February 1, 2004 Rev. Dr. C. DiNovo IF THERE IS A GOD, WHY IS THERE SUFFERING? Scriptures We heard in scripture this morning how difficult it is to speak about the inevitability of suffering. We heard what happened to Jesus. They threatened to throw him off a hill. I hope I fair a little better this morning. The first thing that needs to be said about suffering is that we are entering holy ground when we speak about it and that I speak about it in the face of your suffering, each one of you. I speak about in the face of your suffering, the diagnosis which is frightening. I speak about it in the face of your suffering and grieving the loss of someone that you loved. I speak about suffering in the face of those of you who have survived trauma and abuse. I speak about suffering in the face of those here who have been responsible for trauma and abuse. I get that we are now on very holy ground. I’ve been doing a raft of weddings this week, don’t ask me why, a little crazy. I’ve been meeting with a lot of couples and one of the couples that I met with mentioned to me that they would like to see a particular Psalm read in their service. Anyone venture to guess what Psalm that was? The young man said, “I would like to hear Psalm 23”. Now, for those of you who haven’t heard Psalm 23 in a while, let me refresh your memory about the second verse. “Yeah though I walk through the valley of a shadow of death, I shall fear no evil.” I suggested to him that that was usually a Psalm read at funerals and not at weddings. But as I said that, this wonderful passage from 1 Corinthians you always hear at weddings is one I love to do at funerals. It’s my favourite thing to read at funerals. It makes so much more sense at a funeral than at a wedding. Because we’re talking about seeing the very face of God. When do we do that? Not in this life, in that life. And I was thinking about this request which of course he didn’t realize he was making, because when I quoted him that line, he said, “okay not that one”. It was absolutely appropriate, although I don’t have the gumption to do it, to read at a wedding. Because in fact what we’re doing at a wedding is we’re walking into that valley of a shadow of death just like in every other moment of joy in our lives. That Psalm is a Psalm about joy and suffering intermingled. Now when we hear this question, “If there is a God, why then is there suffering?” It says something about God of course, as well as suffering and I want to just take a step back a bit because the pat answer that I give to people when I ask them that, new Christians, is usually to give a metaphor for God and the metaphor for God is the one of good parent and I say “a good parent would not shield their children from all of life’s vicissitudes, would not shield their children from all of life’s pain, but would want for their children freedom. To shield our children totally would mean raising them in a room, never letting them out. Because we know as soon as we give someone freedom, that suffering and pain will also happen, that’s life. So a good and loving parent would want for our children freedom and with freedom comes all of life’s experience. But I’ve said that so many times you know, I’m kind of tired of my own voice, but I do want to say it again. So at the beginning of this week, I thought what I’d do instead is just pray about this issue and just wait to hear a response from God. Now let me tell you that what prayer looks like is not getting down on my knees for half an hour morning and night, but prayer looks like in my life crazy as it is, like your lives, is that question kind of sits there. You get up, go to work, fight through traffic. It just sits there as you curse at the other drivers, just sits there as you get to work and find out all the nastiness that happened in your absence, just sits there as you go home, as you make dinner, as you eat dinner, as you talk about small things, it just sits there. And eventually something happens, an answer comes and my answer was this young man this week asking about Psalm 23 at a wedding. I would never have thought about it, it came straight from God through him. Look at that psalm, that psalm has us walking through this beautiful garden and then into the shadow of death, and then a feast is set for us, but with who? With our enemies right across the table. This is the holiness and the sacredness of the dance of life which includes suffering. Without suffering, no holiness. Without suffering, no dance. Without suffering, no life. This is life. This was after all Christ’s life the night before he died, the feast set before his enemies just before his death and what was it, it was a celebration. It was a celebration. At God Talk, we talked about the kind of person that might exist that would have no suffering in their lives and we decided quite rightly that that person would be a psychopath. That would be a person who would not feel the normal range of human emotions, would not have joy, would not have sorrow, that would be that person. That is not what a loving God wants for a loving God’s children. That is not what is our bequest from Jesus, not at all. The promise biblically you see is never that there won’t be suffering, but that we will never ever experience suffering alone. That as we suffer, and remember suffering is holy ground. We sometimes think that holy means positive, good, joyful, happy. No, holiness is ever bit as much true of those moments of suffering and pain that we all experience. And on holy ground, God’s feet walk. We experience the presence of God in exactly those places of suffering. I love to do funerals. It sounds ghoulish, but it’s because at funerals unlike some weddings, you always experience the presence of God. Because you are walking with people in suffering, you are walking on holy ground. And at weddings, what you see sometimes that they don’t see is all that suffering ahead. Not that you wish it upon anyone, you just know it’s going to happen, it’s life. And you wish for them just as in the words of the psalmist, Psalm 23, that when they proceed to that suffering, that they will recognize the holiness of it and that they hold each other’s hands through that holiness, that they love each other through it. Working in a congregation, being in a congregation, living in a congregation, we experience so much more sadness and death than we would if we were not part of it. It’s like being in a huge family, there’s always somebody suffering, there’s always somebody dying, there’s always somebody getting married, always somebody being born. This is the dance. How beautiful it is. How beautiful it is. I’m glad Annis is here this morning. I’m going to quote her again without asking her first, standard issue for me. Annis said something to us, one of the many saints in this community that I hold very dear in my heart. She said, “when you’re born in this world, you’re crying and everybody else is laughing”. She said, “but when you die, they’re all crying and you’re laughing.” How true is that? Then we will see face to face the promise of love eternal and everlasting, then not now, we will see face to face. Brothers and sisters, know that if you are suffering as I speak. Know that there is no more holy place than next to you. Know that if you’re suffering as I speak, that God’s hand is in your hand. That God’s love surrounds you in a very special way. That you are yourself holy ground. Let us pray: Dearest God, We have nothing to offer you but our lives created in your image. We remember your image oh so well oh Lord. We remember the image of the baby, the joy. We remember the image of the young man, the healer. We remember the image of the cross, the sufferer. Remember how even you yourself called out why have thou forsaken me? So that when we cry out oh Lord, you understand because you suffered, too. Dearest God, All these sufferings we offer up to you a holy gift, a holy gift. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. /sermons/Feb104 |