When Bad Things Happen. The Rev. Dr. Arlene K. Nehring Eden United Church of Christ Hayward, California

Transcription

1 When Bad Things Happen The Rev. Dr. Arlene K. Nehring Eden United Church of Christ Hayward, California Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost October 4, 2015 Job 1:1, 2:1-10 (NRSV) The origin of World Communion Sunday, which we celebrate today, is grounded in the deep desire of some of our mainline Protestant church leaders to pray and witness to a common vision of world peace with justice. Presbyterian leaders initiated the first observance of what was then known as World Wide Communion Sunday, in Participation in this observance spread to numerous other denominations, in 1940 and the years that followed. The growth in participation of this observance was fostered out of deep ecumenical commitment to pray and work for an end to the root causes of war. 1 I admire the leaders who forged our observance of today s World Communion Sunday and the vision that inspired it, and even though wars and injustices persist in our time, I prefer to light a candle for peace and justice rather than curse the darkness of war, or to refrain from addressing the root causes of war. II War and its causes have left deep scars in the lives of individuals, families, and whole nations in our global village. The most recent horrible examples of war and its victims come to us from Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Ingrid Moeller, president of the Cherryland Community Association and a native of Germany, has been back in Europe for the past 30 days, and has gotten an upclose and personal view of how these three nations wars are affecting Germany alone. In her October president s column in the association s newsletter, Ingrid explained: [Germany is] now expecting about 800,000 refugees this year, mostly from Syria, but also from Iraq and Afghanistan etc. The weekend we stayed in Munich with friends and were about to leave from the main railroad station 50,000 refugees were expected to arrive there...as we arrived in Northern Germany our friends [there] drove 1

2 us by a refugee camp [with] about 400 [tents] erected [on] a [school campus.] Every city has to take its share of asylum seekers. Conferences are being held [about] how many refugees will be taken by each German state. Other European countries have not been [as willing ] to share the burden. Angela Merkel said in Obama fashion: Wir schaffen das! We can do it! As each of us knows on an intellectual level, and as some of us know from personal experience, war has led to a phenomenal amount of suffering. Perhaps the most difficult suffering to accept is the suffering borne by the innocent, who have been caught in the crossfires of war that they did not create and who are not inclined to take up arms. III The problem of suffering particularly the suffering of the innocent is the topic of the book of Job. Some scholars speculate that Job was inspired by the suffering of the Ancient Israelites, who were defeated by the Babylonians in 587 BC and exiled in Babylon for the following two generations. Regardless of whether we have, ourselves, seen war-related suffering up close and personal or not, I suspect that most of us can name examples of undeserved suffering in our own lives or the lives of others undeserved suffering that has confounded us. The problem of undeserved suffering is described by theologians as theodicy and has preoccupied human beings since the dawn of creation. How human beings have answered theodicy questions has varied, but the fact that we humans have been preoccupied with theodicy questions has not. So, why do the innocent suffer? Whether we re talking about the suffering of innocents in the Ancient Near East, or the suffering of innocents in the modern Near East, like the refugees from Syria; or the shooting victims in Roseburg, Oregon; or a loved one s life-threatening health diagnosis, the answers to the why of innocent suffering is rarely clear. What is clear, however, is that suffering does happen, and that it happens in greater and lesser degrees to everyone, including the innocent. That suffering happens to the innocent is a forgone conclusion, according to Rabbi Harold Kushner, author of the bestselling book When Bad Things Happen to Good People. As a colleague of mine once pointed out, Kusher s book is not titled If Bad Things Happen to Good People. It s titled When Bad Things Happen to Good People. When Bad Things Happen, The Rev. Dr. Arlene K. Nehring, 10/4/2015, 2 of 5.

3 There is no question in Kushner s mind whether the innocent suffer. The only question is, when they will suffer? When the innocent suffer, even when the not-so-innocent suffer, it is normal and healthy for us to object, to protest, even to rant and rave and direct it at God. IV The best example I can recall of a person protesting innocent suffering is a man I became acquainted with when I was a student pastor back in the early 1980s. (Yes, Pastor Arlene was once an MIT.) The assignment I was given by my supervising pastor, Pastor Marge, was to call on one man on a bi-monthly basis, for the entire semester. Sometimes I would sit with this man while Pastor Marge took the man s wife out for coffee or a walk and a private conversation. The man who I was assigned to call on wasn t just anyone. He was a retired pastor from the congregation who had remained in the community after he was diagnosed with ALS (Louis Gehrig s disease), and after he was retired. This retired pastor was the angriest man I have ever met. His anger was stressful for his wife, which is why Pastor Marge and I visited as frequently as we could. But more than that, his anger was stressful for our church members, who were deeply saddened by his diagnosis, and deeply troubled that there were only a limited number of things that they or anyone could do for the pastor or his family. One day about halfway into my internship, Pastor Marge shared with me that the retired pastor had announced to her that week (and to several others in the congregation who had come calling) that he had lost his faith. A number of the parishioners were in great distress about this situation and hoped even expected that Pastor Marge would swoop in with a remedy that would resolve the retired pastor s faith crisis, and these same parishioners were very disappointed when she wouldn t or couldn t do so. Instead of rushing in with magic words to make all of the bad better or trying to counsel (or shame) the retired pastor back into the fold so that the congregation would feel more comfortable, Pastor Marge simply met the man where he was spiritually and she listened to him. She listened to his anger, which was a form of grief. She supported his wife when others drifted from the scene. And she challenged the congregation to do their own grief work, and their own theological and spiritual exploration and growth rather than expecting either of the pastors to do that work for them. I don t know how this story ends. I don t know if the retired pastor ever found peace or a renewed sense of faith. I don t know how his wife coped with his diagnosis, or the evolution of his disease process, or his death, or her journey through widow- When Bad Things Happen, The Rev. Dr. Arlene K. Nehring, 10/4/2015, 3 of 5.

4 hood. I don t know, because my internship only lasted one semester. But here s what I do know, and what I am sure of: I am absolutely sure that God didn t cause the pastor s illness. I m absolutely sure that the pastor s loss of faith was not the reason the disease progressed. I am absolutely sure that God can hear and hold the retired pastor s grief, his family s grief, and our grief regardless of what form or twists and turns that it may take be it from denial and anger, to bargaining and depression, and to acceptance. 2 How is it that I m so sure? V I m sure about God s ability to hear and hold our grief, because that s what I have found to be true in my own spiritual life, and because that s what the book of Job (when understood in its entirety) is all about. The book of Job illustrates that faithful people in ancient times protested the injustices of innocent people s suffering, and affirms the validity of the whole range of grief response in modern times. Some notable biblical examples from Job follow. Job s wife protested Job s suffering. She protested God s lack of intervention, and Job s initial acceptance of his fate. Job protested when his friends blamed him for his suffering. Job eventually protested his own suffering, and God s lack of response in the wake of it. Perhaps the most important thing that we can learn from Job is the validity of our protests in the midst of suffering, and the biblical view that none of us is expected to accept anyone s suffering as God s will. Many of us have erroneously been taught that God engineers the hardships and tragedies in our lives to teach us a lesson or to work out some unknown good. Many of us were also taught that Job was patient and passively accepting of his suffering, so that we should passively accept our own suffering or the suffering of others. Many believe these erroneous interpretations of Job, because they haven t yet read the book for themselves, because they have developed a learned helplessness 2 When Bad Things Happen, The Rev. Dr. Arlene K. Nehring, 10/4/2015, 4 of 5.

5 about their predicament, 3 or because they have embraced the idea that suffering is a virtue. But I disagree with each and every one of these theological propositions. By contrast, here s what I believe: I believe that expressing our grief to God can be a helpful step in healing our personal and corporate hurts. I believe that accompanying others through the grief process is one of the greatest gifts we can give another person. And hear me on this: accompanying someone through grief is far less about doing for, and far more about being with. Why do I hold these beliefs, instead of the beliefs espoused that I discount? I hold these beliefs, because I have read the book of Job many times and I have studied it carefully. I have also read the works of biblical and literary scholars who have far more knowledge of this ancient literature than I do. And I, like you, have suffered and seen the suffering of others, up close and personal, and I have learned from these experiences. I have learned that God can hear, and God can hold us in and in spite of dreadful circumstances and ultimately that this hearing and holding can heal us, even when it may not cure us from all that harms us. So I offer this wisdom that I have discerned for myself and pray that it will help you experience hope and healing in the midst of your suffering and the suffering of those who are dear to you. Amen. 3 When Bad Things Happen, The Rev. Dr. Arlene K. Nehring, 10/4/2015, 5 of 5.