comfort them. “Take heart. It is I; do not be afraid.”

         And yet, Peter’s reaction is to test this—IF it is you, let me walk out there on the water to you! Here in the midst of a storm—with the wind and the water raging, Peter is going to see if this ghost is really Jesus by getting out of the boat into the storm and trying to walk on water! I love Peter! He is so human –so impulsive, so willing to risk things. Peter is the eager disciple—the one that is so quick to rush in and do whatever. Peter says-- If it’s really you, let me do it too!

So, Jesus calls Peter out of the Boat. He simply says, “Come!” And Peter steps out into the water.  Peter must have really believed that that was Jesus standing on the water and not a ghost. I mean, would you step out of the boat thinking that some ghostly being is going to help you walk on water. Or would you have stepped out with full confidence that it really was JESUS.

         But, then, when he sees the conditions around him— the wind and the waves, the storm that was raging. And he begins to doubt God’s Power and presence with Him. And when, he takes his eyes off Jesus, and he sinks into the water. When Peter takes his focus off of Jesus, when he begins to focus on the storm-the waves and the wind—he begins to sink in the water. Peter’s doubt overcame his faith. His fear overcame his belief in Jesus. Maybe he even began to think that this WAS a ghost & not Jesus. Peter gets distracted, perhaps he has that sense that what he is doing really couldn’t be possible… he takes his eyes off Jesus and it doesn’t become possible any more.

Often in studying this passage, we focus a lot on having the faith of Peter—to “get out of the boat” even while the storm is raging. Today, we know that there are storms raging around us. For each of us what those storms look like is different. Certainly, we are all experiencing the storm of this pandemic and we are living in society that is coming to terms with its own systemic racism. Many of us have much more personal storms that are raging: some about employment or lack of it, some about health challenges that threaten our lives, some of us are struggling with the burden of heavy grief.

         In the midst of all these storms, do we only see Jesus as a ghost? Do we only have a faint vision of some glimmering far away form that MIGHT be Jesus? Or are we keeping our eyes on the Very One who walks on water? Are we keeping our focus on the One who can help us weather the storms in our lives, and maybe even walk on water—do the impossible?

         When the first readers of the book of Matthew lived, there were many storms in their own lives, and Jesus was no longer with them. When Matthew penned these words, he was reminding the early church—those first believers, some of whom had probably seen Jesus in flesh and blood—that Jesus wasn’t a ghost. Jesus was real. The Jesus who could walk on water and command Peter to Come to him walking on water--that Jesus was still with them. All they had to do was keep their eyes on Jesus, and not be overcome by fear.

         Now, I have heard a lot of religious folks talk about the pandemic in terms of fear v. faith. People have tried to encourage Christians to meet without restrictions saying it is a matter of faith over fear. In fact, they might even use this passage of scripture to justify their belief. But, I would argue that this is not a matter of faith over fear. It is a matter of focus. Are we focusing on Jesus and what Jesus would have us do?

In this story, Jesus doesn’t tell all the disciples to come on out of the safety of the boat and walk on the water. No, it is Peter who is testing Jesus! Peter is the one who wants to go out there into the water on his own. And Jesus indulges Peter. For Peter it is a “test” of who this Ghost really is. For me, my understanding of this story has grown from thinking it is about Jesus telling us to all get out of the boat and jump into the midst of a storm. Rather, it is Jesus’ love and care for us when we are confused and in doubt about where Jesus is and who Jesus is. Although Peter is the only one who jumps out of the boat, by the end of the story, all of the disciples believe and proclaim, “Truly you are the son of God.”

         Who do you believe Jesus is in the midst of the storms in your life right now? Is Jesus just a “hallow” apparition? Or is Jesus the Son of God—very God to you? The one who helps you weather the storms—the One who is with you THROUGH the storms. Have you taken your eyes off of Jesus or are you still focused on him? Too often we focus on the wind and the waves, we focus on our worry and doubt. But, we are called to center our lives in Christ -to focus on Jesus—on the strength that God offers us through the power of the Holy Spirit with us. Peter could not have walked on the water without Christ’s presence with him. It was when he was distracted by the conditions around him, that he lost his focus on Jesus, that he doubted Christ’s power and presence with him.

         In the midst of all that is raging in our lives, Christ also gives us the strength to walk through the storms. We merely have to have faith in Christ’s presence with us. Through the strength of the presence of the Holy Spirit with us, Jesus is more than a ghost. We must learn to trust in that Presence of God’s Holy Spirit with us. How difficult that can be!!  Look at Peter, he had Jesus standing right there in front of him,  and he took his eyes off of him. We must trust in Christ’s presence with us. When Peter took his eyes off of Jesus he began to sink. When we take our eyes off of Christ, we begin to sink. In order to stay afloat—our lives must be centered on Christ. We have to keep our eyes on Christ!  We have to continually remember that Christ IS PRESENT with us!!

         Remember the words Jesus spoke, “Take heart; it is I; do not be afraid!” When Jesus approached the boat, the disciples thought he was a ghost. But, once they saw Jesus’ power in the midst of the storm doing what seemed impossible—keeping himself and Peter on top of the water, ALL the disciples said, “Truly you are the Son of God” and worshiped Jesus!

         There are storms raging around us, Are you keeping your eyes on Jesus? Do you hear Jesus saying, “Take heart!  Do not be afraid!” ?

 

Prayer:

Gracious God, when storms of our lives rage around us, help us to keep our focus on you. Help us to not lose faith and sink, but continue to look for you – to center our lives in you. Even when storms were raging around us, give us the courage to face our doubts and confusion when we think you aren’t present. When we are doubting, give us the faith to rely on you, and grant us the courage to face our doubts.  We thank you that you do guide us—that you help us to walk on water even when we are afraid of sinking. We thank you for the many blessing that we receive each day even when we are struggling and feel overwhelmed by the storms. We also thank you for the good that you work out of our failings. In the times when we do not focus on you, when we are not faithful, thank you that you continue to be faithful to us. Most merciful God, thank you that you do not abandon us.

         We pray for those who do feel abandoned. Show us the way to make your presence known to them. We pray for those who have lost faith, who are sinking in life’s storms. Give them strength to carry on. Today, we pray especially for those who are in need of healing in body, mind and spirit. We pray for those who have lost someone they love and are grieving. We pray all these things in the name of Jesus, who taught us to pray saying… The Lord’s Prayer AMEN.

 

Suffering through Dialysis: A conversation in three scenes (Scene 3)

For my Doctor of Ministry class on "Suffering, Meaning, and Spirituality," I had to write a dialogue about suffering.  I decided to share that paper here because it became a meaningful way to process the past year.  Please take note, many things in the paper are real, but Pastor Bubba is NOT--rather, I chose to use Pastor Bubba as a "composite" of the awful things that we sometimes like to say to people. This is the third of three segments. 

Scene III

Time:  A year has passed since Scene I.

Setting: Patient Wife is now sitting in the waiting room of the Transplant Clinic where her husband has a follow up appointment after receiving a kidney transplant in the previous month.  

Characters:

Patient Wife                            Patient                         Pastor Bubba              

Viktor Frankl                          Lady Philosophy         Dorothee Soelle          Kathleen Norris

Patient Wife: This year has been a long journey. It has been a year since the surgery that put my husband into dialysis. Now he has a new kidney and is recovering well from the transplant!

Lady Philosophy: You see, I was right, this has been Providence’s plan. Your husband has received the kidney and been restored.  In the process, many others have been touched and uplifted by his witness.  God was at work in bringing him to this place. “For all things desire the good, and the good is the goal and end of every thing.”^[1] It is through Providence that all things happen.

Patient Wife: Believing that it was God’s plan for my husband to have gone through all that he did in the last year does not encourage my belief in a good and just God. Surely, God is love and   God loves God’s creation.  I would rather err on the side of saying that God is not omnipotent than to ascribe this suffering to God. A God who is all-good and not all-powerful is more attractive to me.

Lady Philosophy:  But God is omnipotent!  Through suffering God’s providence provides both correction and self-knowledge.[2] When we rightly understand that God is the cause of the suffering and it is given for our betterment, then we can grow in our faith.

Patient Wife: I am sorry, but I just can’t agree with you on the nature of Providence.

Dorothy Soelle: Good you are to challenge that. You would be a masochist for believing that God would be the one who serves up such suffering which you should just accept. Surely, God has worked through the ministry that your husband has offered to others that are suffering like him. He has been in solidarity with them. He has offered love and peace as he suffered alongside them.

Patient Wife: His focus on the suffering of others has to some degree eased his own.

Viktor Frankl: It seems to me that your husband has survived and thrived this year because he found a purpose in his suffering. A person can lose everything but he will always have the freedom to choose his attitude.[3] He found a meaningful way to spend his time and he endured the suffering that was imposed on him.

Kathleen Norris: God provides “a way where there is no way; this is what God and only God can provide. This is salvation…. As we move from death to life we discover grace….”[4]

(Pastor Bubba enters the waiting room door and sits down with Patient Wife.)

Pastor Bubba: Well, I’m glad that I found you!  How is your husband doing?  I’m sure that he is praising God for the kidney!

Patient Wife: They are running a test on him right now. I am waiting with my friends here for his return.  I was just discussing the idea of Providence and why there is suffering in the world.

Pastor Bubba: I always say the rain falls on the just and the unjust alike. Everything happens for a reason.

Patient Wife: Do people really find comfort in the things you say?

Pastor Bubba: I don’t know. I haven’t ever really asked.  They usually ask me to pray.

Patient Wife: Pastor Bubba, I believe the calling of pastors is not to offer platitudes, but to sit with people in their suffering.  Perhaps even sitting in silence because none of our words can change their suffering. We can sit in silence as Job’s friends finally learn to do. Maybe then, our presence can offer the reassurance that God has not abandoned them.

Pastor Bubba: Is this what your friends here have taught you?

Patient Wife: I am not sure how much I have learned from each of them, but each has given voice to things I have heard at various times in my life.  I have experienced a lot of suffering personally and I have walked along side persons who have suffered.  Certainly, though, this past year has been the hardest of my life as well as my husband’s life.  Each one of my friends has offered something in trying to explain suffering that I would perhaps think worthy of understanding. Each has offered other statements with which I would disagree. In some ways they find small agreements, but in other ways they are vastly different.

            I believe that all of them have challenged me in some way to think more deeply about suffering.  Lady Philosophy, I still find myself unwilling to agree that God causes all suffering through Providence.  Yet, what I really appreciate is your strong belief that God is good.

Lady Philosophy: I am sorry that you do not agree with me, but truly God desires our very best and sometimes that involves suffering.

Patient Wife: Like Dorothee Soelle, I cannot square this idea of God causing suffering with my own beliefs. I find Soelle convincing when she argues that this makes for a sadistic god. Professor Soelle, I found your critique of classical theodicy to be very helpful. I also appreciate your analysis of Jesus in Gethsemane for it results in an understanding that we can be strengthened when we accept and embrace suffering in our lives.

Dorothee Soelle: “We can say that in every prayer an angel waits for us, since every prayer changes the one who prays, strengthens him….”^[5]  Suffering forces us to pay attention.

Patient Wife: Yes, that is what happens to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and may happen to us when we are suffering. Kathleen Norris, I know you appreciate this analysis as well. Yet, some of what you tried to say about suffering was not helpful to me in the midst of the emergency a year ago. What you said seemed to trivialize the suffering that was occurring and minimize the pain of the moment.  As time has passed and I can reflect on what has transpired, I find more value in your thoughts.

Kathleen Norris: I am glad to offer my own personal experience because as I have written, sometimes what looks like a hopeless situation from the outside can be very different for those who are living through it.[6]

Patient Wife: Perhaps, Viktor Frankl, you have been the most influential to my personal thinking. As you discussed meaning in suffering, you emphasized that it is up to the individual to find a way to make meaning which gives one a purpose for living. In many practical ways, I have seen this lived out through my husband in the last year. Asking the question why was not a comfort. Finding a way to give purpose to each day, my husband was able to survive a very difficult year.

Viktor Frankl: I am glad you found it useful. This is one of the reasons that I was able to survived the horrors of my own life, so that I could write my book to help others with their personal suffering.

Patient Wife: Finally, James Cone is not here today, but his writing about encountering God speaks directly to my understanding of how we manage to work through pain and suffering.  Within my personal life, the suffering I experienced prior to this year, led me to read several books on grief and suffering.  These have been formative.  In some ways they touch on what you all have said, but it other ways, they go even deeper into this encounter with God and learning from our suffering.  Henri Nouwen’s book With Burning Hearts helped me to think about suffering in very practical terms.^[7] Nouwen poses the question of how we respond to suffering as an either/or choice. We can chose either resentment (and bitterness) or gratitude.

Viktor Frankl: I agree with Nouwen that we have a choice.  Often those who chose resentment will not survive suffering and remain intact.

Patient Wife: Yes, Nouwen advocates for gratitude rather than resentment.  Through acceptance of the suffering, one must also acknowledge any part the individual played in causing the situation.

Dorothee Soelle: I certainly advocate for acceptance, but I am not sure about acknowledging having a part in the situation.

Patient Wife: I believe he means this more for the suffering that we bring upon ourselves, perhaps from engaging in sinful behavior.  I doubt he would say that we have a part in causing our own oppression which is the suffering you generally are discussing. 

Dorothee Soelle: Ok, I can see that.

Patient Wife: Gratitude comes after acceptance and includes asking the question, “What can I learn from this?”  For Nouwen, the reframing of how we look at suffering in our life, allows us to gain a modicum of peace and healing.

Kathleen Norris: I think perhaps that is the goal of my writing about suffering.

Patient Wife: Norris, I can see that. The other book which has formed my prior understanding of suffering is Naming the Silences by Stanley Hauerwas.^[8]  I believe that Hauerwas offers a critique of a number of the issues around suffering and finally arrives at the conclusion that ultimately suffering is about God seeing our suffering.  In his book, Hauerwas takes a narrative approach as he discusses the plot from the novel, The Blood of the Lamb whose main character is Wanderhope. Hauerwas offers this in summarizing his arguments.

“Of course, we see Wanderhope ends up at the foot of the cross under a Jesus crying tears of cake frosting.  The suggestion is that Wanderhope is comforted by a God who suffers with us, who can share our agonies—who has, in short, become like us.  There is no hope for us if our only hope in the face of suffering is that ‘we can learn from it,’ or that we can use what we learn from the treatment of that suffering to overcome eventually what has caused it…, or that we can use suffering to organize our energies to mount effective protests against oppression. Rather, our only hope lies in whether we can place alongside the story of the pointless suffering of a child like Carol a story of suffering that helps us know we are not thereby abandoned.”^[9]

The image that has stayed with me is that of Jesus crying with us as Christ suffers with us. I do not believe that Hauerwas is saying that we can’t learn from suffering or use it to overcome oppression. Rather, I believe he is saying that these cannot be our only hope. Our hope as Christians is centered in the cross.

Pastor Bubba: It is all about Jesus, isn’t it?

Patient Wife: I am not sure how much you have really gotten out of this conversation.

It is easy to stand outside of suffering and have theological ideas about what it means. I hope that the skill you learn as a pastor is to sit with those who are suffering and listen. Bring God’s presence to them and listen. Maybe you can say a prayer, too.

Bibliography

Boethius. The Consolation of Philosophy. Translated by David R. Slavitt. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2008.

Brennan, Frank. “Suffering Seeks a Voice.” In Perspectives on Human Suffering. Edited by Norelle Lickiss and Jeff Malpas. 261–71. Dordrecht: Springer, 2012.

Cassel, E. J. “The Nature of Suffering and the Goals of Medicine.” New England Journal of Medicine 306, no. 11 (March 1982). 639–45.

Chittister, Joan D. Scarred by Struggle, Transformed by Hope. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2003.

Cone, James H. The Spirituals & the Blues: an Interpretation. Mary Knoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1991.

Cooper-White, Pamela. “Suffering.” In The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Practical Theology. Edited by Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore. 23–31. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012.

Coulehan, Jack. “To Suffer With: The Poetry of Compassion.” In Perspectives on Human Suffering. Edited by Norelle Lickiss and Jeff Malpas. 227–44. Dordrecht: Springer, 2012.

Frankl, Viktor E. Frankl. Man’s Search for Meaning. Boston: Beacon Press, 2006.

Gutiérrez, Gustavo.  On Job: God-Talk and the Suffering of the Innocent. Translated by Matthew J. O’Connell. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1987.

Hauerwas, Stanley. Naming the Silences: God, Medicine, and the Problem of Suffering. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1990.

Newsom, Carol. The Book of Job: A Contest of Moral Imaginations. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.

Norris, Kathleen.  Acedia & me: A Marriage, Monks, and A Writer’s Life. New York: Riverhead Books, 2008.

Nouwen, Henri J.M. With Burning Hearts: A Meditation on the Eucharistic Life. Mary Knoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1994.

Soelle, Dorothee. Suffering. Translated by Everett R. Kalin. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1975.

Wiesel, Elie. The Trial of God.  New York: Schocken Books, 1979.

Wolterstorff, Nicholas. Lament for a Son. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1987.

---

[1] Boethius, 97.

[2] Ibid., 137.

[3] Frankl, 66.

[4] Norris, 285.

[5] Soelle, 86.

[6] Norris, 225.

[7] Henri J.M. Nouwen, With Burning Hearts: A Meditation on the Eucharistic Life (Mary Knoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1994).

[8] Stanley Hauerwas, Naming the Silences: God, Medicine, and the Problem of Suffering (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1990)

[9] Ibid., 34.