Love can bring life out of suffering, death

The Rev. Peter Luckey, senior pastor, Plymouth Congregational Church, 925 Vt.:

Mark 15:34: “My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?”

More than any other words Jesus ever spoke, this cry reveals his humanity. Down through the ages, these words represent the depth of humankind’s complaint to God in the face of suffering. Jesus uttered this after he had been hanging from the cross for nine hours. Even his closest friends had deserted him.

The question tells the truth about our human condition. Whether it’s a shout from the hilltop or a whisper in the night, the cry comes to us all: “Where is God?” Any religion worth its salt must walk a path through these shadows.

Author and Nobel Prize-winner Eli Wiesel survived Auschwitz. The experience led him to a deeper understanding of God. He wrote about it in his autobiographical account titled “Night.”

The SS hanged two Jewish men and a youth in front of the whole camp. The men died quickly, but the death throes of the youths lasted for half an hour. “Where is God? Where is God?” someone asked behind me. As the youths still hung in torment in the noose after a long time, I heard the man call again, “Where is God now?” And I heard a voice in myself answer: “Where is He? He is here. He is hanging there on the gallows :”

Jesus’ cry is a fork in the road. We can either choose to believe that at the end of that cry is nothing, only silence.

Or we can believe that, even in the absence, there is a presence.

That presence is God, a God who suffers with us even in our darkest moments, as God suffered what Jesus suffered.

Suffering and death are real. So is love. The miracle? Love can bring life out of death.

– Send e-mail to Peter Luckey at peterluckey@sunflower.com.

People of faith fail, but still forgiven

The Rev. Randy Beeman, senior pastor, First Christian Church, 1000 Ky.:

Luke 23:33-34: “There they crucified him. And Jesus said, ‘Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.'”

I have heard, “I couldn’t be a Christian because the church is so full of hypocrites.” I believe that the assumption of many in our community is that people in the faith community are perfect.

There are some who try to convince others that they have attained perfection. This is interesting because in the Bible we are reminded that we all have failed to live perfectly.

I would disagree that the church is full of hypocrites. If you mean that the church is full of people who still fail, I would strongly agree. I believe that most of us fail; we know it and we seek to change. Yesterday I was mad at the person who took my parking place downtown. I was impatient the other day with my son, who wasn’t in the car at the appointed time. I confess: I fail! Please forgive me.

That’s why “Father forgive them” is so meaningful. Jesus’ ministry was centered on extending the love of God, even when we didn’t deserve it. Once again, on the cross, Jesus exemplifies what he taught, “forgive.”

When people fail, they sometimes ask for forgiveness. The person responding says, “Ah, forget it. That’s OK. It was nothing.” The cross reminds us that what we do wrong does mean something, and it isn’t OK. But Jesus goes further to say that his response and ours is, “I forgive you.” Aren’t you glad Jesus didn’t say to us, “It’s OK. Ah, forget about it.” Instead he said, “I forgive you.”

Those in the community faith are hypocrites? No. Those in the community of faith fail? Yes. And Jesus remind us, we also are forgiven.

– Send e-mail to Randy Beeman at rbeeman@sunflower.com.