Sharing with Us in our Suffering - April 11
Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 51:1-18(19-20); PM Psalm 69:1-23; Lam. 1:1-2,6-12; 2 Cor. 1:1-7; Mark 11:12-25
I can still remember my first real reflection on pastoral care and being forced to wrestle with God’s agency in suffering. I had been a youth minister for a few years, but much of that work was contained in the playing of games, teaching Sunday school, and dealing with the drama of middle school and high school lives. Who liked who, or who said something mean behind someone’s back, or why Elizabeth thought I should wear more pink shirts (my office was at an all-girls Episcopal school). Most of the conversations for the first few years were pretty surface-level stuff.
And then I received a phone call one morning, around six a.m., from the rector of our church. “John, can you meet me at a parishioner’s home as soon as possible. I should be there in thirty minutes.” Mark continued to share that the mother of three children in our church had suffered an aneurism in her sleep and had not woken up.
I dressed quickly and began the drive to the other side of town, about a thirty-minute drive from my house, the entire drive wondering what I could possibly say to the children that would ease their pain and remind them of God’s love. My mind was racing, and honestly so was my heart. I pulled up to the house and there were already a number of cars parked outside, Mark met me at the door to lead me to children who were sitting on the back patio, the oldest two who were youth group age and very active in the church.
I can still vividly remember sitting there across from the oldest son. No words were shared for quite some time. Thirty minutes must have passed, before any words were spoken, the young man speaking first, “John, I’m glad you are here.” I still had nothing more to offer, other than to say “thank you” and sit there with him in his grief.
Few words were shared before I left much later that morning, but my understanding of God was deeply shaped by that morning. God, through the young man who had lost his mother, taught me, that our God is one of presence. God showing up is bigger than answers, words, or solutions. God is always present, often felt and experienced through our care of each other.
This morning, I read the words of Paul to the Corinthians, still without the answers that I so desperately want around suffering. Instead, I hear a vision of someone who suffers with others. It is Christ who consoles us in our affliction, and we become vessels to sit with others in their affliction and yet we all share in the consolation that comes from God. It’s about presence and being ‘with’ not fixing, taking away, or solving.
As we approach this Good Friday and live into Holy Week. We hear of Jesus as our God that suffered on the cross. As we walk with him into Jerusalem and to the cross, we are reminded that our lives are not without suffering, but it is the very nature of God to suffer with us and in that, we can find the source of consolation and hope.
John+
Questions for Self-Reflection: How have you known God more deeply in moments of pain and suffering? What was helpful for you and what was not helpful?
Daily Challenge: The services on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday this week all deal with Christ’s death and pain. If you are unable to attend in person, the services will be streamed online. Make a plan to attend some of Holy Week.