Mourning and Dancing: June 2011

"This is the paradox of our faith: joy is forged in sorrow. And death leads to life. And grief is the road between them." -Walter Wngerin

For months now, I've been slowing reading pieces of the book, "Grieving a Suicide" by Albert Y. Hsu. Most recently delving into Part III, "Life After Suicide".

There is a beautifully insightful portion of chapter nine which discusses the "normalcy" of pain, suffering, and grief within our fallen world. Yet, our current culture sees pain as a problem that needs to be fixed; an inconvenience to the "happy" lives we're suppose to live.

Mr. Hsu says:

"When we have a headache, we take a pain reliever. When we are sick, we go to the doctor and get and antibiotic. The relative ease with which we eliminate many physical hurts lulls us into believeing that pain is merely a temporary blip until we can find a quick cure. But most people throughout human history would consider this an unheard-of state of affairs...."
He goes on to discuss people in history and in other parts of the world today who do no have access to medicine, or healthcare. He also references those Christians who face persecution simply for being christian.
"...Those of us who live a sanitized existence amid sophisticated technology see death and affliction as unusual, so we wrestle with the 'why' questions. Those in less affluent situation see death and affliction as normal. Rather than wondering, 'Why is this happening? Why are we suffering?' persecuted Christians are keenly aware of the reality (and normality) of evil. They are also far more conscious that Christian hope and deliverance transcend the mere elimination of affliction or pain."

Hsu's quotes John Stott, "God's pledge is not that suffering will never afflict us, but that it will never separate us from his love."
And Then Hsu adds, "God doesn't only absorb the pain of grief and loss; he makes a way through it. Because suffering is within the realm of God's comprehension and knowledge it becomes a point of contact between us and God. If God knows suffering and we know suffering, then we can know God (*better) even in the midst of the suffering. God can be known through suffering because he has made himself available to us through it, through opening himself up to the pain and grief of this world."
And earlier in the chapter, "Because He has borne the grief of millions, he can bear our grief as well. He can handle our anger, our rage, our shame, our guilt. He swill hear our cries, he will hold us in our weeping, he will listen to our questions. And ultimately he will wipe away our tears."

F.P. Cotterell puts it this way, "Christians do not merely tolerate suffering; rather, through it they share in each other's experience."

I would add that not only do Christians share each others' experiences through suffering, but we have the opportunity to share in the comforting of one another and in the comfort God offers as well.

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians,

⁴(God)who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. ⁵For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. ...⁷Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

Hsu writes, "Therefore our suffering and grief are no longer meaningless. Our suffering brings us into communion with Jesus." and this is enough. But, "our suffering brings us into relationship with others who suffer. We have been there. We walk the same path. We can bring comfort to others who are experiencing similar pain."

and my favorite part... I'll wrap this up because I realize it's getting really long...

a quote from Ken Gire (also included in Hsu's chapter 9) "Suffering sensitizes us not only to the world around us, which is needy, but to the world within us, which is needier still, and ultimately to the world beyond us, which we long for in so many ways. Yet in so few ways do we ever fully realize it. Until we suffer." Our suffering points us to the suffering of Jesus. Once we understand this, "then the road ahead, however long, however difficult, is infinitely easier to travel."

I choose to experience grief as a journey to a better, more Christ focused, life. A life where I am more aware of my need for a Savior, show more compassion for others, and more gratitude for God's infinite mercy and lovingly bestowed grace.