Meeting God: In Pain, Suffering and Healing

I was away from the pulpit over the last two Sundays. On October 12, I was away following my participation in a conference “Facing the Future” that was sponsored by one of the denominational agencies.  On October 19, we celebrated the ministry of the women of the church and the ministry of United Women of Faith. Eldon Partridge provided the message during all three services on October 12. On October 19, Dr. Kitt Ford was the guest speaker during the 8:30 and 10:00 services and Mary Land provided the message during the 11:30 service. On October 12, the theme of the message was forgiveness and on October 19, the theme focused upon the accomplishments and sacrifices of women. The themes and foci of these two Sundays paralleled the themes of chapters from Practicing the Way in which John Mark Comer described the practices of Jesus and he discussed the ways that we encounter God in our pain and suffering.  

      For many of us, the pain that we suffer is related to sin. Sometimes it because of sin done to us, sin done by us or sin done around us. Eldon described the pain than he experienced in his family during the time of his mother’s illness and death. Dr. Ford described the inspiration that she felt after observing the physical violence that her grandmother endured and Mary Land described the courageous leadership of many women in the Methodist church. In the cases of each of the speakers, they discovered strength in spite of, or in the midst of, very difficult circumstances that they experienced, witnessed or learned about through the vulnerability of others.  

     Through circumstances that could have easily resulted in estrangement, alienation or timidity, each of the speakers discovered the strength of God and the will of God. During our discussions over the past few months, we’ve explored various aspects of discipleship through the lives of the disciples and their encounters with Jesus. The disciples experienced disappointment, disillusionment and frustration surrounding the deaths of friends and family members. The disciples also struggled at times to reconcile their personal preferences with the teachings of Jesus that encouraged them to forgive when they would have preferred to nurture hatred and resentment. The disciples also struggled to summon courage when they were afraid of the consequences of their actions and associations.  

    The disciples learned from Jesus the many ways they needed to be healed and the many ways that they could be healed. Healing is rarely quick and it is rarely easy, but it is certainly necessary to become the kind of disciples that Jesus desires. To be like Christ, as we practice the way, means becoming more intentional about learning even more about Jesus. It is often from our reflections about our most painful experiences that we better understand discipleship. Jesus invites us on a journey of discipleship that isn’t easy, but the irresistible appeal of the invitation is based upon the fact that we do not travel alone. Jesus walks with us and he encourages us to invite others, too.

      Please invite at least one person to participate in the remaining sessions of our Thursday evening church-wide study and invite that person to come to one of the worship services with you this Sunday as we all grow together.

In Christ, 
Jon McCoy