Sunday Afternoon Musing
I was listening to one of my favorite preachers on the way to church this morning. Colin Smith was speaking, and he referred to the life of John Bunyan and the heartache of knowing that his stand for the truth of the gospel and subsequent imprisonment cost him twelve years of life, separated from his blind and much-beloved daughter. It was a crushing blow for a loving father and for the daughter who adored him. But it was what faithfulness to Jesus demanded in the tumultuous times in which he lived.
Then Colin drew out an application for his congregation and for all of us by simply asking the question, “Do you think a pastor who had gone through such sufferings might have something powerful to say to your own affliction?” It was rhetorical, of course. And of course, my spirit responded as yours would have: “Yes.”
And God in that moment had me reflect on some of the “troubles” I have experienced over the last six years. I’m not going to enumerate all of them here except by way of summary: leaving a church I loved, the betrayal of friend, the death of another friend, the death of my sister, COVID, losing another friend, having to find a new church, moving 15 hours west from a neighborhood and neighbors I loved, having to find yet another church, multiple surgeries, cancer found and cut out, starting service with a new Ministry (Standing Stone Ministry), and a dozen changes, transitions, and afflictions. All of those things have made my heart more tender to those in pain, more conscious of the fastness of time’s movement, and more aware that my own time is shorter.
I quickly reviewed what has happened in the last six years and was reminded that, without the “forced” semi-retirement from pastoral ministry, COVID, and everything else that has happened in the last six years I would have never finished six manuscripts, 3 published (Liturgies for Life, The Ultimate Book of Names, and Close Reading), and 3 more ready for publishing (Praying the Scripture, Intentional Withness, and Poetic Reflections on Psalms (Psalm 1-41), and started the manuscripts for five others. There is no POSSIBLE way that I could have otherwise been this productive without the pains, losses, and sorrows of the last six years.
So today, as I reflect back over the day, I am grateful to God for the sorrows of yesterday. He has been faithful. I am a better man than I would have been without them. And I think, I am more helpful to the ones I love. God is good.
Sidenotes:
Praying the Scripture
will probably be released first.
Poetic Reflections,
covering the first 41 Psalms in the Psalter will come out next summer.
Intentional Withness,
will be release in early Spring after it goes through final revisions.
