I just received news that a friend was laid off of work. Another friend recently witnessed a horrific and violent crime visited upon a loved one. While I pray and ache with these friends, I know that just beneath the surface there are many others for whom I care deeply who seem stuck: financially, relationally, spiritually. It’s in moments like these I wish I could just reach into my magic bag of tricks and offer a shiny new life. One free of pain and confusion. A life of fulfilled promises instead of broken ones.
It’s moments like these that the tinny, two-dimensional, bubble gum Christianity of fake smiles and tidied-up testimonies leaves a bad taste in my mouth. My life, and the lives of so many who place their trust in God, doesn’t look like what the televangelist is offering on his latest DVD series. The good news is that Jesus never promised that life would be easy: in fact, he said that for his followers, life would be the opposite; and that we’re blessed when we’re at the end of our rope. I’m not sugesting that we serve a masochistic diety, or that we should look forward to or enjoy pain. But I do have hope that pain is not the end, but the beginning of a process that will yield a relationship with God and people that goes far deeper than anything that could fit on a bumper sticker.
