BLESSINGS FROM THE VICARAGE

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Dear Brothers and Sisters,

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Life can be fickle and challenging at times, but often those are the very times when we learn, change and grow most - especially when we take time out, enforced or unenforced, to take stock of our lives and reflect in hindsight. Sometimes answers to historical or life events – personal or not – come forth, which can enable wonderful insight and development of self and others; but there are other times when answers don’t come and everything can become more of an enigma, and one might end up with more unanswered questions, leading to bewilderment, frustration, anger or worse.

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On the Friday after Easter Day, I started having pain down my leg from my back which got worse over the weekend, and to cut a very long story short, I have been laid up since with rather grim sciatica, even for taking strong neuropathic drugs. On my road to recovery (which is on-going) I have discovered from my visitors, friends, relatives and quite a few others on Facebook(!) that many have suffered the same fate or worse in body, mind and/or spirit, and, as they have told me their story together with their recovery (or continuing story of difficulty), the larger problem of people’s suffering in the world has been something I have been pondering.

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For many people the problem of suffering in the world may be or has been the barrier which has prevented them pursuing faith in God. They may have asked at some point in their lives, “How can a God who is supposed to be good allow suffering in the world?” And the assumption from this question is often not that God is not good, but logically and realistically there can be no God (especially when bad things happen to good people). Others who have been brought up ‘religiously’ with the Biblical interpretation that God is wrathful and that we are sinful and deserve to suffer, have actively left the path of a religious life because it has or is causing pain and suffering in their lives – and who can blame them, (especially if they have been told that their ‘lack of faith is why they have not been healed’. As an ex-nurse and ex-hospice chaplain I find it appalling that so-called Christians would say that to anyone who is suffering, but people have told me that this has happened to them). I for one, have never ascribed to the misguided, over-simplified missional proselytizing strapline, “You’re a sinner, Christ died for you, be grateful…” It is very hard to be grateful when one is being judged, especially when in pain or suffering no matter what the cause…and it is perhaps even harder when one is in that situation, nearly 2000 years after Jesus Christ’s suffering, to link this to one’s own suffering today and find any positivity in it, particularly as His suffering ultimately led to His death on the cross. There is enough fear about suffering, dying and death in the world without adding to it…?

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Obviously and honestly, I don’t have the space here to go into any depth on the subject of suffering linked to Jesus Christ and God, but all I can write from my nursing, priestly and chaplain’s knowledge and experience of suffering (both mine and others), is that I believe God has given us the capability not only to heal, comfort and care for each other in many and diverse ways; but also that God has given us the cognition and ability not to cause suffering in the world. Sadly, given the state of things, overall, although many are trying to help with regard to suffering, clearly many others have not grasped these essential Godly gifts...

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Jesus, however, did grasp both these gifts – healing and prevention of causing suffering – and this is what we can learn from the Gospel – the Good News: God gave us His Son, ‘not to condemn the world but to save the world through Him’ (John 3:17). It is hard to believe that we are loved so much that God would give his only Son for us, who would subsequently suffer and die, but rise again and show us God’s infinite love and eternal life. But more and more as the years pass by, I wonder that God indeed gave Him to us, literally to save us from ourselves; as in our ignorance, indifference, fear, paranoia, unresolved hurt, anger, bitterness, revenge – whatever – we globally seem to be causing more damage and suffering than healing and good. But, as we are now living in the time of God’s Holy Spirit, which Jesus gave us after His ascension into heaven, I will end with a favourite Bible passage from Paul’s letter to the Romans (5:3a– 5) ‘…we know that suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.’

May we keep asking questions and seeking answers, and may this journey lead to healing and hope.

With love, prayers and hope,

Jane