At that time, the area in which we lived was marred by extreme violence. Per capita it was one of the most violent communities in the country at that time. Gun shot wounds, car and motorcycle accidents, domestic abuse were a constant presence in the ER. I felt like I was often holding the hand of a family member who wondered what this happened to them? "Why was God letting this happen?" they would ask.
As such, Wayne Oates' book The Revelation of God in Human Suffering was a helpful gift in my spiritual journey. It helped me frame what was happening in my mind so that I could offer support to these families who were in pain.
We know that suffering is often unique to the person because the way that we respond to that suffering is quite personal. For instance, I handle the death of a loved one, or the suffering of a friend, from a certain perspective as a pastor and as a father and husband. Jenifer handles that same incidence from a different perspective. Her perspective involves lived-experiences and how she, as a mother and wife, will address the pain that she witnesses.
Neither is better than the other; they are just personal to us. And yet in that 'personal-ness' we can find God. Oates says it this way:
"Faith is not a road map of other people's experience. it is not a gyroscope of self-sufficiency, confidence, and certainty. It is not a radarscope to pick up the commonly agreed [up]on opinions of the group. . . Faith in God is like a seaman's sextant. The sextant keeps a person's direction true when he is out of sight of [the] land or man [or God]."
Faith guides us through suffering. It does not minimize it and it does not 'paper over' the pain that we experience. It doesn't cliche it away. Faith takes the suffering of the moment and reframes it in a way that helps us to see God's hand guiding and supporting us through the moment in ways that we cannot imagine. When we feel that we cannot do this or don't know how to handle what is happening, faith points us toward an unseen God who is guiding us through the rough waters of suffering and pain because of his great love for us.
As a church we have felt that pain. . . We have watched covid raving our church. We have witnessed the suffering of families who have lost a loved one to death. We have seen the suffering of individuals from our church come and break us down a bit and wonder why is this happening again!
But today I want to remind you about faith and about God.
You may respond and address suffering in your own way. You may think that no one else is dealing with this issue or that it's too raw to share with another. But we are in this together as The Body of Christ and our faith will help us find the Land.
I wonder how you might be present for another person who is suffering themselves?
Blessings
Rev. Derek
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