Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
I was reading the Genesis creation story again, and thought a lot about the second day. It's the only day where God didn't look at what He's did and "saw that it was good". I think it's because it's the day that represents separation and loss of relationship. As part of his creative process, it will eventually become good (on the next day), but for that moment, He looks at it for what it is: something what was together that is now separated for a time.
Over an over again I hear stories from people where they felt separated and even abandoned by God. Once that period of time is over - if it does get over for them - they have a greater relationship to God. They basically come to their breaking point, then emerge into a new understanding of themselves and their destiny.
A side note: I'm glad I'm not a pastor or paid Christian worker. To admit separation from God, especially long-term separation, is obviously a very risky thing for them. I think the chances of getting booted out of a job are fairly high. If what I believe is true - that everyone and everything goes through periods of separation - I bet many of them are left pretty much alone to deal with it. I need to pray for all the ones I know and remember to reach out to them in friendship.
John 12:24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.
Mother Teresa's Crisis of Faith
I believe you are correct Troy, pastors or paid christian workers face serious risk in admitting their distance from God. It is after all, their job to believe and promote faith, so to admit that they not only feel distant, but separated from God would also mean they are inviting the "why" questions.
ReplyDeleteThe pastorate is not a safe place to struggle in your faith, and it's completely isolating when you get to a place where you feel grace no longer applies to you.
Instead, most pastors practice a level of fake vulnerability, or safe distance from others. Share just enough so we can communicate empathy, but not so much that you could gasp or cause us harm.
The cost for all pastors who risk is high, and their consequences do mean their job, the dignity, and typically their vocational future. It's on our worst day, that we discover who our friends truly are, and what measure of actual grace gets applied from the preaching we hear.