Critical Thinking With Love Brings Scripture Alive

"Your sorrow shall be turned into joy." -- John 16:20

Last night I went to a house concert in my neighborhood, held by neighbors who hail from Minnesota, and who import the musicians, Bill and Kate Isles, to play folk music for the neighborhood. It was a pleasure to listen with friends in such an intimate setting, taking in beautiful music that was partly spiritual in its pure tones, partly in its lyrics, drawn from specific heartfelt life experiences.

Though I was late, I made it in time to hear the song "Take It As It Comes," about embracing life even when it hands you lemons, or sour apples, as the case may be.

It reminded me of the scripture we had studied in a class earlier in the evening in the Education for Ministry women's program at St. Luke's church in Prescott. The curriculum developed by the Sewanee School of Theology of the University of the South involves critical study of the Bible, as well as an exercise called "Theological Reflection," in which we take a problem and break it down according to tradition, experience, culture and our positions. Last night we did the process using a scripture. It's often a challenging process, but it helps lead us to implications and strategies for actually living our beliefs.

The song was a philosophical reflection, but the scripture is something we long discussed in how it is meaningful for every person of faith. From the point of view of tradition, we discussed similar scriptures that advise us to keep faith in spite of troubling days in our lives. For instance, the Beatitudes promise that in spite of all of the suffering in this life, we will be rewarded in the future, as well as in heaven. At the end of the book of Revelation, God promises to wipe away every tear in the End Times. In other scriptures, we are promised that the last will be first and the first in this life on earth will be last in heaven, as well as many other statements that ensure that our faith will be rewarded -- and that Jesus' suffering, too, was not in vain.

From a cultural perspective, we discussed the clash between chaos and order, the struggle between barbarism and civilization and the way people of faith act in order to achieve the balance through volunteerism, non-profit groups and the charity that restores human belief in the goodness of God.

I won't discuss our examination of our own experiences, since those are confidential, but I will say that from my own experience, I've discovered that only by the bad times can we appreciate the good. We examined several experiences in retrospect, and realized that they've led us to the path that we are on now. As one of our group put it, we are like the butterfly in that we much suffer through our life as caterpillars before we create the cocoon and emerge as the creatures we were meant to be. No one can avoid that struggle if they want to grow in faith.

So, we concluded that one of the implications of the scripture is that we should not try to avoid the chaos that is inevitable -- we must embrace it in faith. Another implication is that we can't always fix other people's problems, but the best counsel we can give them is to put their trust in God. We can tell them that with faith they can replace their sorrow with the fruits of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22). In addition, we have to model our own faith and beliefs to others -- walk the talk -- if we want to have a positive impact on the world and to reduce suffering.

Based on the discussion, as a group we composed a Collect or prayer that distills all of these ideas. It is our song on the subject, and though it may not be as lyrical or elegant as Bill and Kate Isles' songs, it is a practical poetry.

"God is our hope, in charge, ever faithful. He is our rock. He knows us. We pray for faith, patience, trust, strength, tolerance, courage and wisdom, so that we can see the joy and not avoid the trials we must endure. So that we can see God's hands at work and be good witnesses. So that we can grow into the people of faith that God wants us to be. Amen."