HELLO!

I heard someone lament attendance has dropped from May to July. This happens in every mainline church (for as long as I have been alive). Bethe and I are delighted to see 100+ people, on a hot July Sunday morning (including new faces). Where are our regulars this Sunday? Berwick Camp. Bethe loves it there. Here is her pitch for you to give it a try:

Berwick camp has been part of my life for 28 years. My children came faithfully until they were adults. Their time here allowed them to discover who they are and make life-long friendships. For me this is a place of renewal, healing, and homecoming. If anyone is curious about Berwick Camp, please come for a day or an evening. We are having a special Woodlawn day on Friday, July 31^st in Holy Wood. Everyone is welcome any time, but our intention is to gather 1-3 pm. Check out the website and Facebook page to see what is being offered on what day.

As a minister who offers pastoral care to persons enduring suffering, the result of cancer, accidents, broken relationships, etc…I have witnessed many move from a position “it was meant to be, God is in charge everything happens for a reason” to something less certain, more humble, holding to the words Paul uses in our Sunday Epistle, “The Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know, but the Spirit intercedes with groanings too deep for words…We know all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to God’s purpose” (Romans 8:26-27). To remain convinced everything is God’s will, is to present brokenness as the will of God. God may use suffering as an occasion for the working of grace and may bring about good in spite of suffering, but God does not will suffering; God only permits it to exist.

I believe it was God’s purpose to send Jesus as an instrument and channel of divine love and to reveal more clearly our true nature. I believe God’s purpose and the destiny of the world is fixed in the pathway of love, love in the midst of temptation, love in the midst of suffering and brokenness, love in the midst of our call to care, to offer compassion. Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, his appearance to his disciples and others when they are afraid, lost or suffering, reminds, “neither death, nor life, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).

When I ponder why I believe this to be the character of God, and not as many other Christians believe, which is “everything happens for a reason, all is God’s will” I am reminded one reason for this difference of belief is our consideration of the human race. If you focus much of your thought on yourself and those whom you know and that circle is relatively small, you can, with some mental gymnastics, find God’s will in all manner of suffering. But to see the human race, from the moment humans became human, and walked this earth, throughout the long stretch of human history, with all its brokenness, the millions of innocents, and not so innocent, victims of brokenness, is to question how a loving God is behind every one of these tragic events. The more you attempt to include all human history and not just your very narrow experience, the harder it is to remain convinced that “everything has happened for a reason”.

I believe God is present in suffering, and suffering may have some cosmic value, which puts me at odds with Harold Kushner’s “Why Bad Things Happen to Good People” as Kushner believes God is not able to do good things when bad things emerge, always the result of human freedom. I see God’s role as more mysterious. I do not believe suffering is a penalty for sin, rather I believe, like death, it is part of our journey, with compassion being the larger truth suffering can, but not necessarily does, bring about. Further, to cry out in anger at God because of one’s suffering does not appear to threaten or anger our God, as witnessed by the 150 Psalms. Our confidence flows from the knowledge “God works all things together for good” (Romans 8:28). This verse teaches us, even in the face of suffering, God’s purpose is still at work and will finally triumph. God uses the weight of suffering to accomplish good. Peace, Kevin