Pub Theology 10/1/24 -- Hurricanes, floods, and suffering
Hurricane Helene brought devastating wind and flood damage to several Southeastern states last week. Especially hard hit were communities in the mountains of eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina, including the city of Asheville. As of this writing, nearly 90 people have been reported killed across six states, with thousands more displaced. Entire towns have reportedly been "erased" by the power of floods and mudslides, and much of the region remains inaccessible due to destroyed roads and rail lines.
With this in mind, it's worth thinking about one of the great stories of suffering that appears in Scripture. Of course, I'm referring to the Book of Job, which we will start reading next week as part of the Sunday lectionary at St. Mary's. As writer and United Church of Christ pastor Bruce Epperly puts it, the Book of Job is "one of the greatest and most challenging descriptions of both God and the human condition. Job is every man, every woman, and every person who faces unexpected and unanticipated life-changing suffering."
The Book of Job, Epperly suggests, represents an opportunity for us to think about the phenomenon of suffering -- not just ours but that of others as well -- and what that means for our understanding of our relationship with God.
Epperly continues: "Life is difficult. Pain happens. We don’t know its source but we must endure or make the best of it. ... Job invites [us] to reflect on the universality of suffering. ... No one is immune from suffering of body, mind, spirit, or relationships. It’s only a matter of time. Suffering can ennoble or destroy us. We never fully know our character until we face unwarranted and unexpected suffering. As Viktor Frankl suggests, however, we are called to be worthy of our suffering, and that’s one of the themes of Job. Despite his pain, he must seek to be as moral and noble as possible. For Job, this will mean challenging God’s own justice."
So what are we to take away from all of this? Is God capricious and arbitrary in his omniscience? We might fear such a God, but how on earth could we love or worship him? What is God's role in the suffering we, and others, experience? This is all worth thinking, and talking about, as Epperly notes, "suffering challenges our vision of God and the goodness of the universe."
Join us for the conversation this Tuesday, Oct. 1, beginning at 7pm at Casa Real in downtown Oxford.
