Suffering is central
Peruvian Ceramic Artist Edilberto Merida
Day Two of our search for God in the public square…
Why have I made suffering the lens through which we look for a better view of God? Oh! Suffering is the very thing that makes so many walk away from God! But more importantly, suffering is central to the core truths God wants us to know!
God is far from silent when we turn to God and cry! We cry for ourselves! We cry for others! With the amount of suffering in the world, it is good that we cry!
Crying, too, separates the wheat from the chaff. When you’re picking up pieces of rubble to find those trapped after an earthquake, a tornado, a crash, no one cares what your orientation is. No one cares who you vote for. No one cares about the color of your skin or how you believe in God. No one cares if you’ve had an abortion; if you’re struggling with your gender; or even if you have an assault rifle at home. All that matters is you, your presence, your words of comfort, your willingness to reach out to another.
Is Christ really asking us to bully the woman in line at an abortion clinic? Is he calling us to explain gender to someone in agony over their own? Are we supposed to step in between God and another, or are we to push that other into God, and trust God to take it from there?
Are we bored, or are we too afraid to tackle the huge, universally-agreed-upon social justice issues around us? Do we feel so small in the face of hunger, homelessness, wrongful imprisonment, inhuman conditions in prisons, or the harm done to those living near massive plants that spew toxic air and chemicals? Have we not heard how Jesus fed thousands with the tiny offering of one?
If we check our self-righteousness at the door as we do so, we may just learn how to see as Christ sees, to think as Christ thinks, and to speak and act a bit more like Christ.
Reflection
Why is it so easy to drop our differences, our divisions when disaster strikes, and how might this inform our words and actions when things are relatively calm?
Prayer
Dear God, suffering brings clarity. Suffering calls us all to come together for obvious reasons. May we heed the glaring calls for healing and help, and trust that as we do this, we’ll grow in the wisdom we so sorely need. Amen.