Today is a move into a section of "Let the Bones Dance" that is called "Disposition of Compassion: Embodying Tragedy" - Marcia W. Mount Shoop. We all suffer. Christianity has not tried to deny that. In fact, it has attended closely to how tangled up suffering and belief can be. Suffering is part of the wages of sin; and suffering can be the price you pay for following Jesus. These and other explanations for suffering swirl around in loosely thematic ways in Christian communities. The origins and cause of suffering are not my concern here. The fact that we suffer is. In these few beginning notes in this part of the book we jump into the very heart of the importance for the Body of Christ to be embodied - real - alongside. We suffer. Suffering comes in so many shapes and forms and sizes we cannot simply say people suffer and that's just it. We gather and we come to understand the many ways people suffer and the many ways people experience joy. Remember, the two are not exclusive. Someone who has suffered knows what joy is. That person may not know joy as I do. Therefore, we are each invited to listen and to hear about suffering on the part of the other so that we can also hear what it is that brings joy to them. In some ways, when we sing "joy to the world" aren't we singing about joy that comes into all the various ways we suffer. And yet, we call the embodiment of God in Jesus - joy to the world. There is Jesus - the one who takes the road into the very depths of our suffering so that in our suffering - no matter how deep - there is someone with us - someone who can feel the pain and still is beside us without ever stepping away. Connection: We can learn this life. We can - in the middle of our suffering and our joy - come to understand the importance of staying alongside others in and through their suffering and joy. Gather us as one, O God, that your joy will lighten our load when we are overburdened and about to break. Be our companion - again. Amen. |
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