struggling with suffering
TRANSCRIPT
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STRUGGLING WITH SUFFERING
If God is good, why is there suffering in the world?
A Six Session Module 2009
Draft
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©
Copyright notice
This course is one of the short non accredited Developing Discipleship courses available through Lindisfarne. This course handbook has been written by Janet Appleby and is owned by Lindisfarne Regional Training Partnership Limited. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, electrostatic magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without permission in writing from Lindisfarne Regional Training Partnership Limited.
January 2010
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Struggling with Suffering
Struggling with Suffering looks at suffering as a theological issue, rather than at strategies for how to cope with it personally. It asks the question 'how can there be a loving God when there is so much suffering?' It looks at and challenges our unconscious assumptions about the nature of God and God's power. It is for those who wish to respond to suffering with faith, and to be able to discuss it with others in the light of faith. Janet writes: ‘It is hoped that it will lead to constructive and even life-changing conversations with those who are challenging faith or on its margins.’
Janet Appleby
The Rev Janet Appleby BSc, MSc Bristol, BA Newcastle Polytechnic, BA Durham is Team Vicar in Willington, Wallsend at the Church of the Good Shepherd LEP, Battle Hill. She served her title at Holy Cross, Fenham and has at different times been a researcher, a transport planner, an OU tutor, an organist, and homemaker for her husband, John and three children. This course derives from her BA dissertation ‘The Apologetic Challenge of Suffering: Criteria for Discipleship Courses’. Janet would like to see more courses engage constructively with issues of suffering, especially as it is often cited as the biggest obstacle to faith.
Special Thanks
Special thanks go to Alastair Macnaughton for a substantial contribution to the planning, writing and editing of the course. To Christine Blakesey for her meditations and to the following for piloting this course
Churches Together in Barnard Castle
The Anglican parishes of
Seahouses
Riding Mill
Bothal & Pegswood with Longhirst
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Contents
1. A Map of the Journey 4
2. Learning Outcomes 5
3. Introduction for Course Leaders 6
4. Session 1: Expressing the Problem
Leaders Notes 8
Worksheet 12
Resources 14
5. Session 2: Is Suffering Good for Us?
Leaders Notes 19
Worship 23
Worksheet 25
Resources 27
6. Session 3: Is God Powerful?
Leaders Notes 28
Worksheet 31
Resources 35
7. Session 4: Living with Paradox
Leaders Notes 36
Worksheet 39
Resources 41
8. Session 5: Living Faithfully in a Suffering World
Leaders Notes 44
Worksheet 46
Resources 48
9. Session 6: Where Next? Reflection and Practical Action
Leaders Notes 49
Worksheet 53
10. Appendix 1 56
11. Evaluation Form 64
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Struggling with Suffering
A Map of the Journey - Please bring each week
The Problem: How can we reconcile a loving God with a suffering world? This problem assumes: God is both powerful and loving and that suffering is evil.
In this course we will (mostly) assume that God is loving.
Therefore we concentrate on considering: EITHER God is not powerful OR Suffering is not evil Our resources for the journey:
Stages on the way:
1. Expressing the Problem
2. Is suffering good for us?
3. Is God powerful? What form might God's 'power' take?
4. Living with paradox. e.g. The Trinity
5. Living faithfully in a suffering world. Prayer. Encouragement. 6. Reflection and practical action
We study Scripture, We listen to the experience of
sufferers, We look at paintings and poems,
We discuss, We pray together
A definition of Theodicy: Attempts to justify belief in a good God despite the existence of evil.
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Learning Outcomes
1. We start to consider how to tackle the WHY of suffering. We will not find simple ‘answers.’
2. We ask ourselves: ‘Are there ways of seeing suffering as evil and still believing in a good God?’
3. We explore how God in Jesus suffers and allows death and only then brings resurrection – power found in weakness not strength.
4. We aim to face the unanswered questions and paradoxes and show how the Trinity might help.
5. We hope to show how to live positively and with celebration despite being in a suffering world.
6. We identify some themes to explore further and some actions to take. We reflect on the course and give feedback.
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Introduction for Course Leaders
Welcome to this course on Struggling with Suffering.
This course consists of six sessions each lasting one and a half hours. It begins with our unconscious models of God to ask the question, 'If God is good then why is there suffering in the world?' It uses the experience of the Bible, especially the psalms and also our personal experience to explore suffering. It is theologically challenging, acknowledging that there are no easy solutions or clear answers. It allows us to stand at the foot of the cross and acknowledge the depth of Jesus' suffering. Finally it encourages us to travel with hope in a suffering world.
N.B. Two facilitators are essential. One to lead the material and the other to be host and get/give feedback on how the course is going. Also to provide appropriate support if anyone is struggling emotionally - this is a difficult subject to tackle in a course. Leaders will need to be very sensitive to any emotional effect on members of the material discussed and may themselves need some supervision or support. An introduction emphasising confidentiality, sensitivity and mutual respect is essential.
Process
The course uses bible study, music, poetry, practical activity, theology and personal stories and aural and visual clips when available. It also asks some challenging questions of our own experience and the experience of others.
Who is this course for?
It is intended especially for those who have been asked the question about suffering and wish to be able to respond with faith; also those who wish to be able to discuss God and suffering with non-Christian friends. This was the motivation for the course being devised. It is hoped that it will lead to constructive and even life-changing conversations with those who are challenging faith or on its margins.
It is also suitable for those who have suffered in the past and had their faith challenged; also those who have felt helpless in the face of others' suffering, as it may give them some tools for coping.
It is not aimed at those currently experiencing significant suffering. (At such times personal and practical support is generally of more help than study!).
Why this course?
Studies show that suffering is one of the main reasons people give for rejecting the idea of a good God. Also there are many instances of people losing their faith because of suffering.
The Church is sometimes tempted to offer unhelpful 'reasons' for suffering e.g. 'God must have loved them a lot to take them so young.' or 'Suffering is God's way of disciplining us'. We need better answers.
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Overall aim of the course
It is to be hoped that by the end of the course the participants will have more confidence about making sense of faith and suffering. Hopefully they will be more willing to discuss the relationship between suffering and faith and respond to questions like 'Why does a good God allow suffering?' Later sessions use a focus on the Trinity and then on prayer to help participants to live positively and travel with hope in our confusing and often cruel world.
It would be an added bonus if members were able to encounter different 'models' of God and their strengths and weaknesses. In particular to learn more of the Trinity as a model of God.
Resources
Photocopiable worksheets are supplied for each week. Feel free to edit/adapt these.
The resource sheets (including material in the appendix) are for selective use, according to the needs of your group. Music tracks are suggested by the author. The North East Religious Learning Resources Centre will seek to stock music CDs as available. You may wish to pursue your own ideas as to music which will capture and express the mood. It may help to look ahead through the course and arrange to borrow or otherwise obtain any of the films or books mentioned. N.E.R.L.R.C. refers to the North East Religious Learning Resources Centre (if an item you wish to order is only at Durham Resource Centre it can be sent to Newcastle and vice versa). It would help us in the feedback to know which resources have been most useful.
Contact details for N.E.R.L.R.C.
Durham 0191 375 0586, Newcastle 0191 270 4161
Leaders Notes
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Session 1: Expressing the Problem
Leaders Notes
Learning Outcomes
We start to consider how to tackle the WHY of suffering. We will not find simple ‘answers.’
How this session will help to achieve this
An overview of the course (including a definition of theodicy) and the 'apologetic' problem
Discuss some statements about suffering in small groups
A look at the Biblical view of God in creation, natural disaster, a personal story (Darwin), how science might fit in
A meditation on Romans 8
Materials required
Bibles or Bible passages in an easily readable form
A video clip or newspaper article about a recent natural disaster, or a personal story of tragedy e.g. Charles Darwin
Pencils and paper
A stone each (optional)
Suitable music e.g. Louis Armstrong 'A Wonderful World' or 'How Great Thou Art.'
Pictures which express the beauty of creation (optional)
Welcome
Begin with general 'housekeeping' – timetable.
Ask for course 'rules' e.g. confidentiality, sensitivity, listening, keeping ourselves 'safe' with an emotive subject, etc. Write up on flipchart.
Role of the 'chaplain' or 'co-leader': to chat one to one in between sessions; to keep us 'safe' during sessions.
Leaders Notes
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A short exercise to introduce members (e.g. 5 minutes chat in pairs then introduce your partner to the group). Who are you? Why have you come?
General Introduction and Motivation
Course about the 'why' of suffering, especially when people say 'How can you believe in God (or how can a good God exist) when there is so much suffering in the world?' rather than the 'how to deal with a suffering individual pastorally'.
Acknowledgement of how big an issue it is (and has been down the ages). Spell out that we will be looking at the world's and other peoples’ suffering (not specifically our own). We will be looking to reflect in depth on the world's suffering and its meanings (or lack of). You could use a flip chart and invite people to suggest different kinds of suffering and then roughly categorise them.
The course map
Hand out sheet with 'Map of the Journey' on it – outline of course as a journey with tools etc.
Define 'theodicy' - attempts to justify belief in a good God despite the existence of evil.
Sketch dilemma (assumes God both good and powerful and that suffering is evil, so consider possibilities: God is not loving, God is not powerful, suffering is not evil).
Resources for journey: Scripture, tradition, reason and experience.
Stages on the way:
1. Expressing the problem.
2. Is suffering somehow good for us?
3. Is God powerful? What form might God's 'power' take?
4. Living with paradox e.g. The Trinity
5. Resources for living faithfully in a suffering world. Prayer. Encouragement.
6. Reflection and practical action.
Reflective material
In the part of this universe that we know there is great injustice, and often the good suffer, and often the wicked prosper, and one hardly knows which of those is the more annoying. (Bertrand Russell)
Life is full of misery, loneliness, and suffering and it's all over much too soon. (Woody Allen)
Do you agree?!
Leaders Notes
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Listen to a reading of Psalm 146 (read by your co-leader?)
Look at pictures of beauty of creation, or share experiences of it. Allow time for brief reactions and responses to the psalm.
Group discussion
In pairs or small groups look at the following statements. Leaders may choose a few from the following list, or find their own! There could be refreshments at this point.
Which do you disagree with and why?
God isn't some mighty dictator who does or doesn't do things to us
God does not send suffering
If God exists then s/he must be a sadist
God can do everything but experience suggests s/he chooses not to
God keeps faith with his/her world even when it behaves at its worst
After some minutes open it up to a whole group discussion. (You could ask each pair/group in turn to share or just throw it open. Be sensitive to those who do not wish to share and tactful to prevent anyone dominating the conversation.)
Reinforcement
So can we believe in a loving God in a suffering world?
Suffering is the biggest stumbling block to faith (give some statistics if helpful – see Resource labelled 'Motivation')).
Perennial question 'How can a good God allow suffering?'
Options: Look at a newspaper article or video clip of a recent natural disaster.
Or: Tell story of Charles Darwin and his daughter (see resources).
then:
Read quote following Aberfan (used by Rowan Williams after the tsunami).
Briefly revisit Psalm 146
Deal with the following issues as there is time and it seems appropriate for your group:
What does it mean to say God is in control? What about the laws of nature? See 'The Problem of Pain' by C.S. Lewis for a detailed and profound explanation of the idea that if God did not obey the laws of nature then they could not exist - we would not be living in a predictable world.
Where does 'free will' fit in? ( People make choices which mean other people suffer e.g. war, unfair trade, pollution. We can choose to suffer sacrificially.)
Also see Resources section.
Listen to Romans 8: 18-28
Leaders Notes
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If time allow for responses and discussion but make clear that will be explored further next session as well as in the closing meditation.
Time for reflection and worship
Some suggested resources for worship or meditation:
Christine Blakesley's meditation on Romans 8
R.S. Thomas poem 'H'm'
Blake's picture 'Creation'
'What a Wonderful World' by Louis Armstrong
Sing 'How Great Thou Art.'
Use a stone for each member as an aid to meditation: a stone can be used to build a house or as a weapon, for good or harm, to create or destroy. Its weight reminds us of the heaviness of sin. Its ambivalence reflects the ambivalence of creation. Read/write/say prayers for creation (e.g. from diocese). Intercede for the environment?
A Sample Worship Outline:
Sing together 'How Great Thou Art'
Then hear Christine's meditation (page 18)
Then hold a stone and reflect on its ambivalence - to build or attack, create or destroy.
Prayers of intercession or silence.
End with the Grace.
Introduce the next session: Can suffering be justified? Always? Sometimes?
During the week
Encourage members to think about how they would describe suffering. They are welcome to use any suffering in their life, past or present as examples, but need to decide in advance how much, if any, they wish to share with the group. (We each need to take some responsibility for keeping ourselves 'safe'.)
Bible passages they could look at:
Romans 8:18-28
Genesis 50: 15-21 esp v.20 (in the context of Joseph's life)
Lamentations 3: 1-33
John 9:1-3
Job 1: 6-12, 42: 1-6 Refreshments and/or informal chat to close (optional) - if time!
Worksheet
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Session 1: Expressing the Problem
Worksheet
This course is more about the WHY of suffering than how to cope with it personally. Suffering is the commonest reason given for not believing in God.
Course rules: Confidentiality, sensitivity, listening... If at any point you find the discussion too painful please speak privately to the course chaplain.
In the part of this universe that we know there is great injustice, and often the good suffer, and often the wicked prosper, and one hardly knows which of those is the more annoying. (Bertrand Russell)
Life is full of misery, loneliness, and suffering and it's all over much too soon. (Woody Allen)
'Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God,
who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them;
who keeps faith forever; who executes justice for the oppressed;
who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free;
...but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.’
Ps. 146: 5-7, 9b
In pairs look at the following statements. Which do you agree/disagree with and why?
God isn't some mighty dictator who does or doesn't do things to us
God does not send suffering
If God exists then s/he must be a sadist
God can do everything but experience suggests s/he chooses not to
God keeps faith with his/her world even when it behaves at its worst
What about natural disasters and personal tragedies? Why are some saved or healed? What does it mean to say God is in control? What about the laws of nature? Where does 'free will' fit in?
We look at Romans 8: 18-28 – Do all things work together for good if we love God?
Worksheet
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An Archbishop's response to the Aberfan disaster, 1968
‘I can only dare to speak about this because I once lost a child. I have nothing to say that will make sense of this horror today. All I know is that the words in my Bible about God’s promise to be alongside us have never lost their meaning for me. And now we have to work in God’s name for the future.’
For next time
Think about how to describe suffering. If it helps, use any suffering in your life, past or present, and decide in advance how much, if any, you wish to share with the group.
Bible Passages to look at: Choose any/all from:
Romans 8:18-28
Genesis 50: 15-21 esp. v.20 (in the context of Joseph's life),
Lamentations 3: 1-33
John 9:1-3
Job 1: 6-12, 42: 1-6
Resources
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Session 1 Resources
Motivation for a Course on Suffering
The tsunami in South-East Asia, with its sudden and devastating consequences, caught hold of the public’s and media’s imagination. There were newspaper articles engaging with the issue, ‘What God sanctions an earthquake? What God protests against it?’1 and letters in response. It was an opportunity which the Archbishop of Canterbury grasped, though not without some confusion2. He chose to emphasise the impossibility of understanding rather than attempt any positive apologetic, paraphrasing the response of the then Archbishop of Wales to the Aberfan disaster. ‘I can only dare to speak about this because I once lost a child. I have nothing to say that will make sense of this horror today. All I know is that the words in my Bible about God’s promise to be alongside us have never lost their meaning for me. And now we have to work in God’s name for the future.’3 Unfortunately, Williams’ careful and considered remarks were undermined by a misleading headline, ‘This has made me question God’s existence.’ Perhaps that is what the editor thought he ought to have said!
This exchange shows how complex the relationship between faith and suffering is. Critics of Christianity commonly argue from the existence of evil and suffering that it is logically impossible for God to be both all-powerful and good. Since there seem to be no straightforward answers to this, how should Christians deal with it?
The tsunami may now be yesterday’s news, but the issue is perennial. Dostoevsky gives Ivan Karamazov a passionate outburst on the subject when faced with a suffering child, ‘The entire truth is not worth such a price…I accept God, understand that, but I cannot accept the world that he has made.’4 Similarly, Wiesel’s response to the Holocaust, ‘Where is God? … He is hanging there on the gallows…’ despite its common interpretation as God suffering with us, is intended by Wiesel to describe his sense of being abandoned by God, as the context makes clear.5 How can the church proclaim the good news without at least attempting to engage with such anguish?
The difficulty for a Christian is how to respond. It might not seem possible, but the danger of avoiding the attempt is that those for whom this is an important issue will continue to be perplexed – and there are a lot of them! A recent survey involving 836 people found that 366 (43.7%) of them put suffering as top of the list of objections to the Christian faith.6 Similarly, The Millennium Survey found that 41% cited suffering as the main reason why people don’t believe there is a God, over twice as many as any other explanation.
The report is hard hitting in our context:
The problem of suffering is probably the single most difficult issue for believers in a good God, yet it often seems to be avoided by the representatives of the institution, or covered up by sentimentality. 7
The sense of life as pitiless and utterly meaningless ‘is one issue that church people need to face more directly in their dialogue with secular culture.’
1 Martin Kettle, ‘How can religious people explain something like this?’, The Guardian (28.12.2004), 16 2 Andrew Brown, ‘Archbishop’s doubt’, Church Times, (07.01.2005), 12
3 Rowan Williams, ‘Of course this makes us doubt God’s existence’, Sunday Telegraph, (02.01.2005), 22
4 Quoted in Jürgen Moltmann, The Crucified God, (London: SCM, 1974), 220 5 Elie Wiesel, Night, (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1981), 45 - 103
6 Stephen Hunt, The Alpha Enterprise, (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 2004), 135 7 David Hay and Kate Hunt, Understanding the Spirituality of People Who Don’t Go to Church, (Nottingham, University of Nottingham, 2000), 28
Resources
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What is God's Relationship to God's Creation?
Role of Science
In trying to understand why natural disasters happen C.S. Lewis constructs an elaborate thought experiment to demonstrate that a material universe might necessarily involve suffering. In such a case to ask why God allows suffering to exist is to be asking something logically impossible, rather as if one were to ask why yellow is not round.8 We might still ask why God does not use his power to intervene and mitigate our suffering. Lewis answers that to do so often would undermine the coherence and predictability of the world as shown by scientific law. We would find it hard to operate in a world where hard objects suddenly became soft when about to hit us. Thus physical miracles are necessarily rare.9
Effect of Free Will
We must recognise our complicity in the suffering caused by poverty, injustice, unfair trade and the despoiling of the environment. No doubt you will be able to think of lots of examples of our inhumanity causing suffering (recent wars, climate change, pollution etc).
Even natural disasters like the tsunami are exacerbated or mitigated by our acts. If there had been a proper warning system, if the mangrove swamps had not been cleared, if poverty and lack of birth control had not led to too many people living too close to the sea, there would have been far fewer deaths.10
A Nineteenth Century Naturalist Grapples with Suffering
In the nineteenth century it was common to accept the worldview of William Paley’s Natural Theology, which described the world as the work of a self-evidently good creator with unlimited power and ability. One of his readers was a theology student who was a keen amateur naturalist who ended up developing that interest rather than going into the church. However, the more this naturalist investigated botany and zoology, the more the natural world seemed one of ‘cruelty … incalculable waste … death, famine, rapine.’ At first he could still see the hand of God at work as this system had produced such creatures as ourselves.
When this naturalist’s ten-year-old daughter Annie contracted an illness and died, his Christian faith was finally crushed. ‘The death of his beloved daughter finally made real and personal for him the blank, impartial cruelty of nature that his botanical and zoological researches had uncovered.’ It was not a huge natural disaster, or ‘nature red in tooth and claw’ that made him unable to believe in a good God, but the suffering and death of his own precious child. The man’s name was Charles Darwin.
(Adapted from ‘Deliver Us’ by Mike Higton, Canterbury Press 2007)
8 Lewis, Problem of Pain, 15-16 9 Ibid, 21-22
10 see, for example, ‘Nature’s barrier to tsunamis’, Church Times, (11.03.2005), 9
Resources
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Psalm 146
1-2 Hallelujah!
O my soul, praise God!
All my life long I'll praise God,
singing songs to my God as long as I live.
3-9 Don't put your life in the hands of experts
who know nothing of life, of salvation life.
Mere humans don't have what it takes;
when they die, their projects die with them.
Instead, get help from the God of Jacob,
put your hope in God and know real blessing!
God made sky and soil,
sea and all the fish in it.
He always does what he says—
he defends the wronged,
he feeds the hungry.
God frees prisoners—
he gives sight to the blind,
he lifts up the fallen.
God loves good people, protects strangers,
takes the side of orphans and widows,
but makes short work of the wicked.
10 God's in charge—always.
Zion's God is God for good!
Hallelujah!
The Message
Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.
Resources
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Romans 8: 18-30
18-21 That's why I don't think there's any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. The created world itself can hardly wait for what's coming next. Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead. Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens.
22-25 All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it's not only around us; it's within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We're also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don't see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.
26-28 Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.
29-30 God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun.
The Message
Resources
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A short meditation on Romans 8 :18-28
Lord my God, I don’t understand the way you do things.
Listen to my prayer, my struggle to make sense, my groaning, my cry for all who suffer.
Is it fair, Lord, to subject creation to futility...in hope of a better future?
Is it fair to make creation like a caged wild animal - all that energy and power confined, ready to escape, to destroy anything in its way?
Awesome power explodes, bursts forth in a Tsunami, earthquake, volcano or hurricane and sweeps away all life in its path.
Busy purposeful communities suddenly all chaos and confusion. Each life lost creating a ripple of pain and suffering spreading out to all who love them.
Lord where is your pity, your purpose?
And creation captive to an endless wheel of birth and death,
The seasons come and go, the sun rises and sets, the world spins round. Awesome...but to what purpose when creation is damaged and defaced by those meant to care?
Creation groans, labour pains or death throes, who’s to know?
Lord where is your purpose, your pity?
How can you make all things work together for good to those who love you?
How can the future make up for the present, the weight of glory for the weight of sorrow?
Will the suffering of Auschwitz, Hiroshima, Gaza or the Tsunami, of those with dementia, cancer, epilepsy or schizophrenia be forgotten and forgiven by their victims?
How can the torture and abuse of children be productive, work for good?
Lord you are silent...
Does our pain and anguish count so little with you?
Lord, where is your pity, your purpose?
I cry out to you, Lord. In my darkness answer me.
How can we trust your love?
by Christine Blakesley
Leaders Notes
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Session 2: Is Suffering Good for Us?
Leaders Notes
Learning outcomes
We ask ourselves: ‘Are there ways of seeing suffering as evil and still believing in a good God?’
How this session will help to achieve this
We look at Bible passages; listen to real-life stories of people's responses to suffering; engage in group discussion and use playdough to mould our response.
Materials required
Bible
Poems, pictures, articles anything expressing the sorrow of the world e.g. R. S. Thomas 'H'm'
Use Bruce Almighty clip approx 20 mins into film 'Smite me, O Mighty Smiter!'
Also needed is an example of overcoming adversity:
e.g. CD track 2: Radio podcast from 'Sunday' programme 15th June 2008 (start at min 33): Margaret and Barry Mizen following the murder of their 16 year old son Jimmy in a London bakery.
OR A brief biography of Nelson Mandela or Corrie ten Boom (or another similar example)
OR use Jane Grayshon film clip from Christian Basics course (N.E.R.L.R.C. Durham: VC00236, Newcastle: B15608, classmark 268.9.2).
Enough red and yellow playdough (or plasticine) for each member to have some to sculpt.
Pictures of suffering e.g. Christ, famine, torture etc?
Quiet background music for the reflective activity e.g. 'Kindle the Flame' by Jill Sutheran (try N.E.R.L.R.C, classmark 245).
Review of the course so far
Check what is remembered from last week. Have they grasped the learning outcome about the focus of this course on the WHY of suffering?
Offer members the option of sharing their thoughts on suffering as suggested last week.
Leaders Notes
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Questions which may arise:
What have I done to deserve this? Why me?
Is suffering ever a good thing?
Is it OK to be angry with God? This question leads naturally into:
Watch
A clip from Bruce Almighty (available from N.E.R.L.R.C. Newcastle: AV03066, classmark 268.2).
Everything goes wrong for Bruce – we join him as he loses his job and then has his car vandalised for helping a tramp. Things continue to go wrong until he ends up in despair in the rain on a pier ‘Smite me O mighty Smiter!’ and challenges God to respond. (We cut at the end of the pier scene.)
The problem: 'Protest Atheism'
In The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Ivan Karamazov revolts against the idea that any future outcome, however good, could be worth the price of even one child's suffering. He tells of a five year old tortured by her parents. He says 'Too high a price is asked for harmony... and so I hasten to give back my entrance ticket... It's not God that I don't accept, Alyosha, only I most respectfully return him the ticket' (ch.35)
We can cite other recent cases of extreme child abuse – e.g. Baby Peter. Also could look at what Rowan Williams has to say: either in this session or session 4 (see resources for his interview with Stuart Jeffries. See especially the highlighted section').
Group Discussion
In pairs or small groups discuss a few of the following statements (a selection are given on the worksheet) - Do you agree or disagree? Why?
It is not true that suffering ennobles the character; happiness does that sometimes, but suffering, for the most part, makes men petty and vindictive. (W. Somerset Maugham)
Most things break, including hearts. The lessons of life amount not to wisdom, but to scar tissue and callus. (Wallace Stegner)
When we long for life without difficulties, remind us that oaks grow strong in contrary winds and diamonds are made under pressure. (Peter Marshall)
Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved. (Helen Keller)
Pain is God's megaphone to rouse a deaf world. (C.S. Lewis)
We are healed of a suffering only by expressing it to the full. (Marcel Proust)
Suffering becomes beautiful when anyone bears great calamities with cheerfulness, not through insensibility but through greatness of mind. (Aristotle)
Leaders Notes
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Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional. (Anon)
The fear of suffering is worse than suffering itself. And no heart ever suffered when it went in search of its dreams. (Paulo Coelho)
You desire to know the art of living, my friend? It is contained in one phrase: make use of suffering. (Henri Frederick Amiel)
Don’t look forward to the day you stop suffering, because when it comes you'll know you're dead. (Tennessee Williams)
We cannot live, suffer or die for somebody else, for suffering is too precious to be shared. (Edward Dahlberg)
Other statements you might have heard (I have): How do you react to them?
God must have loved him/her very much to take him so young.
God must have needed her/him more than we do.
It must be part of God's plan. He is the master weaver and we can't see the pattern yet.
It is not for us to question God's will.
It must have been his/her time.
It was meant to happen.
More Issues which might arise or you can introduce:
The role of fatalism e.g. tsunami 'The Will of Allah'.
Pain is relative not absolute - see evidence from hospice movement.
We can see life as 'half full' or 'half empty' c.f. Pollyanna - our response is critical.
A Response
Faith can help –
Listen to podcast from Mizens CD, track 2 (5 minutes), or watch Jane Grayshon in Christian Basics (see p.19).
OR discuss the lives of e.g. Nelson Mandela, Corrie ten Boom to demonstrate how some are ennobled by suffering.
Bible study
Look as a group at one or more of the following Bible passages in the light of what has been raised so far:
Genesis 50:20 Joseph suffers at the hands of his brothers but still says, 'Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good.'
Lamentations 3:1-33 'The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases ...'
Leaders Notes
22
Lament Psalms e.g. 74, 77. 'O God, why? How long, O Lord?'
John 15:2 'Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit.'
1 Peter 1: 6,7 We suffer trials to test the genuineness of our faith.
Romans 8: 28 'All things work together for good to those who love God.'
Time for reflection and worship
Allow at least 30 minutes for this and then response. See next page for outline.
One possible way of doing this:
Offer each member some yellow and red playdough and encourage them to make a yellow model which expresses their life in a positive light - some of the good things to feel grateful for and a red model to express some of the difficulties, pain and suffering they have known. If they like they can then find a way to combine the two to express the way in which suffering can have a positive influence on our lives (or not as the case may be!). Background music can be played;
Pictures such as those suggested can be available to look at; paper and pens/pencils for those who would prefer to draw or write than sculpt.
N.B in the pilot the group sat quietly and listened to the music and did not try the sculpting or drawing which was offered – they said they would have liked more time e.g. a half day in which to engage with this kind of reflective activity
Allow time for reflection and response after worship. Also for people to share what they have done, if they so wish.
For next time
We will be considering the relationship of Jesus and suffering. Might it help? Bible passages to consider: Psalm 22 (and Mark 15:34 'My God, my God'), or Isaiah 53 (Suffering Servant), or Philippians 2:6-11 (Kenosis), or Mark 14: 32-6 (Gethsemane).
23
Session 2 Worship
Opening Poem H’M
Reprinted from Later Poems 1972-1982 by R. S. Thomas (London: Macmillan, 1983) p.34. Copyright permission being sought from the estate of R. S. Thomas.
and one said
speak to us of love
and the preacher opened
his mouth and the word God
fell out so they tried
again speak to us
of God then but the preacher
was silent reaching
his arms out but the little
children the ones with
big bellies and bow
legs that were like
a razor shell
were too weak to come
(Lamentations 3.1-33 may be a helpful reading here.)
Prayers. Each prayer is followed by silence, in which you may speak names.
We name before you, Lord, out loud or in the silence of our hearts,
those who are in physical pain;
who are thought of more for their distress than their potential;
who at night cry, 'I wish to God it were morning,'
and in the morning cry, 'I wish to God it were night.'
Silence (or names)
Lord Jesus Christ, Lover of all,
Bring healing, bring peace.
We name before you, Lord, out loud or in the silence of our hearts,
those whose pain is mental or psychological;
those haunted by the nightmares of their past or the spectres of their future;
those whose minds are shackled to neuroses, depression or fears,
who do not know what is wrong, or what to pray.
Silence (or names)
Lord Jesus Christ, Lover of all,
Bring healing, bring peace.
24
We name before you, Lord, out loud or in the silence of our hearts,
those in spiritual pain,
whose light has turned to darkness,
as the end of a life or the breaking of a relationship or the loss of faith
leaves them stunned in their souls
and silent in their conversation,
not knowing where to turn, or whom to turn to
or whether life has a purpose or meaning any more.
Silence (or names)
Lord Jesus Christ, Lover of all,
Bring healing, bring peace.
We name before you, Lord, in the silence of our hearts,
those hurts in our own lives which need your healing touch.
Silence
Lord Jesus Christ, Lover of all,
Bring healing, bring peace.
During the song below (or another suitable one) use playdough, drawing or words to express positives and negatives of your life and whether they connect or bring life & hope. The song could be repeated for as long as needed, &/or be followed by silence.
KINDLE THE FLAME
Broken I stand,
mercy I need.
Stretch out Your hand,
O Spirit lead;
fill my heart with the love of God,
and my mind with all good things.
Beacon burning,
turn my darkness into light.
Kindle the flame, kindle the flame.
Fire of Christ, burn in my heart;
make me new again.
Kindle the flame, kindle the flame.
Let Your love, and Your grace
cover me. Jill Sutheran
Kindle the Flame is on track 4, ‘Waymarks’ copyright 2001, Northumbria Community Trust Ltd. Try N.E.R.L.R.C. classmark 245.
We end our worship by sharing the Grace together
Worksheet
25
Session 2: Is Suffering Good for Us?
Worksheet
Questions
What have I done to deserve this? Why me?
Is suffering ever a good thing?
Is it OK to be angry with God?
Is the price too high? (see Brothers Karazamov)
Statements to discuss
It is not true that suffering ennobles the character; happiness does that sometimes, but suffering, for the most part, makes men petty and vindictive. (W.Somerset Maugham)
Most things break, including hearts. The lessons of life amount not to wisdom, but to scar tissue and callus. (Wallace Stegner)
Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved. (Helen Keller)
We are healed of a suffering only by expressing it to the full. (Marcel Proust)
The fear of suffering is worse than suffering itself. And no heart ever suffered when it went in search of its dreams. (Paulo Coelho)
You desire to know the art of living, my friend? It is contained in one phrase: make use of suffering. (Henri Frederick Amiel)
Don’t look forward to the day you stop suffering, because when it comes you'll know you're dead. (Tennessee Williams)
We cannot live, suffer or die for somebody else, for suffering is too precious to be shared. (Edward Dahlberg)
Other statements you might have heard (I have): Do you agree?
God must have loved him/her very much to take him so young.
God must have needed her/him more than we do.
It must be part of God's plan. He is the master weaver and we can't see the pattern yet.
It is not for us to question God's will.
It must have been his/her time.
It was meant to happen.
Can 'greater good' ever justify the torture or suffering of a young child?
Worksheet
26
More issues
Pain is relative and related to spiritual and emotional state - see evidence from hospice movement.
The testimony of suffering parents - Barry and Margaret Mizen whose son Jimmy was murdered.
Some are ennobled by suffering - Nelson Mandela, Corrie ten Boom
Bible passages to ponder
Genesis 50:20 Joseph suffers at the hands of his brothers but still says, 'Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good.'
Lamentations 3:1-33 'The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases ...'
Lament Psalms e.g. 74, 77. 'O God, why? How long, O Lord?'
John 15:2, 'Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit.'
1Peter 1: 6,7 We suffer trials to test the genuineness of our faith.
Do you regard your cup as half empty or half full?
Can you see any good that has come out of suffering in your life?
For next time
We will be considering the crucifixion of Jesus. Might it help?
Bible passages to consider:
Psalm 22 (and with it Mark 15:34 'My God, my God')
Isaiah 53 (Suffering Servant)
Philippians 2:6-11 (Kenosis)
Mark 14: 32-6 (Gethsemane)
Resources
27
Session 2 Resources
Excerpt from an article by Stuart Jeffries, The Guardian, Wednesday 8 October 2008
... Williams became obsessed with the religious themes of Dostoevsky's The Karamazov Brothers, which contains an episode he thinks was formative for his faith. In the Grand Inquisitor episode in Dostoevsky's masterpiece, Ivan Karamazov imagines Jesus's second coming. Christ has made his earthly return to 16th-century Seville at the inquisition's height. He does not stop the burning of heretics but is arrested for performing miracles and tomorrow morning will burn himself. The Inquisitor tells Jesus in his cell that the church has made humanity happy by hoodwinking it with miracle, mystery and authority. Christ, by contrast, offered the masses not happiness, but a more frightful gift, their freedom. The Inquisitor explains that the Son of God is too reckless a character to have around risking the church's good work. Admittedly this Inquisitor episode is Ivan's atheistic fantasy, but shouldn't Christ have challenged the inquisitor? Shouldn't he have behaved more like Christ in the Bible, who threw the moneylenders out of the temple? "If you pressed Dostoevsky on that he might have said: 'When Jesus starts throwing the Inquisitor out, Jesus becomes the Inquisitor himself.'" Instead, arguably, Jesus follows the more difficult path: that of clasping even those you might be expected to detest most to your heart. It's a path, we'll see, that Williams follows himself. Why was the moment when Jesus, perhaps out of compassion for the tormented Inquisitor, kisses the man and then is allowed to slip from his cell into the Seville night, possibly never to be seen again, so important for Williams? "Dostoevsky has no easy answers, but what struck me when I first read the Grand Inquisitor episode was there is absolutely no form of words that can give a solution to suffering. Absolutely none. That's why what ends the arraignment of the captive Jesus by the Grand Inquisitor is silence - and then Jesus kisses him. When I read it I had the dim sense that there was something very important in that what you look for in faith is not solutions but a certain relationship." And that's why Dostoevsky's appeal has endured for Williams: he offers no closure, no authorial master-voice, but an endless dialogue where no one wins the argument but everyone is connected. In the book, he writes that Dostoevsky's fiction is like divine creation, "an unexpected unfolding with no last word". That might make divine creation sound akin to natural selection, but it's how Williams sees God's universe.
Leaders Notes
28
Session 3: Is God Powerful?
Leader’s Notes
Learning outcomes
We explore how God in Jesus suffers and allows death and only then brings resurrection – power found in weakness not strength.
(Assumption that God is powerful has a new meaning. God’s power is that of a servant. Knowing that God suffers with us and understands our pain is the best response to suffering. Jesus' life, death and rising again can helpfully inform our 'model' of God if we study the meaning of the Trinity in the context of Jesus' incarnation and suffering.)
How this session will help to achieve this
If possible, we watch the clip from the film 'Amistad' (DVD Ch13. 1hr 30mins in, available from N.E.R.L.R.C. 268.20) when the slaves find an illustrated Bible and from the pictures recognise how Jesus has shared their suffering.
We choose one or more Bible passages to discuss:
Isaiah's 'Suffering Servant' (Isaiah 53)
Jesus in Gethsemane (Luke 22:39-46)
Jesus' cry of deleriction from the cross (Mark 15:34)
Jesus' 'Kenosis' (Philippians 2:6-11) – this last is a key passage
We look at one or two poems, 'Jesus of the Scars' by Shillito and/or 'Morning Glory' by Vanstone.
The way Andy Dufresne serves and exercises ‘power’ in ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ could be an alternative illustration (N.E.R.L.R.C. Durham: VL00934, 268.20).
Materials required
Bibles or Bible passages in an easily readable form
Clip from film Amistad when the slaves find an illustrated Bible (Ch13, 1hr30mins in)
Pencils and paper
Poems: 'Jesus of the Scars' by Edward Shillito, 'Morning Glory' by W. H. Vanstone
The Servant King by Graham Kendrick or How Deep the Father’s Love by Stuart Townend
Moltmann ‘The Crucified God’ p.223 (N.E.R.L.R.C. Durham: T02927, Newcastle: T02926, T232.3).
Leaders Notes
29
Jane Williams ‘The Trinity’ p.19 (Canterbury Press booklet).
Pictures of the crucifixion
Review of the course so far
Use the 'Course Map' and also check that people are OK.
We are going to investigate one of the two assumptions in our initial question, namely that God is powerful. How does God exercise God’s power? What does it mean to say as in Philippians Ch2 that God became ‘like a slave’?
Moltmann – The Crucified God
Moltmann challenges the idea of a God who is omnipotent. Read from p.223 (on worksheet).
Watch
The clip from Amistad. A group of enslaved Africans experience horrendous suffering and retaliate by overtaking their captor’s ship and attempting to return home. However, they are captured, brought to the US and charged with murder. During the trial they are given a Bible with pictures which they use to learn about Christ.
Ask if it seems plausible that knowing Jesus suffered can help those who are suffering?
Bible study
Spend some time on passages about Jesus servanthood and suffering:
Isaiah 53 (on worksheet), and/or Gethsemane (Luke 22:39-46) - Jesus chooses the bitter cup reluctantly but obediently.
Mark 15:34 Jesus' sense of abandonment identifies him with those who feel abandoned by God today.
Philippians 2:6-11 (on worksheet) emphasises the self-emptying (kenosis) of God in becoming human.
Poems
Those on the worksheet provide some helpful images and ideas to reinforce Jesus as suffering with us and for us. It might take time to understand and discuss the images and ideas used so allow plenty. The words of the song ‘How Deep the Father’s Love’ may also be helpful.
Leaders Notes
30
Time for reflection and worship
Some suggested resources for worship or meditation:
Read out loud the Introduction to Morning Glory – see Session 3 Worship Resources.
Then invite someone to read Morning Glory and the other poems interspersed by silence or quiet music.
’May your tears of pain’, track 27 from ‘Baptised with Fire’, SSG composers, copyright The Society of St Gregory, 2000, MCPS or ‘Ave Verum’ by Mawby, track 15 from ‘a gaelic blessing’, Choir of St Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh, copyright 2002, Delphian Records Ltd (try N.E.R.L.R.C. classmark 245 for these).
You could sing The Servant King by Graham Kendrick (Mission Praise 162), or How Deep the Father's Love by Stuart Townend (MP 988), or Morning Glory by W.H. Vanstone (AMNS 496).
Also use pictures of the crucifixion as a visual aid e.g. from The Christ We Share pack (USPG/Methodist Church see N.E.R.L.R.C).
Introduce the next session
Think about the unanswered questions in your life and the lives of those around you. Notice if and when they arise in conversation, especially the ‘theodicy question’ we are studying.
Refreshments and informal chat (optional)
Worksheet
31
Session 3: Is God Powerful?
Worksheet
Omnipotent – all powerful (Latin: omnia – all, potens – powerful)
Moltmann – The Crucified God p.223
A God who is only omnipotent is in himself an incomplete being, for he cannot experience helplessness and powerlessness. Omnipotence can indeed be longed for and worshipped by helpless men, but omnipotence is never loved; it is only feared. What sort of being, then, would be a God who was only ‘almighty’? He would be a being without experience, a being without destiny and a being who is loved by no one. A man who experiences helplessness, a man who suffers because he loves, a man who can die, is therefore a richer being than an omnipotent God who cannot suffer, cannot love and cannot die. Therefore for a man who is aware of the riches of his own nature in his love, his suffering, his protest and his freedom, such a God is not a necessary and supreme being, but a highly dispensable and superfluous being.’
Amistad Clip - is it plausible that knowing Jesus suffered can help those who are suffering?
Bible Study
Isaiah 53 (see separate sheet),
Gethsemane (Luke 22:39-46) - Jesus chooses the bitter cup reluctantly but obediently.
Mark 15:34 Jesus' sense of abandonment identifies him with those who feel abandoned by God. Philippians 2:6-11 (on separate sheet) emphasises the self-emptying (kenosis) of God in becoming human.
During the week
Think about the unanswered questions in your life and those around you. Notice when they arise in the media or conversation, especially our 'theodicy question'.
Worksheet
32
Love's Endeavour, Love's Expense
1. Morning glory, starlit sky,
soaring music, scholar’s truth,
flight of swallows, autumn leaves,
memory’s treasure, grace of youth:
2. Open are the gifts of God,
gifts of love to mind and sense;
hidden is love’s agony,
love’s endeavour, love’s expense.
3. Love that gives, gives ever more,
gives with zeal, with eager hands,
spares not, keeps not, all outpours,
ventures all, its all expends.
4. Drained is love in making full,
bound in setting others free,
poor in making many rich,
weak in giving power to be.
5. Therefore he who shows us God
helpless hangs upon the tree;
and the nails and crown of thorns
tell of what God’s love must be.
6. Here is God: no monarch he,
throned in easy state to reign;
here is God, whose arms of love
aching, spent, the world sustain.
W. H. Vanstone (b. 1923)
Jesus of the Scars - v.4
The other gods were strong; but Thou was weak;
they rode, but Thou didst stumble to a throne;
but to our wounds only God's wounds can speak,
and not a god has wounds, but Thou alone.
Edward Shillito
May your tears of pain,
flowing in sorrow,
lighten our darkness,
illuminate our way;
for your longest night,
your darkest day,
were given that your people
may have eternal life.
Christina Ashton
Vanstone, W. H., Love’s Endeavour, Love’s Expense, The Response of Being to the Love of God (London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1977).
Worksheet
33
Isaiah 53
1 Who believes what we've heard and seen?
Who would have thought God's saving power would look like this?
2-6The servant grew up before God—a scrawny seedling,
a scrubby plant in a parched field.
There was nothing attractive about him,
nothing to cause us to take a second look.
He was looked down on and passed over,
a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand.
One look at him and people turned away.
We looked down on him, thought he was scum.
But the fact is, it was our pains he carried—
our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us.
We thought he brought it on himself,
that God was punishing him for his own failures.
But it was our sins that did that to him,
that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins!
He took the punishment, and that made us whole.
Through his bruises we get healed.
We're all like sheep who've wandered off and gotten lost.
We've all done our own thing, gone our own way.
And God has piled all our sins, everything we've done wrong,
on him, on him.
7-9He was beaten, he was tortured,
but he didn't say a word.
Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered
and like a sheep being sheared,
he took it all in silence.
Justice miscarried, and he was led off—
and did anyone really know what was happening?
He died without a thought for his own welfare,
beaten bloody for the sins of my people.
They buried him with the wicked,
threw him in a grave with a rich man,
Even though he'd never hurt a soul
or said one word that wasn't true.
10Still, it's what God had in mind all along,
to crush him with pain.
The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin
Worksheet
34
so that he'd see life come from it—life, life, and more life.
And God's plan will deeply prosper through him.
11-12Out of that terrible travail of soul,
he'll see that it's worth it and be glad he did it.
Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant,
will make many "righteous ones,"
as he himself carries the burden of their sins.
Therefore I'll reward him extravagantly—
the best of everything, the highest honors—
Because he looked death in the face and didn't flinch,
because he embraced the company of the lowest.
He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many,
he took up the cause of all the black sheep.
The Message
Philippians 2:5-11
5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
6 Though he was God,
he did not think of equality with God
as something to cling to.
7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
he took the humble position of a slave
and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,
8 he humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honour
and gave him the name above all other names,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by
permission of NavPress Publishing Group.
Resources
35
Session 3 Worship Resources
An Intro to the Poem 'Love's Endeavour, Love's Expense'
So where is God when there is suffering? Firstly he is in the actions of those who continue to love despite all that happens, who refuse to be beaten, whose lives transcend the limitations life imposes. God is love, so God is found in that sacrificial love which we can only show through suffering.
If we think about the way in which Jesus lived and died we realise that Jesus was demonstrating God's love to us, and it was not a controlling, power-hungry despotic sort of love, of a remote deity who treats his creation like a game of chess. Not at all. Jesus showed us a God-with-us, entering our weakness and frailty with compassion, risking all, even life itself, for love of us. He used all his loving ingenuity to enable first the disciples and then many countless Christians since, to grow in confidence, because he had faith in them. So despite their weaknesses they learnt to be the people God longed them to be.
God has the same longing for us. But he will not force himself on us. He does not wield power and make us obey. He gives us free will. God's love is vulnerable and precarious and limitless in its self-giving. When we are suffering God suffers with us. When we rejoice, God rejoices with us. As Jesus' life and death showed, God knows the bitter-sweet mixture of life and uses all his loving ingenuity to help turn our disasters into triumphs. Just as the defeat of Jesus' crucifixion was followed by the unimaginable joy of his resurrection, so the sufferings of our lives can, by some mysterious alchemy, one day bear beautiful fruit, rich and strange.
Play 'May your tears of pain' (track 27 from ‘Baptised with Fire’, SSG composers, copyright The Society of St Gregory, 2000, MCPS, try N.E.R.L.R.C. classmark 245) or other suitable music here.
One person who most helped me to recognise that 'always for the richness of the creation God is made poor, and for its fullness God is made empty' (p.74) was WH Vanstone in his book 'Love's Endeavour, Love's Expense' which explores the cost to God of creation. It closes with the poem below. The poem opens with an outpouring of praise for the beauties of creation and then considers the cost to God of that creation, the creation which led to the qualities of love described in 1 Corinthians 13, the love Jesus showed in his life and the love many of us have received from others in our lives too. It is also set as a hymn in AMNS no. 496.
Some suggested prayers from 'Bread of Tomorrow' ed. Janet Morley (N.E.R.L.R.C. Durham: T04657, Newcastle: B00169, 243.5):
p.103 no.12
In the pain, misfortune, oppression,
and death of the people,
God is silent.
God is silent on the cross,
in the crucified.
And this silence is God's word,
God's cry.
In solidarity,
God speaks the language of love. Jon Sobrino
p.108. no. 17 Confession by Janet Morley
p.111 no. 20 10th century African hymn: The cross is the way of the lost..
Leaders Notes
36
Session 4: Living with Paradox
Leaders Notes
Learning outcomes
We aim to face the unanswered questions and paradoxes and show how the Trinity might help.
(Faith in God does not mean that we will not always have clear answers to difficult questions such as suffering.)
How this session will help to achieve this
We listen to Giles Fraser
We consider 'Protest Atheism' – read quotation from Purple Hibiscus (p.44 Resources)
We see what teenagers today think
We study the Bible
Summary
Examining the psalms and the stories of Jonah and Job shows us that God often leaves us with questions and doubts even after a close encounter. Difficult personal experience can lead to bafflement or 'protest atheism'. Postmodernist theory encourages us to embrace doubt and recognise that faith is a choice we can still make positively. There are poems which help us to encounter this baffling God.
Materials required
Bibles or Bible passages in an easily readable form
Giles Fraser 'Thought for the Day' Holy Week 2009 – see CD, track 3
Quotations from Spirited Arts website of schoolchildren's views of God (see p. 42)
My summary article on theodicy and paradox including Purple Hibiscus - what Moltmann calls 'protest atheism' – see Resources
Pencils and paper
R. S. Thomas poems: Via Negativa, The Absence, Threshold or similar...
Art: Michelangelo's 'Adam'
Leaders Notes
37
Other possibilities:
A video clip or transcript of Jane Grayshon on suffering (from the Christian Basics course, see p.18 for references)
A clip or transcript from 'God on Trial,' Channel, 4 November 2008 - contact Captain Stephen Dixon, St Paul’s Vicarage, 47 Norman Terrace, Willington Quay, NE28 6SP, tel: 0191 262 1539 to borrow his copy.
Postmodernist materials or understanding?
'The Shack' by Wm Paul Young (Hodder & Stoughton, 2008, Windblown Media) also has much relevant material you could use
A review of the course so far
Use the Course Map and also check that people are OK. Try to find out the range of views of the Bible in the group (from fundamentalist to sceptic) and adjust your approach accordingly.
Read
Some of the schoolchildrens' quotes in small groups and discuss your reactions. (There are some on in the resources section but also some more provocative ones in Appendix 1 – well worth discussing.)
Listen
To Giles Fraser (from CD) and explore the implications of what he says.
Read and discuss
The worksheet, allowing plenty of time to consider the questions the text and picture raise for participants.
There is a fuller article in ‘Resources’ and a longer document in Appendix 1. The longer articles will be of interest to some people, depending on their reading level! Please don’t use material which will confuse your group.
With most groups, however it is well worth reading out loud the excerpt from Purple Hibiscus (Appendix 1, p.56).
Leaders Notes
38
Bible Study (n.b. the pilot ran out of time and omitted this section)
Suggestions: Wrestling Jacob Gen 32:22-32 Isaiah 55 God beyond our thoughts
Or spend some time on psalms 22 and 88. As well as the obvious suffering etc make sure they note the contrast that psalm 22 moves from despair to praise whilst in psalm 88 God is absent to the bitter end.
Now look at Jonah, especially chapter 4. The baffling dialogue might speak to how we try to relate to God and are often left confused and angry!
Or look at the story of Job especially his complaints and God's eventual 'answer'.
Time for Reflection/Worship
Some suggested resources for worship or meditation:
Sheila Cassidy's poem in 'Sharing the Darkness' p.157-8 (on worksheet)
Prayers from 'Bread for Tomorrow' by Janet Morley - nos 12, 15, 19 pp103ff
Song 'I Cry to God', track 3, 'The Last Journey', copyright 1996, WGRG Iona Community, published by GIA Publicity inc. Try N.E.R.L.R.C. classmark 245 for these.
Introduce the next session
Only two more weeks so a good time to get practical and gain some resources for continuing to live positively and trustfully in a suffering world.
During the week
Notice and note the strategies you already use to keep going when life is tough. Also note how and why you pray and what you expect from prayer.
Note: The worksheet for session four is also available on the accompanying CD (so it can be printed separately on a colour printer rather than having to use a colour photocopier for the whole of the handbook).
Worksheet
39
Session 4: Living with Paradox
Worksheet
What image does the word 'God' bring to your mind?
An all-powerful being who is far away?
If so, then this adds to the paradox of this course. How can a powerful and loving God allow the suffering of the world? Surely only an evil God could let us suffer so?
Thinking about this leads many people to refuse to believe in God. They become atheists (not believing in God) in protest at the suffering of the world. Jurgen Moltmann, who wrote 'The Crucified God', calls such people 'protest atheists.' He also asks us to imagine a God who can suffer – another paradox unless we can let go of the idea of God as being remote from the world.
For Jesus shows us a very different side of God: God as Suffering Servant. If we can hold three ideas at the same time:
Jesus the God who lived and suffered even to death
God the creative power of the universe
God the Spirit still active in the world today
then we have a new paradox. This is called the Trinity, in which God is both three and one at the same time. This paradox helps to resolve our earlier one. Why do I say that?
The Trinity means that when Jesus is suffering, God is suffering; when Jesus is crucified, God is crucified.
We can then see God as present in our suffering.
Migliore, who wrote 'Faith seeking Understanding', said that all the suffering of the world is included into
the affliction of the Son
the grief of the Father and
the comfort of the Holy Spirit
Archbishop Rowan Williams said in his interview with Stuart Jeffries ‘what you look for in faith is not solutions but a certain relationship’.
How can our relationship with God help us to live without the safety of neat answers; that is, without ‘solutions’?
Worksheet
40
El Greco’s painting ‘The Trinity’ is another way of looking at how God the Father and God the Holy Spirit are involved in the suffering of the Son.
The Holy Trinity 1577; Paint on canvas, 300 x 179 cm; Museo del Prado, Madrid
Resources
41
Session 4 Resources Recent Quotations from Schoolchildren about God
Darkness Within Light: The Human Story
Morgan and Andy, age 15
We have called our artwork “Darkness within the Light”. If God is good and light, how is it that there is so much suffering and pain in the world?
We represent this idea through an old churchyard, lit by moonlight. This symbolises, firstly, how the problems of the world have been left alone and ignored, and secondly, how God watches this happening. Whether the reason for suffering is God’s fault or not is open to the viewer’s interpretation.
The second side of our piece is to inspire the world to help itself – instead of depending on God. If it’s our fault that the world has become like this then it’s our responsibility to change it. It says: “Where is God when you need Him? When you stand alone to the mercy of others. When you need someone. Remember… This is reality; you can’t afford to hope in something that might not exist. Don’t dream, live! Believe in yourself, AND YOU WILL FIND YOUR PATH.”
We tried to consider the alternative meanings to the question of God and explore its connotations. Having thought about it, we decided that the question is truly unanswerable; God is beyond our expression and likewise so is such a question, therefore we concentrated on His creation – Us, in answering the question. In the writing we wanted to show the audience that peoples’ strength in themselves, and their determination in their own strength, is the strength of God and that God is inside them and everything they do.
Where Is God?
Bethany, age 13
I think god is in everything, including bad things. My picture shows images of the terrible things that happen: holocaust and twin towers. Sometimes I think that God is more easily seen when bad things happen. In my picture, God is the gold; the hope that surrounds every bad thing. When I was in hospital, I felt very ill. My grandma often reminded me that god is closest to people in their need.
Sometimes I think people who do not have bad things happening to them feel they do not need God, therefore they do not look for him, so they do not find him. People in need look for God. They rely on God, so they find him easily.
Mysteries
Issy, age 13
The prayers in the right of my painting show people who are sad and desperate but also thankful. God works in strange and mysterious ways. I wanted to show that in suffering there is hope. There is always someone to help you. This is why I painted a field of people next to someone who is sad. Happy, sad, happy, sad, I have effectively communicated the message even if some people do not see the hope. I think the pastels are effective because they blend all the people together, and fade them out.
From the Spirited Arts section of the NATRE website www.natre.org.uk/spiritedarts. Used by permission (more quotations from children in Appendix 1).
Resources
42
A Poem by Sheila Cassidy from Sharing the Darkness
I believe that God
has the whole world
in his hands.
He is not a bystander
at the pain of the world.
He does not stand
like Peter,
wringing his hands
in the shadows,
but is there,
in the dock,
on the rack,
high on the gallows tree.
He is in the pain
of the lunatic,
the tortured,
those wracked by grief.
His is the blood
that flows in the gutter,
His are the veins burnt by heroin,
his the lungs choked by AIDS.
His is the heart
broken by suffering,
his the despair
of the mute,
the oppressed,
the man with the gun to his head.
He is the God of Paradox.
Sharing the Darkness (London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1998). Available from N.E.R.L.R.C. Newcastle: T05478, Durham: T08085, T253.5.
Resources
43
The 'Suffering God' and the Promise of Paradox – A summary
When the word 'God' is used by the media or in casual conversation it is usually referring to a remote all-powerful being. It is this unexamined assumption about the nature of God, which gives rise to the dilemma which led to this course. For if God is all-powerful then why does he allow suffering? In his book 'The Crucified God' Moltmann recognises the existence of 'protest atheism': 'protest' atheists wish to believe in a loving God and only deny God’s existence in protest at the suffering of the world. To talk of a 'suffering God' then seems paradoxical. However, the Judaeo-Christian model of God, as found in the Bible, is very different, for here is a God who engages personally with his people and appears open to influence.11 Might such a God suffer?
To encourage us to think so, Moltmann employs two fundamental concepts. . Firstly, a recognition that a loving relationship necessarily entails suffering (see quote on session 3 Handout), and secondly a deeper understanding of the Trinity and hence how God was involved in the crucifixion too – what Moltmann calls ‘Death in God’.
Moltmann criticises the church's lack of Trinitarian understanding. ‘In practice … the religious conceptions of many Christians prove to be no more than a weakly Christianised monotheism. … Even the doctrine of grace is monotheistic, and not Trinitarian, in practice.’12 Hence any attempt to explain how God can be both the perpetrator and the victim of the cross leads to a ‘crisis of identity’ and justifies ‘protest atheism’. By contrast the Trinitarian relation between Father and Son requires God to be entirely involved in the event of the cross. Migliore provides a helpful summary, ‘All of the suffering of the world is encompassed in the affliction of the Son, the grief of the Father, and the comfort of the Spirit, who inspires courage and hope to pray and work for the renewal of all things.’13 This is a very different model of God from the classical remote deity so often assumed.
This is, however a complex model requiring a mature understanding of the nature of love and suffering and some sophisticated Trinitarian theology. This exposes the central dilemma of this course. For to begin to comprehend a God who is involved in suffering, without seeing such a God as weak or not really 'God' at all, requires a degree of Christian maturity. Thus there are no easy responses those who cite suffering as their objection to belief in God.
The contradictory nature of Christianity is not new and has been noted before. Indeed, its key theologies of incarnation, crucifixion and trinity are all paradoxical. As Brueggemann says provocatively, ‘Perhaps God never thinks in terms of divine perfectibility but is content to be a Jewish God filled with contradictions and disjunctions’14. Richard Rohr responds similarly: ‘God seems to be a great dodger of most human questions.’15 ‘Truth is finally a person and an encounter, much more than a concept that can be argued.’16 It is this encounter which we are seeking to enable through this course. It is also Rowan Williams' response "what you look for in faith is not solutions but a certain relationship."17 If faith is a relationship then our own faith stories will be powerful tools in the struggle with suffering and I hope this course will enable those stories to be told and those journeys accompanied.
11
See, for example Abraham’s dialogue over the fate of Sodom (Gen 18:22-33) 12
Ibid, 236 13
Migliore, Faith Seeking Understanding, 132 14
Walter Brueggemann, The Threat of Life: Sermons on Pain, Power and Weakness, (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1996), 34 15
Rohr, Job, 157 16
Ibid, 185 17
See Resources Session 2 - Interview with Stuart Jeffries 8th Oct 08
Leaders Notes
44
Session 5: Living Faithfully in a Suffering World
Leaders Notes
Learning outcome
We hope to show how to live positively and with celebration despite being in a suffering world.
How this session will help to achieve this
We look at Protest Psalms e.g. psalm 22
We see how Bruce Almighty (see p.20) learned to pray
We hear how Sr Dominica copes with watching children die
Review of the course so far
Look at the Map of the Journey. Have we made any progress? Have we engaged with our two questions? Encourage the group to share their own needs and questions - engaged with, or not? Any good bits?
Group discussion
What about their own experience of suffering? How have they lived faithfully through it?
Bible study
How did the Biblical writers respond? Job? Psalms of Protest? e.g. Psalm 22 – eventually prayer is answered.
What is prayer for?
There is a problem with prayer: If we pray like a 'shopping list' and do not get the answer we want then it is easy to assume that God doesn't care or is not even there.
In his book 'The Use of Praying' (N.E.R.L.R.C. 243.1), J. Neville Ward encourages us to see prayer as the process of aligning our will with God's so that it is always 'answered' as we put ourselves into God's hands and accept his will for our lives.
Leaders Notes
45
Watch
For an amusing but profound take on this watch the closing scenes of Bruce Almighty. Bruce has been given God's powers to see if he can do better. He uses them to dazzle his girlfriend, make his incontinent dog use the flush toilet, get the job he wanted and answer 'yes' to everyone's prayers (so many people win the lottery that the payout is only a few pence). However, he has been unable to stop his girlfriend walking out on him (as God said to him 'You can't mess with free will'), his playing with the weather has caused major catastrophe and the lottery fiasco led to a riot. We join the film 10 minutes before the end where he meets the riot and starts to realise what he has done. We watch as he encounters God again then tries to act more responsibly. Finally in despair he kneels down in the road and surrenders his will to God – only to be run over! This leads to his final encounter with God during which Bruce finally learns to pray ' Now that's what I call a prayer!' We leave the film again as God is 'getting onto the case' and Bruce is being revived by paramedics.
So what is Prayer? A shopping list? A discipline to align our will with God’s? Something more?
Listen
After this has been explored and discussed enough we listen to the extract from Sister Dominica of 'Helen House' as she talks about how she is able to hold onto faith despite ministering to children dying of cancer and their parents. (CD, tracks 4 and 5)
Group discussion
Allow time for the group to respond to Sr Dominica.
Then consider the case of David Watson (see handout) who had to accept he was not being 'healed' and wrote an intensely honest and personal account of the challenge to his faith.
Also discuss Leslie Weatherhead quote.
Encourage the sharing of personal experience here too, either in small groups or as one group depending on numbers.
Worship
For the worship why not have a time of open prayer, trying to align our will with God's and offer to God the people and situations which are most on our hearts at present.
If you wish to use a meditation then one by Christine Blakesley is available written like a psalm of complaint (see Resources p.48).
For next week
Encourage them to think about what they have gained, what has been missing, what they might do practically as a result of the course or what to study further. We want their feedback too!
Worksheet
46
Session 5: Living Faithfully in a Suffering World
Worksheet
The course so far. Look back at original sheet. Have we travelled? Have we engaged with our two questions? What about your own needs and questions - engaged with, or not? Any good bits?
What about your own experience of suffering? How have you lived faithfully through it?
Psalms of Protest e.g. Psalm 22 – eventually prayer is answered
The role of Prayer – Watch Bruce Almighty What is an answer to prayer?
What is Prayer? A shopping list? A discipline to align our will with God’s? Something more?
God never promises to protect us from problems, only to help us in them. If we leave God out of the picture, those difficulties might so strip away our sense of security that we feel vulnerable, anxious and afraid. On the other hand, those same difficulties could drive us back to God and so strengthen our faith. We might feel just as vulnerable, but we have to trust God because there is really no alternative; and then we discover that God is with us in the dark as in the light, in pain as in joy. When I was going through a traumatic time in my life, a friend of mine said, ‘You cannot trust God too much.’
David Watson Fear No Evil: A Personal Struggle with Cancer p.153
(N.E.R.L.R.C. Durham: B23160, Newcastle: B32886)
Like everybody, I love and prefer the sunny uplands of experience, when health, happiness and success abound, but I have learned far more about God and life and myself in the darkness of fear and failure than I have ever learned in the sunshine. There are such things as the treasures of darkness. The darkness, thank God, passes. But what one learns in the darkness one possesses for ever. ‘The trying times’, says Bishop Fenelon, ‘Which you fancy come between God and you, will prove means of unity with him, if you bear them humbly. Those things that overwhelm us and upset our pride, do more good than all that which excites and inspirits us.’
Leslie D. Weatherhead Prescription for Anxiety p.32
So where is God when there is suffering? Firstly he is in the actions of those who continue to love despite all that happens, who refuse to be beaten, whose lives transcend the limitations life imposes. God is love, so God is found in that sacrificial love which we can only show through suffering.
If we think about the way in which Jesus lived and died we realise that Jesus was demonstrating God's love to us, and it was not a controlling, power-hungry despotic sort of love, of a remote deity who treats his creation like a game of chess. Not at all. Jesus showed us a God-with-us, entering our weakness and frailty with compassion, risking all, even life itself, for love of us. He used all his loving ingenuity to enable first the disciples and then many countless Christians since, to grow in confidence, because he had faith in them. So despite their weaknesses they learnt to be the people God longed them to be.
Worksheet
47
God has the same longing for us. But he will not force himself on us. He does not wield power and make us obey. He gives us free will. God's love is vulnerable and precarious and limitless in its self-giving. When we are suffering God suffers with us. When we rejoice, God rejoices with us. As Jesus' life and death showed, God knows the bitter-sweet mixture of life and uses all his loving ingenuity to help turn our disasters into triumphs. Just as the defeat of Jesus' crucifixion was followed by the unimaginable joy of his resurrection, so the sufferings of our lives can, by some mysterious alchemy, one day bear beautiful fruit, rich and strange.
‘There is no evil out of which good cannot be brought’
‘We offer not solutions but relationship.’
‘Truth is finally a person (God) and encounter not a concept to be argued.’
For next time
What might you do practically as a result of this course? Any further study? Also think about what has been good and what missing to give feedback for future courses.
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48
Session 5 Resources
A meditation in the manner of a psalm of complaint.
Lord God, from the depths of my pain, from the darkness, I cry out to you. Are you listening?
All I hear is the faint echo of my own voice mocking me.
I stretch out my hands to feel and find you, but they are empty.
My eyes strain for your light but the thick darkness envelops me.
My courage fails me, my fear overwhelms me.
Why have you deserted me?
And yet I remember your promises handed down from father to daughter, mother to son.
‘I am the Good Shepherd who cares for his sheep.
I will never fail you nor forsake you.
I am the light of the world, those who follow me will never walk in darkness...’
Now my thoughts, my pain, imprison me.
Lord, I call to you in the darkness, are you powerless to free me, to rescue me?
I remember going to church and being full of joy, singing your praises,
filled with your Spirit, at one with you and your people.
I remember when you were my rock, the firm ground on which I built my life.
I stood tall embracing the world,
Lord my God, as now I cling on by my fingertips to faith,
Help me to trust that you will not let me slip out of your firm grasp.
Christine Blakesley
Leaders Notes
49
Session 6: Where Next? Reflection and Practical Action
Leaders Notes
Learning outcomes
We identify some themes to explore further and some actions to take. We reflect on the course and give feedback.
Session overview
Look again at the Map of the Journey. Have a general discussion about what has been learnt and how people feel about the course. Do they feel equipped for the next stage of their own learning?
Now use your discretion about whether to divide everyone into pairs or continue as a whole group, or even ask for one or two people to 'kick off' before splitting etc... Whatever works best for your group.
Go through each session in turn. In each case briefly summarise what the session covered then ask them to discuss (in pairs?) the questions in italics. Allow five minutes for this then spend another five minutes discussing these questions and responses as a group before moving on to summarising the next session. Allow 45 mins for the whole process.
Then ask them to fill in the questionnaire and hand it in. Allow 10 minutes.
This should leave plenty of time (20-30 mins) for a final worship session.
Session summaries
Session 1
Reminders of what you might have done:
looked at the 'map' and the dilemma it raises;
considered the beauty of creation (Ps.146);
discussed natural disaster and personal tragedy (Charles Darwin);
critiqued Romans 8:26-8. (After Aberfan the archbishop talked of God being alongside.)
How do you see our original problem now?
Can you justify belief in a good God despite the existence of evil?
Session 2
Reminders of what you might have done:
asked if the suffering of just one child is too high a price to pay for belief in God;
Leaders Notes
50
seen a clip from Bruce Almighty in which Bruce blames God for all the evils of the world;
listened to the personal reaction of the Mizens to the murder of their son – their faith helped;
looked at Bible characters e.g. Joseph in Genesis 50v.20 'God meant it for good';
asked if our cups are half-empty or half-full. Has good ever come from our own suffering?
Is suffering ever a good thing? What have you learnt?
What do you still need to explore concerning the nature of suffering?
Session 3
Reminders of what you might have done:
explored what it means to say God is powerful;
watched a clip from Amistad which heartens the slaves as they see Jesus suffer as they do;
looked at scriptures (incl Phil 2:5-11);
read poems about how 'God's power is made perfect in weakness.'
How would you describe God's power?
Any aspect of God's power you wish to explore further? Do you have the tools you need to do so?
Session 4
Reminders of what you might have done:
listened to Giles Fraser on the paradox of Christianity and especially the cross;
looked at Moltmann's Trinitarian Model of 'Death in God.';
read Sheila Cassidy's poem 'The God of Paradox';
discussed 'Truth is finally a person and an encounter much more than a concept that can be argued.'
Did the discussion of 'Paradox' and 'Trinity' help? Was it too abstract?
Any further work to do? Any questions? Any further help needed? If so, what?
Session 5
Reminders of what you might have done:
considered how prayer can help us live authentic lives in a suffering world;
watched a clip from near the end of Bruce Almighty. 'Now that's what I call a real prayer';
heard Sr Frances Dominica on 'Helen House', a hospice for children, and how prayer helps her.
Leaders Notes
51
Has prayer ever helped when you or your loved ones were suffering?
Did this session offer any helpful tools, insight or encouragement? If so, what?
Do you have further work to do on prayer? Do you have the tools you need?
Do you know where you will 'go' next?
Worship outline
Begin by asking people what they would like to pray for.
Listen to a song e.g. 'Kyrie Eleison' (track 4 from ‘Waymarks’, copyright 2001, Northumbria Community Trust Ltd) or something else suitable.
Have a time of open prayer.
End with a prayer e.g. one of the following (all from 'The Book of 1000 Prayers' by Angela Ashwin, N.E.R.L.R.C. Durham: B07021, Newcastle: B16102, classmark 243):
Jesus, our brother,
you followed the necessary path
and were broken on our behalf.
May we neither cling to our pain
where it is futile,
nor refuse to embrace the cost
when it is required of us;
that in losing ourselves for your sake,
we may be brought to new life.
Janet Morley, no.66, The Book of 1000 Prayers
O living God,
draw all the fragments of my life
into the bright mosaic of your love;
weave all the tangled threads of my desires
into the tapestry you are spreading,
like a rainbow,
on the loom of the world;
and help me celebrate
the many facets
and the dazzling colours
of your peace.
Julie M. Hulme, no.72, The Book of 1000 Prayers
Leaders Notes
52
As we plan and make decisions,
God be our way.
As we learn and ask questions,
God be our truth.
As we grow and as we change,
God be our life.
Ruth Burgess, no.151, The Book of 1000 Prayers
Love of Jesus, fill us,
Joy of Jesus, surprise us,
Peace of Jesus, flood us,
Light of Jesus, transform us,
Touch of Jesus, warm us,
Strength of Jesus, encourage us.
O Saviour, in your agony, forgive us,
in your wounds, hide us,
and in your risen life take us with you,
for your love's sake.
Angela Ashwin, no.134, The Book of 1000 Prayers
Worksheet
53
Session 6: Where Next? Reflection and Practical Action
Worksheet
Look again at the Map of the Journey.
Session summaries
Session 1
Reminders of what you might have done:
looked at the 'map' and the dilemma it raises;
considered the beauty of creation (Ps.146);
discussed natural disaster and personal tragedy (Charles Darwin);
critiqued Romans 8:26-8. (After Aberfan the archbishop talked of God being alongside.)
How do you see our original problem now?
Can you justify belief in a good God despite the existence of evil?
Session 2
Reminders of what you might have done:
asked if the suffering of just one child is too high a price to pay for belief in God;
seen a clip from Bruce Almighty in which Bruce blames God for all the evils of the world;
listened to the personal reaction of the Mizens to the murder of their son – their faith helped;
looked at Bible characters e.g. Joseph in Genesis 50v.20 'God meant it for good';
asked if our cups are half-empty or half-full. Has good ever come from our own suffering?
Is suffering ever a good thing? What have you learnt?
What do you still need to explore concerning the nature of suffering?
Session 3
Reminders of what you might have done:
explored what it means to say God is powerful;
watched a clip from Amistad which heartens hte slaves as they see Jesus suffer as they do;
looked at scriptures (incl Phil 2:5-11);
read poems about how 'God's power is made perfect in weakness.'
Worksheet
54
How would you describe God's power?
Any aspect of God's power you wish to explore further? Do you have the tools you need to do so?
Session 4
Reminders of what you might have done:
listened to Giles Fraser on the paradox of Christianity and especially the cross;
looked at Moltmann's Trinitarian Model of 'Death in God.';
read Sheila Cassidy's poem 'The God of Paradox';
discussed 'Truth is finally a person and an encounter much more than a concept that can be argued.'
Did the discussion of 'Paradox' and 'Trinity' help? Was it too abstract?
Any further work to do? Any questions? Any further help needed? If so, what?
Session 5
Reminders of what you might have done:
considered how prayer can help us live authentic lives in a suffering world;
watched a clip from near the end of Bruce Almighty. 'Now that's what I call a real prayer';
heard Sr Frances Dominica on 'Helen House', a hospice for children, and how prayer helps her.
Has prayer ever helped when you or your loved ones were suffering?
Did this session offer any helpful tools, insight or encouragement? If so, what?
Do you have further work to do on prayer? Do you have the tools you need?
Do you know where you will 'go' next?
Worksheet
55
Some prayers you may find helpful (all from 'The Book of a 1000 prayers' by Angela Ashwin):
Jesus, our brother,
you followed the necessary path
and were broken on our behalf.
May we neither cling to our pain
where it is futile,
nor refuse to embrace the cost
when it is required of us;
that in losing ourselves for your sake,
we may be brought to new life.
Janet Morley
O living God,
draw all the fragments of my life
into the bright mosaic of your love;
weave all the tangled threads of my desires
into the tapestry you are spreading,
like a rainbow,
on the loom of the world;
and help me celebrate
the many facets
and the dazzling colours
of your peace.
Julie M. Hulme
As we plan and make decisions,
God be our way.
As we learn and ask questions,
God be our truth.
As we grow and as we change,
God be our life.
Ruth Burgess
Love of Jesus, fill us,
Joy of Jesus, surprise us,
Peace of Jesus, flood us,
Light of Jesus, transform us,
Touch of Jesus, warm us,
Strength of Jesus, encourage us.
O Saviour, in your agony, forgive us,
in your wounds, hide us,
and in your risen life take us with you,
for your love's sake.
Angela Ashwin
Appendix 1
56
The 'Suffering God' and the Promise of Paradox – full article
The idea of a suffering God seems an oxymoron or paradox if we use the classical model of 'God' as a remote all-powerful being. However it is this model of God which is assumed in our media, in our casual conversations and which gives rise to the dilemma of this course. In his book 'The Crucified God' Moltmann recognises that many atheists embrace non-belief as a protest: they wish to believe in a loving God and only deny God’s existence in protest at the suffering of the world. Such a model of God may be the unexamined assumption of the majority but it is very different from the Judaeo-Christian God of the Bible who engages personally with his people and appears open to influence.18
The collision between a classical image of a remote God and the Christian experience of a God who enters our suffering is at its sharpest in the crucifixion. Moltmann demonstrates that Christians have become too accustomed to the barbaric imagery of the ‘Crucified God’, which is, ‘a contradiction of everything men have ever conceived, desired and sought to be assured of by the term “God”’.19 This ‘stumbling block’ to Jews and Greeks alike (1 Cor 1:18-25) is once more baffling to the unchurched in our society. Furthermore, a focus on the suffering of Christ can accuse God by implication, inducing ‘the sado-masochistic theo-ideology of God as hangman.’20
Here is an example of this from a recent novel:
Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Fourth Estate, 2004 this edition Harper Perennial 2005 pp289-290)
Set in late twentieth century Nigeria. Kambili and her brother Jaja have been brought up as devout Catholics by their wealthy and charismatic father, who severely represses them mentally and physically (once nearly killing Kambili), and regularly batters their mother including causing her to miscarry. This conversation comes just after the father's sudden death. Kambili is the narrator.
"Jaja ' ... I should have taken care of Mama.'
'God knows best,' I said. 'God works in mysterious ways.' And I thought how Papa would be proud that I had said that, how he would approve of my saying that.
Jaja laughed. It sounded like a series of snorts strung together. 'Of course God does. Look what He did to his faithful servant Job, even to his own son. But have you ever wondered why? Why did He have to murder his own son so we would be saved? Why didn't He just go ahead and save us?'
I took off my slippers. The cold marble floor drew the heat from my feet. I wanted to tell Jaja that my eyes tingled with unshed tears, that I still listened for, wanted to hear, Papa's footsteps on the stairs. That there were painfully scattered bits inside me that I could never put back because the places they fit into were gone. Instead I said, 'St Agnes will be full for Papa's funeral Mass.'
Jaja did not respond."
To rehabilitate God requires God to be involved more intimately in suffering than classical models of a God who is all-powerful and incapable of suffering will allow. To engage with this Moltmann employs two fundamental concepts. Firstly, a recognition that a loving relationship necessarily entails suffering, and secondly a deeper understanding of the Trinity and hence how God was
18
See, for example Abraham’s dialogue over the fate of Sodom (Gen 18:22-33) 19
Moltmann, Crucified God, 37 20
Dorothy Soėlle, Theology for Sceptics, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1995), 99
Appendix 1
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involved in the crucifixion too – what Moltmann calls ‘Death in God’.21
The classical view of God’s loving relationship to us can seem somewhat remote and one-sided, rather like a caricature of a Victorian father. It is not only Moltmann who challenges this and claims the impossibility of love without suffering. In his commentary on John’s Gospel, William Temple quotes Shillito’s Jesus of the Scars, ‘to our wounds only God’s wounds can speak’ and Temple himself comments that ‘otherwise we would surpass our Creator in fortitude.’22 Moltmann is stronger. ‘A man who experiences helplessness, a man who suffers because he loves, a man who can die, is therefore a richer being than an omnipotent God who cannot suffer, cannot love and cannot die.’23 In Moltmann’s theology, Jesus’ cry of dereliction from the cross takes on a special significance, since in it God is experiencing the same pain of abandonment and loss that we do. Moltmann employs it to answer protest atheism, ‘For this theology, God and suffering are no longer contradictions, as in theism and atheism, but God’s being is in suffering and the suffering is in God’s being itself, because God is love.’24 It is by this means alone that theology can speak meaningfully of Christ sharing in the world’s suffering. Rohr goes further in his study of Job, identifying God completely with suffering. ‘God is suffering love...suffering is what God is going through to create life.’25
While it is a helpful insight on the unpredictable nature of power to claim that ‘God is not more powerful than he is in this helplessness,’26 there is also a danger in focussing on God’s suffering with us, as this can seem to weaken or limit God in an unhelpful way. Sőlle takes the cry of dereliction from the cross literally, concluding that God’s weakness makes him unable to intervene meaningfully in the world at all. We have to take the responsibility of action ourselves.27 This is rightly criticised as going too far. For example, the oppressed poor of El Salvador find the suffering Christ helpful, but they also need the hope of a God with real power to save. As Sobrino says, ‘If even God is crucified, that means there is no possibility of liberation.’28 If we wish to repudiate this conclusion then we have to retain a paradoxical sense of God’s transcendence as well as his immanence.
The contradictory nature of Christianity is not new and has been noted before. Indeed, its key theologies of incarnation, crucifixion and trinity are all paradoxical. As Brueggemann says provocatively, ‘Perhaps God never thinks in terms of divine perfectibility but is content to be a Jewish God filled with contradictions and disjunctions’29.
Moltmann also recognises the dangers of talking about God’s suffering without a rich theology of the Trinity. Too often the Trinity is regarded as ‘a theological speculation with no relevance for life.’30 He is dismissive. ‘In practice … the religious conceptions of many Christians prove to be no more than a weakly Christianised monotheism. … Even the doctrine of grace is monotheistic, and not trinitarian, in practice.’31 Hence any attempt to explain how God can be both the perpetrator and the victim of the cross leads to a ‘crisis of identity’ and justifies ‘protest atheism’. By contrast the trinitarian relation between Father and Son requires God to be entirely involved in the event of the cross. ‘If the cross is understood as a divine event, i.e. as an event between Jesus and his God and Father, … the Trinity .. is a shorter version of the passion narrative of Christ in its significance…The
21
Moltmann, Crucified God, 207 22
William Temple Readings in St John’s Gospel, (London: Macmillan, 1940), 385 23
Moltmann, Crucified God, 223 24
Moltmann, Crucified God, 227 25
Richard Rohr, Job and The Mystery of Suffering, (Leominster: Gracewing, 1996), 181 26
Moltmann, Crucified God, 205. St Paul affirms the same wisdom when he says ‘Power is made perfect in weakness.’ (2Cor
12:9) 27
Dorothee Sőlle, Suffering, trans E.R. Kalin (London: DLT, 1975), 147 28
Jon Sobrino, Christ the Liberator, (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis, 2001), 273 29
Walter Brueggemann, The Threat of Life: Sermons on Pain, Power and Weakness, (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1996), 34 30
Moltmann, Crucified God, 237 31
Ibid, 236
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content of the doctrine of the Trinity is the real cross of Christ himself’32 Migliore provides a helpful summary, ‘All of the suffering of the world is encompassed in the affliction of the Son, the grief of the Father, and the comfort of the Spirit, who inspires courage and hope to pray and work for the renewal of all things.’33
Thus it is imperative that the cross is central to any consideration of suffering, along with a willingness to examine the relationship between love and suffering and explore how Trinitarian theology can inform the concept of a suffering God. This is a tall order and exposes the central dilemma of suffering. For any response which is even partially adequate may require a degree of Christian maturity, whilst the question itself is often posed acutely as a stumbling block even to embarking on an exploration of any faith issues. So the key issue for apologetics is not to pretend that such difficulties do not exist, or that there is a definitive ‘answer’.
The use of story is particularly powerful in this context. A good example is the story of C. S. Lewis’s life. When he experiences the anguish of his beloved wife’s death, Lewis finds that his faith is seriously challenged.
Feelings, and feelings, and feelings. Let me try thinking instead. From the rational point of view, what new factor has H’s death introduced into the problem of the universe? What grounds has it given me for doubting all that I believe… it wouldn’t for a man whose faith had been real faith.34
Yet somehow, as time goes on, he recovers a sense of God. ‘I have gradually been coming to feel that the door is no longer shut and bolted. Was it my own frantic need that slammed it in my face?’ 35 It is as if he were in total darkness and thought he was in a dungeon. However, a ‘good sound’ convinces him he is actually ‘free, in the open air.’36 Nothing in his objective situation has changed, and yet his perception and ability to cope has changed utterly. He recognises that God is the great iconoclast who must continually shatter our ideas of him. Many of the questions we ask God are unanswerable since they involve category errors equivalent to, ‘How many hours are there in a mile?’37
The question of why God allows suffering may indeed be one such. As Richard Rohr says, ‘God seems to be a great dodger of most human questions.’38 ‘Truth is finally a person and an encounter, much more than a concept that can be argued.’39 It is this encounter which we are seeking to enable through this course. It is also Rowan Williams' response to the issue as the following extract shows:
Rowan Williams, suffering and Dostoevsky - excerpt from Guardian article 8/10/08 Stuart Jeffries
'...Williams became obsessed with the religious themes of Dostoevsky's The Karamazov Brothers, which contains an episode he thinks was formative for his faith. In the Grand Inquisitor episode in Dostoevsky's masterpiece, Ivan Karamazov imagines Jesus's second coming. Christ has made his earthly return to 16th-century Seville at the inquisition's height. He does not stop the burning of heretics but is arrested for performing miracles and tomorrow morning will burn himself. The Inquisitor tells Jesus in his cell that the church has made humanity happy by hoodwinking it with miracle, mystery and authority. Christ, by contrast, offered the masses not happiness, but a more frightful gift, their freedom. The Inquisitor explains that the Son of God is too reckless a character to
32
Ibid, 246 33
Migliore, Faith Seeking Understanding, 132 34
C. S. Lewis, A Grief Observed, (London: Faber & Faber, 1961), 32 35
Ibid, 40 36
Ibid, 54 37
Ibid, 54-9 38
Rohr, Job, 157 39
Ibid, 185
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have around risking the church's good work.
Admittedly this Inquisitor episode is Ivan's atheistic fantasy, but shouldn't Christ have challenged the inquisitor? Shouldn't he have behaved more like Christ in the Bible, who threw the moneylenders out of the temple? "If you pressed Dostoevsky on that he might have said: 'When Jesus starts throwing the Inquisitor out, Jesus becomes the Inquisitor himself.'" Instead, arguably, Jesus follows the more difficult path: that of clasping even those you might be expected to detest most to your heart. It's a path, we'll see, that Williams follows himself.
Why was the moment when Jesus, perhaps out of compassion for the tormented Inquisitor, kisses the man and then is allowed to slip from his cell into the Seville night, possibly never to be seen again, so important for Williams? "Dostoevsky has no easy answers, but what struck me when I first read the Grand Inquisitor episode was there is absolutely no form of words that can give a solution to suffering. Absolutely none. That's why what ends the arraignment of the captive Jesus by the Grand Inquisitor is silence - and then Jesus kisses him. When I read it I had the dim sense that there was something very important in that what you look for in faith is not solutions but a certain relationship." And that's why Dostoevsky's appeal has endured for Williams: he offers no closure, no authorial master-voice, but an endless dialogue where no one wins the argument but everyone is connected. In a recent book he writes that Dostoevsky's fiction is like divine creation, "an unexpected unfolding with no last word". That might make divine creation sound akin to natural selection, but it's how Williams sees God's universe.'(my emphasis)
If faith is a relationship then our own faith stories will be powerful tools in the struggle with suffering and I hope this course will enable those stories to be told and those journeys accompanied.
Janet Appleby June 2009
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More quotations from children
Spanner in the Works
Rebecca, age 14
I’ve chosen to show there is no God present and the world has gone totally wrong. Basically, it’s a ticking bomb, waiting to go off at any moment. If there is a God, why do we live in an environment where such things as the colour of your skin, what you look like, or what you do matter so much? Why do some people walk out of their door and never return, killed, shot, victims of terrorism or war? Why do poverty stricken people die every two seconds? Why do people rape and abuse children?
If there is a God, then why do these disasters keep on happening? Who put the spanner in the works?
So?
Hannah , age 14
I am an atheist. I don’t believe God exists. He or she is not needed to create the world or its living things. The big bang can account for that. All creatures and plants have evolved from simpler living cells.
If God did exist then terrible things wouldn’t happen. She or he would stop them. But terrible things do happen, so obviously God is not real. Decided to do a graveyard for this artwork to commemorate all the innocent people who have died or been killed in accidents.
I have put God’s gravestone, old and crumbling, in the centre. He hasn’t been around for a long time. I think he was alive a long time ago when nearly everyone believed and worshipped regularly, but now people have lost faith and God has died. All the technology weakened him or her, so he or she was less able to save us. After God’s death terrible things happened: God was no longer there to stop them
Hard to believe...
Liam, Connor and Kristian, age 15
The top half of this picture represents a world with God. You will see a well, for relief funds, two hands from different ethnic backgrounds for harmony, respect for each other and different religions. And there’s a picture of Johnson Beharry, who won the VC for bravery in Iraq. He helped his comrades escape a life threatening ambush, but not without injury. All his comrades were saved, but he has a serious head injury.
The bottom half of the picture represents a world without God. Natural disaster, suffering, loss of life on a huge scale, and American soldier in Vietnam – a war that cost many innocent lives. The final picture shows a refugee forced out of her country by armed soldiers. This child is forced to live in refugee camps in appalling conditions.
Our observations lead us to ask the question: if people suffer like this, does God really exist?
Where Is God?
Bethany, age 13
I think god is in everything, including bad things. My picture shows images of the terrible things that happen: holocaust and twin towers. Sometimes I think that God is more easily seen when bad things happen. In my picture, God is the gold; the hope that surrounds every bad thing. When I was in hospital, I felt very ill. My grandma often reminded me that god is closest to people in their need.
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Sometimes I think people who do not have bad things happening to them feel they do not need God, therefore they do not look for him, so they do not find him. People in need look for God. They rely on God, so they find him easily.
In the balance
Luke, age 13
We believe that God is the balance of life. He is like the scales of justice, of good and bad. You can’t have life without both sides because you wouldn’t appreciate good without the bad. Some examples are night and day, illness and health, famine and harvest, suffering and joy, death and birth.
If God answered all prayers and no bad things occurred equilibrium would be lost and we would never learn from our mistakes. He is the ying and yang of our existence.
Mysteries
Issy age,13
The prayers in the right of my painting show people who are sad and desperate but also thankful. God works in strange and mysterious ways. I wanted to show that in suffering there is hope. There is always someone to help you. This is why I painted a field of people next to someone who is sad. Happy, sad, happy, sad, I have effectively communicated the message even if some people do not see the hope. I think the pastels are effective because they blend all the people together, and fade them out.
Darkness Within Light: The Human Story
Morgan and Andy , age 15
We have called our artwork “Darkness within the Light”. If God is good and light, how is it that there is so much suffering and pain in the world?
We represent this idea through an old churchyard, lit by moonlight. This symbolises, firstly, how the problems of the world have been left alone and ignored, and secondly, how God watches this happening. Whether the reason for suffering is God’s fault or not is open to the viewer’s interpretation.
The second side of our piece is to inspire the world to help itself - instead of depending on God. If it’s our fault that the world has become like this then it’s our responsibility to change it. It says: “Where is God when you need Him? When you stand alone to the mercy of others. When you need someone. Remember… This is reality; you can’t afford to hope in something that might not exist. Don’t dream, live! Believe in yourself, AND YOU WILL FIND YOUR PATH.”
We tried to consider the alternative meanings to the question of God and explore its connotations. Having though about it, we decided that the question is truly unanswerable; God is beyond our expression and likewise so is such a question, therefore we concentrated on His creation – Us, in answering the question. In the writing we wanted to show the audience that peoples’ strength in themselves, and their determination in their own strength, is the strength of God and that God is inside them and everything they do.
A Celebration of Life
Rebecca, age 13
I've shown the six major religions through symbols and important things that identify them. I've included atheism in this section. The sad and depressing pictures which ask' where was god when this happened?' show why some people choose to be atheists. I am an atheist, but I respect those who believe without judgement.
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Prayer of a dying atheist
Daisy, age 14
Dear Nobody
I’m here
Judgement day arrived
And there’s a few things I’d like to say
I wish I wasn’t dying,
Or praying,
Or anywhere near this place.
I wish that I was crying
So I could wash this cheap mascara off my face
I wish this bed was soaked
In all the blood you’ve supposedly wasted
I wish that I could tell them about the darkness
I wish I was an angel
With perfect paper thin wings
And beauty unmatched
By any one or any thing
But I never believed in that stuff.
I wish I hadn’t watched the news
Been a player in the awful, unimaginable game
I wish I had believed in you just once
So I could see what they all loved to see.
So thank you God for proving me right
For showing me pain
And allowing no light
It means a lot to know I really was alone
And I believe I’m done
Have fun with creation.
From the Spirited Arts section of the NATRE website www.natre.org.uk/spiritedarts. Used by permission.
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‘Struggling with suffering’ – Evaluation sheet
Thank you for joining us in the pilot of this course. We wish to improve the material further, and to learn what we can towards future courses. Please could you consider the following questions, rating your responses with 0 very negative to 5 OK to 10 very positive (excellent).
The course
1. 1. Did the content of the course meet what you were led to expect? 0 2 4 6 8 10
Comments
2. 2. Was the course material interesting and informative? 0 2 4 6 8 10
Comments
3. 3. Was there enough opportunity for interaction with leader/other participants? 0 2 4 6 8 10
Comments
4. 4. Is there one thing you would keep?
5.
6. 5. Is there one thing you would change?
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Your own learning
7. 6. Please consider the following questions, and answer them as you wish:
What have you learnt from our explorations of the theme?
In what way(s), if any, has the course helped to explore any questions you may have?
What affect may this have on your faith and the practice of it?
What else might you now like to explore in connection with suffering, the problem of evil, pastoral care.
Which methods of teaching and learning did you find most helpful?
7. Have you any other comments? (including on individual sessions).
Please send completed Evaluation Sheets to Jenny Crawford, Administrator, Lindisfarne, Church House, St John’s Terrace, North Shields, NE29 6HS or email to [email protected]
Alternatively you can ring Alastair Macnaughton (tel: 01912340371) with your comments or email [email protected]