The Suffering of God

Tuesday, March 13, 2007 -- Week of 3 Lent

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117
An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html


Today's Readings for the Daily Office (p. 954)
Psalms 78:1-39 (morning) // 78:40-72 (evening)
Jeremiah 8:18 - 9:6
Romans 4:13-25
John 7:37-52

Part of the power of Jeremiah's writing is his portrayal of God's suffering and anguish on behalf of God's people, even as God permits the events which will bring the suffering. God is in anguish -- "My joy is gone, grief is upon me, my heart is sick." First God is grieved by the immorality, dishonesty, and unfaithfulness of the people. Second, God is in agony over the consequences of their behavior -- the destruction that is coming to the nation through the instrument of the Babylonian army.

There is a school of thought that holds that God is impassive and immutable. It is a theology that comes out of the notion that change and emotions are qualities of imperfection. Such ideas come out of logical arguments. If God is perfect and whole and complete, God would neither change nor suffer.

But this is not the God we see in scripture. The God of the prophets and the God of Jesus cares deeply for humanity and for all creation. God loves. And love is an open, vulnerable heart. Christians point to Jesus as the one who reveals the heart of God. Jesus lives in a spirit of compassionate love that is completely vulnerable, even unto death.

The unchangeable nature of God is God's complete commitment to faithful love and compassion. God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow -- God loves consistently. At the center of the divine heart is a quality of compassion that is perfect, whole and complete. Therefore God pours out divine life into creation through God's active love.

Since love, if it is authentic, must be free and uncoerced. Therefore God leaves humanity with the freedom to respond to divine love with love, which also means we have the freedom not to love. The consequences of of failures to love, our unfaithfulness, are always tragic. Our suffering is always a by-product of our failure to love. Because God loves us, our suffering is God's suffering.

Jeremiah, the Psalms, and Jesus reveal the suffering heart of God with exquisite pathos. They show God to be near. God is with us, especially in our misery.

"For the hurt of my poor people I am hurt, I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me... O that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that I might weep day and night for the slain of my poor people."

God grieves our unfaithfulness; God anguishes with us through the suffering our unfaithfulness provokes; God also loves us into new life and resurrection.

Lowell
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The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, AR

The Mission of St. Paul's Episcopal Church is to explore and celebrate
God's infinite grace, acceptance, and love.

See our Web site at www.stpaulsfay.org

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worship weekly
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