Pastoral Thought--September 30

 A short time ago I was reading a passage from a familiar book that I enjoy. Today I want to share a story from that book, A Hidden Wholeness, with you and invite you to consider it and notice how the narrative fits into your work as a Christian.  

“Rachel Remem, a physician of body and soul, tells a powerful story. . . One of her colleagues attended a conference on Jungian dream analysis where people wrote questions on cards that were passed along to a panel of experts, among them was the grandson of Carl Jung: 

One of these cards told the story of a horrific recurring dream, in which the dreamer was stripped of all human dignity and worth through Nazi atrocities. A member of the panel read the dream out loud. As she listened, my colleague began to formulate a dream interpretation in her head, in anticipation of the panel’s response . . . 

But this was not how the panel responded at all [to the dream]. When the reading of the dream was complete, Jung’s grandson looked out over the large audience. “Would you all please rise?” He asked. “We will stand together in a moment of silence in response to this dream.” Then audience stood for a minute, my colleague impatiently waiting for the discussion she was certain would follow. But when they sat again, the panel went on to the next question. 

My colleague simply did not understand this at all, and a few days later she asked one of her teachers, himself a Jungian analyst, about it. “Ah, Lois," he had said, “there is in life a suffering so unspeakable, a vulnerability so extreme that it goes far beyond words, beyond explanation and even beyond healing. In the face of such suffering all we can do is bear witness so no one needs suffer alone.”

I too do not need to interpret this story with you. Instead, today I wonder what stories are you hearing, what narratives could you be invited to participate in, that required just your presence? They require that you just showing up and dwell? Just standing there and allowing God to do whatever God needs to do in that moment without worrying if your part of the drama or story is vital. 

In the church we rush so quickly toward answers, toward problem solving, toward functionality that we often miss the chance to join the rest of Creation in bearing witness with someone who is hurting, someone who needs support, someone who considers themselves lost or perhaps broken down. 

We risk forgetting that we have all been in places of pain and isolation. In those places no amount of talking or debating would heal the wound or advance the story. In those places, we like Moses took off our shoes for the ground upon which we stood was holy. 

I wonder if God has placed someone in your life today where you would stand beside them so that "no one needs to suffer alone?"

Blessings

Rev. Derek