“In learning to practice honest, searing, anguished lament for all the evil and suffering and pain that piles up unrelentingly on our years of life, we find our best chance of surviving it all and — as a great cloud of witnesses attest — our most honest chance of finding God’s sustaining presence on this earth.”- Catherine McNiel and Jason Hague
“For [the Lord] has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; but has listened to his cry for help.”- Psalm 22:24 (NIV)
Catherine McNiel and Jason Hague conclude Chapter 7 of Mid-Faith Crisis with a look at Psalm 22. Although the psalmist continues his litany of grievances, the tone of the psalm eventually turns around. Thus, bit by bit, the psalmist remembers God’s proven faithfulness to past generations. A faithfulness of continued presence. Not in mitigating the realities of life on this earth.
Much-beloved poet Mary Oliver describes her childhood as very dark and broken. Yet, Mary writes of the sacred-yet-simple delights of human life amid the natural world. Hence, Mary survived by finding a tunnel through the darkness. Not in the absence of suffering. Consequently, she gained the ability to speak quite vividly of beauty and comfort, of glimpsing joy and seeking delight.
In conclusion, theologian Gregory A. Boyd wrote about his own mid-faith crisis in Letters From a Skeptic: A Son Wrestles with His Father’s Questions about Christianity (1994; reprint edition 2008). The book addressed many of the perennial intellectual challenges to the Christian faith, which led to his (atheist) father’s conversion. Rev. Boyd wrote:
“I looked up at the sky and cried out with a loud angry voice — ‘The only God I can believe in is one who knows firsthand what it’s like to be Jewish child buried alive and know what it’s like to be a Jewish mother watching her child being buried!’ And just then it occurred to me (or was it revealed?): that is exactly the kind of God Christianity proclaims.”
Today’s question: Do you agree that lament is our best chance of surviving it all? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “Knowledgeable experts about God?”