Suffering. We see it all over the place. Economic suffering. Physical suffering due to disease. Social suffering because of racism. These are just a few of the present areas of suffering, on top of the ongoing, day in day out sufferings around the world of poverty, homelessness, human trafficking, labor abuse, racial and gender inequality, famine and drought. But what I have discovered is that unless it touches me personally, I experience a momentary grief before continuing about my life. I see for a moment and then blink and open my eyes to something less distressing.
See, I, like most people, pay little attention to any suffering unless it is personal. If it doesn’t affect me personally, I have very little staying power. So when I come to passages like Romans 8:16-28, I fail to grasp Paul’s meaning. Here we find him saying that if the Spirit has moved in to live in our hearts, then we are children of God and heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. But there is a condition on that statement: “if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory” (v.17).
OK, it seems that Paul is saying we can know that we are children and heirs if we share in Christ’s sufferings. Reading from a personal suffering paradigm, this is very difficult to understand. How am I to share in suffering that is already done? Christ lived over 2000 years ago: whatever was personal suffering for him was over and done a long time ago.
But what if this isn’t personal suffering? What if we are talking about Christ’s present sufferings? How is Christ presently suffering? God is present in all the earth. God is love, and love is vulnerable and long-suffering, and present. While I have no trouble imaging God as present in my personal suffering, I can’t quite wrap my mind around God being that present with every suffering being in all creation. He doesn’t sleep; he doesn’t look away; he doesn’t numb; he doesn’t lash out. God has created us in his likeness, but I think its like comparing a LEGO person to its human creator. Sure there are arms and legs, torso and head, hands and face, and yet there are so many differences its hard to comprehend. God is not bound to the limitations we are: he can weep even as he laughs and growls in outrage.
God is suffering with his creation. He is in anguish with us over the injustice, the pain, the systemic structures that keep some in power and others in bondage. We have learned that outrage from God. We do not have to pray that he would see and act. The Spirit in us that tells us we are sons and daughters is the same Spirit that opens our hearts to the suffering of others. This is Christ’s suffering.
The next part of that verse reads “...in order that we may share in his glory”(v.17b). What is his glory? It is so rich and multifaceted, I’m not sure we can truly grasp what it is in our present time, but I do believe that if his sufferings is the sufferings of all creation, then his glory must include the redemption and healing of all creation as well. It’s not personal glory, that fake glory the enemy tempts us to pursue. If anyone had a right to pursue personal glory, Christ did, but then he wouldn’t be the Christ. No, his glory is the glory of every wrong being made right, of sinners embracing grace, of creation being reborn. So if we want in on this glory, we must engage in the suffering.
But just in case that freaks you out a little, Paul follows it up with “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the future glory that will be revealed in us” (v.18). Do not be afraid. As overwhelming as the suffering of the world is, the glory of all being freed from death, decay, bondage, sin, and pain is going to be so totally worth it all. It’s gonna be so good we’ll think to ourselves, “That’s it?! That’s all we had to do for all of this?! Wow...that just doesn’t seem like enough. Maybe we should go back and do more....”
In the meantime, we hope. We wait. We eagerly look to that future even as we patiently go about God’s Kingdom work now. Remember, “God is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).
Our faith is not weak if we suffer, if we feel stretched between hope and despair. Much healing is needed. And we were not created to hold all the earth’s pain like God does. Beholding that much pain leaves us gasping for breathe, eyes wide, nostrils flared, heart racing. In those moments, we don’t know what we should to do.
“We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
(Romans 8:26-28)
And so we give thanks. We thank God that He in Christ already bore all of that for us, that God is still bearing it, and that we are never called to bear it alone. We thank God that He is at work in the world through the Spirit of grace, love, and creation. If the Spirit is in you then you have hope; in fact, you are part of that hope embodied as you go about the Kingdom work of saving and restoring and reconciling. Live in hope; walk in faith; pray in the Spirit. And don’t be afraid to bear with God others’ suffering.
Tuesday, June 2, 2020
Tuesday, May 26, 2020
A Time to Discover...
One of my recurring questions has been, “What do I pursue?” Maybe you can relate. It’s an existential question that requires a dream and a plan as well as determination and guts (although most of us would like the former without the latter). During quarantine, my attempt has been to discover some dreams in order to help me get excited about my life. Maybe if I’ve got this burning passion and dream inside me, it will give me the ability to pursue something with unflagging motivation and tenacity. I haven’t found it yet. I have a sneaking suspicion I’m looking for Big Foot or the Loch Ness monster. And yet... yep, still looking.
I haven’t totally failed, though. The other day I knew I had to make something — something raw, creative, and useful. Something with wood. My best friend Tori suggested I make a “create box,” a tool box of sorts to store my creating projects. That led me on a two week journey that revealed a few things: 1) I loved making the boxes (one turned into three), 2) I could see myself continuing to make things as a hobby/side job, 3) I have a knack for woodworking, and 4) I now have a good friend who can teach me all I need to know and has all the tools and materials to do so.
Around this time, I also started exploring other creative outlets: creative projects using cardboard and candle-making. I’m still waiting on all my supplies to arrive for the candle-making, so not much to share there except that I decided to pursue it simply as a way to finish the wax in candles whose wicks were spent. As for cardboard creations? Cardboard is an incredibly versatile medium: when I went searching for inspiration, I discovered intricate art, play sets, actual furniture, and a variety of other pieces. That said, it’s a bit more labor intensive for my taste (especially if you want things to look perfect... and I do).
It seems that we build our lives the way we build houses: one brick, one nail, one beam at a time. At the end we look on our work and marvel at how it all came together into one thing: a life, a house. That piece we didn’t know where it would go found its place and that piece we thought was so important never did find a home. We are surprised at all the people who were involved in the process. And we discover that while we had one overarching aim - build a house or live well - we accomplished it via smaller goals - lay the foundation, determine the paint themes, find a job to cover expenses, make it through school, decide on how many bedrooms and bathrooms, etc. Just because we have particular goals does not mean we won’t have to make adjustments as we go. A goal to finish school may have to be altered in order to live well, and a goal of four bedrooms may have to be downsized to accommodate the budget or the new goal of adding a greenhouse.
Just as a house has many pieces and part, rooms and walls and doors, so too our lives are made up of many different pieces and parts, people and jobs and interests. I’ve heard it said that interesting persons are those who have various hobbies and interests outside their chosen line of work. People enjoy the quirks and secret skills of one another. People always tend to be impressed by someone who has “done it all”. Your all will be different than my all different then his all or her all. My house will likely have a garden out back and an observatory in the tower on the south end. Yours may have a secret room where you store your collection of artifacts from the age of the knights and feudal lords. My life can’t be made up of just one major thing (outside of an ever-growing love for God). Neither can yours. A house cannot be called a house if it is made only a living room. Diversity is interesting and exciting, as is the continual adding of new things. So you know what? Try things out. Risk a little. Take the time to test a theory or re-engage that old hobby you used to have back in grade school. After all, “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”
Searching for that one all-consuming passion may in fact be like a pursuit of some fantastical creature, so while I keep an eye out for it, I will also continue to pursue the smaller goals and focus on living my life well, using the best materials coupled with creativity and ingenuity to build my house. Good thing I now know a little woodworking....
I haven’t totally failed, though. The other day I knew I had to make something — something raw, creative, and useful. Something with wood. My best friend Tori suggested I make a “create box,” a tool box of sorts to store my creating projects. That led me on a two week journey that revealed a few things: 1) I loved making the boxes (one turned into three), 2) I could see myself continuing to make things as a hobby/side job, 3) I have a knack for woodworking, and 4) I now have a good friend who can teach me all I need to know and has all the tools and materials to do so.
Around this time, I also started exploring other creative outlets: creative projects using cardboard and candle-making. I’m still waiting on all my supplies to arrive for the candle-making, so not much to share there except that I decided to pursue it simply as a way to finish the wax in candles whose wicks were spent. As for cardboard creations? Cardboard is an incredibly versatile medium: when I went searching for inspiration, I discovered intricate art, play sets, actual furniture, and a variety of other pieces. That said, it’s a bit more labor intensive for my taste (especially if you want things to look perfect... and I do).
It seems that we build our lives the way we build houses: one brick, one nail, one beam at a time. At the end we look on our work and marvel at how it all came together into one thing: a life, a house. That piece we didn’t know where it would go found its place and that piece we thought was so important never did find a home. We are surprised at all the people who were involved in the process. And we discover that while we had one overarching aim - build a house or live well - we accomplished it via smaller goals - lay the foundation, determine the paint themes, find a job to cover expenses, make it through school, decide on how many bedrooms and bathrooms, etc. Just because we have particular goals does not mean we won’t have to make adjustments as we go. A goal to finish school may have to be altered in order to live well, and a goal of four bedrooms may have to be downsized to accommodate the budget or the new goal of adding a greenhouse.
Just as a house has many pieces and part, rooms and walls and doors, so too our lives are made up of many different pieces and parts, people and jobs and interests. I’ve heard it said that interesting persons are those who have various hobbies and interests outside their chosen line of work. People enjoy the quirks and secret skills of one another. People always tend to be impressed by someone who has “done it all”. Your all will be different than my all different then his all or her all. My house will likely have a garden out back and an observatory in the tower on the south end. Yours may have a secret room where you store your collection of artifacts from the age of the knights and feudal lords. My life can’t be made up of just one major thing (outside of an ever-growing love for God). Neither can yours. A house cannot be called a house if it is made only a living room. Diversity is interesting and exciting, as is the continual adding of new things. So you know what? Try things out. Risk a little. Take the time to test a theory or re-engage that old hobby you used to have back in grade school. After all, “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”
Searching for that one all-consuming passion may in fact be like a pursuit of some fantastical creature, so while I keep an eye out for it, I will also continue to pursue the smaller goals and focus on living my life well, using the best materials coupled with creativity and ingenuity to build my house. Good thing I now know a little woodworking....
Sunday, April 26, 2020
Why the Name?
Let me formally introduce myself. My name is Jessica. I have a relationship with my Creator which means a lot to me. I live unassumingly in the United States’ Midwest where I serve the Church as best I can. I love my friends and family, and I seek to live in peace with all people. But I have some things in my heart that I need to share. God has placed in me a spark that needs to catch flame and burn. As I have been given the gift of words and language, it seemed natural to begin a blog. It’s a starting point. So here we are. You reading what I have written. I hope it is an encouragement and a challenge. I can promised it will be a journey, and I’m glad we could share the path together for a time.
So how did I choose my blog title?
Chronicles denotes a journey, written down and preserved.
So how did I choose my blog title?
Chronicles denotes a journey, written down and preserved.
Of, belonging to as well as about.
A suggests that I am not the only one nor am I speaking on behalf of an entire group of people.
Modern places me squarely within the present age (with the added bonus of alliteration with the last word).
Mystic evokes spiritual mystery. While it also connotes some hokey imagery of secluded and strange individuals and practices, the mystic is one more in tune with the heartbeat of God and by extension of the whole natural realm. The mystic peers into the Divine Mystery, not to intellectually understand it but to emotionally and soulfully experience it. In a Christian sense, the mystic seeks the face of God, to know God in the deepest most intimate way, and then come back to the rest to reveal the glories and encourage the downhearted.
A warm welcome to you, friend.
J.
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