What Is the Question?

It has been one of those weeks in which I have heard from several people regarding tragedies in their lives, or in the lives of persons close to them. Somehow, I always feel that, in the back of their mind, their question for me is, "Where is God in all of this?" I don't blame them, for I have asked myself that question many times when looking at the world and its injustices and tragedies, as well as my own life, and the pitfalls I have encountered along the way. Let me preface my remarks by saying that, when some difficulty has arisen in my own life, I cannot say that what I am about to say brought me comfort right away or made the process any easier. But, in hindsight, it has enabled me to take the long view of God and the world, and my experience of both. Currently, I am leading a Bible study on the book of Job, a book which few people have the patience or fortitude to stay with for very long, because IT IS VERY LONG! And yet, many will brighten up and convey their feelings about the book when I mention it. Upon further questioning about the book, it becomes apparent that not many folks have read it all and really wrestled with its message. There is not room here to go into great detail about the book and its characters, nor will I discuss the difficulty evident in the very first couple of chapters of the book, when God makes a deal with Satan. Some folks I have known have not been able to get past that first part. What kind of God gambles with the life of a just man? And that leads me to say that we tend to approach God and the problem of evil by asking the wrong question. If one reads the book of Job with the question "Why" guiding the search, one will likely be disappointed. Job spent very little time with that one as well, though his wife and friends seemed obsessed with it. Asking "why" when tragedy happens is natural, because we hope that knowing why will help make sense of it. In reality, little makes sense when something bad happens. Knowing why something happened does little to lessen the pain, and we still have the loss and pain, don't we? Job kept asking God to appear to him, because he was wondering where God had gone, now that Job was living in desolation. His friends had no patience with such things, and, instead, kept trying to explain away the evil. Job would have none of it, and he persisted in seeking out God, refusing to take no for an answer. And there it is: whatever our sadness or tragedy, whatever our loss or disappointment, we can find a clue to survival in the story of Job. We may never know why a bad or painful thing has happened, but we should never stop beating a path to God's door to insist on God's presence as we go through such events. In the end, what Job received was not an answer to his suffering, what he received was God. Be honest, can you really ask for anything more?

Getting Lost in the Majesty, and Finding God in the Process.

We are near the end of the season of Epiphany. We talk about the season, but not much about the word itself. What is an "epiphany?" Well, the word itself means manifestation, striking appearance or an experience of sudden and striking realization. Had any of those lately? And the final Sunday in Epiphany, the Transfiguration, provides us with an account of a theophany. What is that? A theophany is a visible manifestation of a deity. In our case this week, it is an appearance of Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus. Now there is a not-everyday-event! But I wonder if epiphanies and theophanies are more prevalent than we have been led to believe? Jesus was seen in the company of two men considered patriarchs of Judaism, men associated with the very roots of Jewish faith and practice. I cannot help but be reminded of the tendency in American Christianity, is some quarters, at least, to do away with creeds and symbols, and sometimes liturgy itself, in the belief that the Spirit of God needs no trappings to make itself known. Hard to argue with that. But I think that it is not the Spirit of God that needs help in this regard anyway. It is us! Who among us would not give our eye-teeth to have a real encounter with the biblical figure, such as Jesus experienced? For a long time I have been saddened at the way that worship has changed, even in my own denomination. Organs and choirs have been replaced with praise bands and gospel choirs, both very good, indeed. I loved our Christian fellowship gatherings in college with guitars, and one really, really badly played banjo.But I also loved the majesty of the 4100 pipe organ in our chapel, and of the way I felt in that place. I have thought alot about that since I arrived at Bucknell, where we have a gorgeous chapel, magnificent choirs and organ, and people who can direct and play them. We have a healthy attendance, but still many students will not attend because they think it irrelevant or too structured, and have been taught to be wary of "liturgy." Then I read something in the February, 2013 issue of Sojourners Magazine that gave me hope. Two self-identified "twenty-somethings" talk about their feeling that something was missing in their evangelical worship life, so they attended a local Episcopal Church. Their two observations? 1) I want to be part of something larger than myself, and 2) I want to find my own meaning in Christian faith and practice. They tell of the meaning that the communion ritual holds for them, and how they found God anew in the liturgy, which was foreign to them, initially. Sometimes, God can be experienced best in a place where we can realize that it's not about us, and where we can lose ourselves in something that transcends us. So, if you have longed for an epiphany or theophany for a while, find a place of worship whose magnificence might just transport you to a mountain top of your own, if only for a brief moment. It might indeed be Episcopal, or Baptist, United Methodist or Presbyterian,or any other church that has been declared dead or dying. Some of them have held on to beautiful liturgy and worship, because we can find God in a place that does not hide its history or toss out the creeds and liturgies that have sustained the Christian community for hundreds upon hundreds of years. We will have trouble finding the way forward if we don't know where we have been.