Several experiences I have had lately have reminded me anew of how difficult, uncertain, and short life can be. A dear woman from my congregation suffering from Parkinson's related dementia and physical deterioration. A young man dealing with issues of addiction, his own and those of his family. Reminders of the death at way too young an age of my first wife, the mother of my children. The first anniversary of my father's death. We Americans don't like to think much about such things, but we simply cannot deny that darkness is part of life, suffering and loss are part of what it is to be human.
Some Christians today seem to want faith to be fun. They seem to want it to be only fun. "Praise praise joy joy" is the mantra of so much of contemporary Christianity. Praise and joy are indeed part of the life of faith, but what does faith that never progresses beyond them have to say to us when the darkness comes? Not much. Moreover, faith like that seems to me to be an odd interpretation of the foundational Christian story. That story is one of darkness, not only of joy. Yes, there is resurrection at the end; but you don't get to resurrection without first going through crucifixion. The foundational Christian story is a story of God in human form entering into the deepest darkness of human life. It is a story of God in human form experiencing in God's own person injustice, suffering, and death.
God entering into and experiencing injustice, suffering, and death is central to Christian mythology in a way that it is not for any other major faith tradition. Moses and Mohammad died natural deaths after a full life. Jesus did not. The Gospels tell the story of Jesus against the backdrop of the crucifixion that the evangelists know is coming. Except for John, the last of the four Gospels to be written, they don't try to mitigate its horror. They don't try to make it pretty. They do try to give it meaning, but they don't deny it. They don't deny the suffering. Mark especially, the oldest of them, does not deny the suffering. Many Christians want to jump straight from Palm Sunday to Easter, skipping Good Friday altogether; but our foundational story won't really let us do that. The suffering and death of the story's central figure are too central to the story, and too shocking, to be ignored. Darkness indeed lies at the heart of Christian faith.
Or rather, God's presence in the darkness lies at the heart of Christian faith. The one who suffers and dies in the foundational Christian story is not a mere human, secular humanist understandings of him (which are present even in his church) to the contrary notwithstanding. He is human, but he is also God. He is Immanuel, God with us. In him God enters into the human experience of suffering and death. In him God even enters paradoxically into the human experience of the absence of God, of Godforsakenness: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Darkness does indeed lie at the heart of Christian faith.
Darkness does indeed lie at the heart of Christian faith, and that truth is very good news indeed. It is very good news indeed because darkness is an unavoidable fact of human life, and in the darkness at the heart of Christian faith we see that God is always present in whatever darkness we encounter. We see that God is present with us not only in the good times, not only in times of joy and praise, not only in times of resurrection, but also--and more importantly--in the bad times, the times of pain and loss, the times of death. In our times of darkness we can look to that symbol of the darkness at the heart of Christian faith, Jesus on the cross, and know that God has not abandoned us. God does not reject us. God does not blame us. Rather, God enters the darkness with us; and in that darkness God offers us the greatest gifts we can ever receive. In that darkness God offers us comfort, strength, patience, courage, and hope. God comes into the darkness with us and gives us what we need to endure it, to live through it, and in the end to die out of it. Yes, the darkness that lies at the heart of Christian faith is very good news indeed. Thanks be to God.
Some Christians today seem to want faith to be fun. They seem to want it to be only fun. "Praise praise joy joy" is the mantra of so much of contemporary Christianity. Praise and joy are indeed part of the life of faith, but what does faith that never progresses beyond them have to say to us when the darkness comes? Not much. Moreover, faith like that seems to me to be an odd interpretation of the foundational Christian story. That story is one of darkness, not only of joy. Yes, there is resurrection at the end; but you don't get to resurrection without first going through crucifixion. The foundational Christian story is a story of God in human form entering into the deepest darkness of human life. It is a story of God in human form experiencing in God's own person injustice, suffering, and death.
God entering into and experiencing injustice, suffering, and death is central to Christian mythology in a way that it is not for any other major faith tradition. Moses and Mohammad died natural deaths after a full life. Jesus did not. The Gospels tell the story of Jesus against the backdrop of the crucifixion that the evangelists know is coming. Except for John, the last of the four Gospels to be written, they don't try to mitigate its horror. They don't try to make it pretty. They do try to give it meaning, but they don't deny it. They don't deny the suffering. Mark especially, the oldest of them, does not deny the suffering. Many Christians want to jump straight from Palm Sunday to Easter, skipping Good Friday altogether; but our foundational story won't really let us do that. The suffering and death of the story's central figure are too central to the story, and too shocking, to be ignored. Darkness indeed lies at the heart of Christian faith.
Or rather, God's presence in the darkness lies at the heart of Christian faith. The one who suffers and dies in the foundational Christian story is not a mere human, secular humanist understandings of him (which are present even in his church) to the contrary notwithstanding. He is human, but he is also God. He is Immanuel, God with us. In him God enters into the human experience of suffering and death. In him God even enters paradoxically into the human experience of the absence of God, of Godforsakenness: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Darkness does indeed lie at the heart of Christian faith.
Darkness does indeed lie at the heart of Christian faith, and that truth is very good news indeed. It is very good news indeed because darkness is an unavoidable fact of human life, and in the darkness at the heart of Christian faith we see that God is always present in whatever darkness we encounter. We see that God is present with us not only in the good times, not only in times of joy and praise, not only in times of resurrection, but also--and more importantly--in the bad times, the times of pain and loss, the times of death. In our times of darkness we can look to that symbol of the darkness at the heart of Christian faith, Jesus on the cross, and know that God has not abandoned us. God does not reject us. God does not blame us. Rather, God enters the darkness with us; and in that darkness God offers us the greatest gifts we can ever receive. In that darkness God offers us comfort, strength, patience, courage, and hope. God comes into the darkness with us and gives us what we need to endure it, to live through it, and in the end to die out of it. Yes, the darkness that lies at the heart of Christian faith is very good news indeed. Thanks be to God.
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