Thoughts for August 20, 2006

Scripture Readings Leading to
Sunday August 20, 2006
Job 1,2,3,40,41,42                    Suffering & Evil
Luke 16:19-31             The Rich Man & Lazarus

Suffering is a fact of our lives.  Nothing will protect us from pain and grief.  As humans we are easily broken and bruised.  All our strength will not protect us.  Our wit and wisdom will not keep us from harms path.  Try as we might, we will not escape this simple truth: suffering is a fact of our lives.  

As we mature and are schooled in this difficult lesson, we learn to not invest our entire attention on avoiding suffering.  Rather, we rightly focus our energy in surviving and managing our pain.  Many times we see someone who has excelled in a particular field of endeavor and we are want to dismiss their accomplishment as one of privilege or a lack of personal suffering.  My study offers that nothing could be further from the truth.  The successful persons I admire are those who have learned and grown through some very difficult personal lessons and then gone beyond their pain and begun to offer themselves selflessly into the lives of others.  Did you see Tiger Woods pump his fist and weep in the arms of his caddie following his victory at the British Open this past month?  That was victory over the death and suffering he has experienced in the loss of his best friend and coach, his father.  

Why do we invest so much energy in avoidance of pain?  When in reality we learn so much from our suffering.  Do you really want a pastor, or a church for that matter, who/which has never experienced a moment of pain and grief, or would you be more comfortable with one who displays a knowing heart towards the grace of healing and new life?  Would your life be richer, fuller, and somehow more complete with an absence of any struggle or pain?  A friend once offered to me these simple but profound words, “Lean into the pain and cry out to God.”

The good news is that as suffering comes to us all, God has promised to be with us.  God is offering the Holy Spirit to walk with us and remind of us everything we need to survive and learn from our experience.  As we are strengthened by the presence of the Spirit, we begin to offer grace to the world around us.  We claim only Jesus as the victory over suffering and death and that realization moves us ever a little closer to home.
Dave Weesner

Sunday Worship
Scripture: Job 1:22
Sermon Title: “When the Sky Falls”