5 March 2023
In the coming weeks leading up to Good Friday we will be doing a series of teachings that help us be honest about our feelings with God. I’ve loosely titled it, “The Mourning After” series. Perhaps the subtitle could be “Letting our feelings out when others have told us that we shouldn’t”.
Various themes will no doubt emerge as we reflect together. Does God care? Why do I feel abandoned by God? Can I be authentic with God? Can I say what I feel without being judged? Why are things not working out as I’d hoped? These types of questions are very real and valid and I’ve thought of dozens more. But they don’t lend themselves to neat, knock-down answers. Instead, we are to simply sit with God within them. Why? Because the Bible’s answer to suffering is not firstly a clever theological/philosophical argument (though there is some of that), but rather a God who enters into our pain and brokenness and takes us through a story towards a transformative end point. To rush to that end point is not part of the deal (at least not yet). Instead, we are called to be as honest as the Psalmists who sometimes shake their fists at God over the unfairness of life. As I sometimes say, God is big enough to cope. He is not shocked by our feelings. He doesn’t say, “Well if I knew you felt that way, I would never have made you my child…” Instead he knows our ‘inmost thoughts’ and longs for us to be honest about our doubts and pain and to allow him to let the light shine in.
This series will be, at times, workshop-like. But you will most certainly not be asked to disclose anything personal. It will involve listening to and reflecting on some teaching, a little bit of journalling, maybe a bit of drawing (!), a lot of praying. And above all, encouraging one another as we connect with God.
So let’s come, ready to business with God in these coming weeks…
Julian Holdsworth
BSBC Pastor
