Where to begin

Sometimes I wonder if God really means what he says. Like today.  1Thess. 5:18 “No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” 

Not always easy.  We find a zit. We can’t get a parking spot, our kids embarrasses us, a friend says something that offends us.  We lose a job.  9-11. Does God really mean to always be thankful?

Today we woke up to the news that our friends’ daughter died yesterday. She leaves two middle-school aged sons for them to raise.  “Always be thankful!?” Are they supposed to feel thankful today? I have to say it, “God, what are you thinking!?”  And then the verse goes on...”for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.”  Wow.  Today, this is tough, really tough.

I read the story from Luke 17:11-19.  Ten lepers, ostracized from family, expelled from the community, ritually unclean.  They can’t even worship God as required.  So, the lepers huddle together, away from others so they won’t contaminate anyone.  Then Jesus came to their village.  “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” they cried again and again.  They were desperate.  Are our friends desperate today?  When someone has already died, what do you ask God for?  “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

Jesus turned and looked at them.  He sent them to the priest -- the one who could declare them ritually clean and restore them to society.  And so they took the first step and the second and as they walked, they were healed. 

Nine of the healed lepers continued on their way.  One of the healed lepers returned to Jesus.  “He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him.” 

And there lies the secret.  He thanked him, yes.  But it began with throwing himself at Jesus’ feet.  Sometimes the our mouths are empty.  There is not a thankful word we can think of.  But we begin by throwing ourselves at Jesus’ feet.  “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.”

“Yes, today Jesus, have mercy on our friends.  They need you to look at them and heal their wounded hearts.  Help them to walk towards healing for themselves, for their grandsons.  And keep them coming back to you, for as long as it takes, until the thanks can flow freely again.”

"You should have been there"

“You should have been there!”

We’ve all been in situations where we’re in a group, some word or phrase is said and everyone else bursts into laughter except you. Someone kindly tries to explain the situation they all are laughing at but it loses in the retelling. It isn’t funny now. “You should have been there!” they say.

I’ll never forget the first time I saw “The Sound of Music”. If you’re too young to have heard of it, it’s a famous old movie. I was in Norway for the summer with my Mom. Relatives took me to the first showing of the movie in their city -- I’m revealing my age here. There were no empty seats in the theatre. When the movie got to the graveyard scene, the theatre was completely silent. As soon as the Nazis left the graveyard, all over the theatre, people collectively exhaled.  I hadn’t realized until then that virtually everyone had been holding their breath. They had lived through the horrors of WW2 Nazi bombings and oppression. The movie triggered memories I did not share. I had not “been there.”  Six months later,  back in the U.S., I went with a friend to see “The Sound of Music” again. At the end of the graveyard scene, I didn’t hear anyone exhale. WW2 was distant from American shores. We had not “been there”.

Today Norway is grieving the brutal deaths of almost one hundred of it’s citizens. For most of us, we can only “feel” how awful it must be if we’ve experienced something similar -- 9/11, the VA Tech shootings...if we were “there”.

But each of us can take seriously the injunction: “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.” (The Bible, Romans 12:15). And so, to Norway we say, “We’re so very sorry. We stand with you as you mourn. May you know God’s comfort and presence in the midst of senseless trauma and pain.”