The gift of suffering
In Christian tradition, it is Good Friday, the day commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus on the cross between two thieves. Just prior to his trial and eventual crucifixion he has asked God if some other way could not be found. He also, during that prayer, told God that he accepted whatever God thought was necessary.
One can hardly imagine suffering worse than being nailed alive to a cross in the hot sun.
All religious teachers including the Buddha accept that suffering is a part of life; not only a part of life but a time when we can make a choice – to be with the pain as we pass through it or to run from it by numbing ourselves out in some way only to face even more suffering at some later date. In the midst of suffering we have an opportunity to trust that a resurrection will take place. The resurrection that we experience is not, as Christians believe with Jesus, an actual death and resurrection, but the resurrection of the strong part of us who is able to practice the serenity prayer and focus on reclaiming the part of us which is able to accept our own humanness – to accept that we, as humans, are enough, and, as humans can be love and can be loved.
This week Krista Tippett’s conversation on the podcast On Being is with Richard Rorh, the Franciscan teacher, writer, and founder of The Center for Action and Contemplation. I urge the reader to listen to this podcast and to consider reading one of his books including his latest Divine Dance.
I could talk about many of the ideas and beliefs which Father Rorh shares, but since this is Good Friday, as I listened I was particularly interested in what he has to say about suffering. He says, “… the human ego will (not) give up control and hand over control until it has to. [laughs] Why would we? And, you know, the 12-steppers have discovered this. They call it the first step, the admission of powerlessness. But who of us would take on suffering voluntarily? It pretty much has to be forced onto us.”
We humans run from pain or even from what we think might be pain until we are brought to our knees and no longer have the energy or even the will to run. We reluctantly face the pain and, if lucky, begin to move through it. We kick, scream and shout to anyone who will hear us, including the God of our understanding, that we are cannot do this. We cannot stand the pain. In the 12-step program it is said that if one is sick and tired of being sick and tired one will stop, face the pain, move through it and discover the miracle of resurrection which will happen “if we do not give up just before the miracle.” At the time we are living in the midst of the pain we are not thinking that with the help of others and the God of our understanding if we take what Soren Kierkegaard the Danish theologian called the leap of Faith, we shall experience the resurrection – the rebirth of that strong, innocent, trusting child who entered this world knowing that he/she was enough.
The paradox is, of course, that without suffering there can be no death and without death there can be no resurrection/rebirth.
Whether one believes that the Good Friday and Easter stories are literally true or are a metaphorical truth describing the cycle of birth, growth, death, and rebirth for all of life does not, in my mind matter. In this life dance we are either going to move forwards or backwards. We can either keep running from suffering because we believe we are too weak or fragile to face our discomfort or we can trust in that leap of faith and move through what may seem like the excruciating pain of the crucifixion in that hot sun with nothing but vinegar to drink to the resurrection.
Father Rorh says that one of his daily prayers comes out of his knowing how vulnerable he is to allowing praise to feed his ego and, thus, to run from his own humanness. That prayer is, “ I ask God for one good humiliation a day, and I usually get it, one hate letter or whatever it might be.” This prayer comes out of his knowledge or belief that, “” See, I’m convinced that the discovery of a true God and the discovery of the true self are simultaneous journeys, and they feed one another. When you meet the true self, you’re most open to a bigger, truer name for God. When you meet a bigger, truer, more loving God, you surrender to that same identity within yourself.’
Today, on this good Friday I will accept that it is safe to face my own suffering which will lead me to the resurrection of all that is good and strong and holy within me. Today I will give thanks not for suffering per se but for the opportunity and the strength to face the suffering which for all of us humans experience on the road to the resurrection.
Written April 14, 2017
In Christian tradition, it is Good Friday, the day commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus on the cross between two thieves. Just prior to his trial and eventual crucifixion he has asked God if some other way could not be found. He also, during that prayer, told God that he accepted whatever God thought was necessary.
One can hardly imagine suffering worse than being nailed alive to a cross in the hot sun.
All religious teachers including the Buddha accept that suffering is a part of life; not only a part of life but a time when we can make a choice – to be with the pain as we pass through it or to run from it by numbing ourselves out in some way only to face even more suffering at some later date. In the midst of suffering we have an opportunity to trust that a resurrection will take place. The resurrection that we experience is not, as Christians believe with Jesus, an actual death and resurrection, but the resurrection of the strong part of us who is able to practice the serenity prayer and focus on reclaiming the part of us which is able to accept our own humanness – to accept that we, as humans, are enough, and, as humans can be love and can be loved.
This week Krista Tippett’s conversation on the podcast On Being is with Richard Rorh, the Franciscan teacher, writer, and founder of The Center for Action and Contemplation. I urge the reader to listen to this podcast and to consider reading one of his books including his latest Divine Dance.
I could talk about many of the ideas and beliefs which Father Rorh shares, but since this is Good Friday, as I listened I was particularly interested in what he has to say about suffering. He says, “… the human ego will (not) give up control and hand over control until it has to. [laughs] Why would we? And, you know, the 12-steppers have discovered this. They call it the first step, the admission of powerlessness. But who of us would take on suffering voluntarily? It pretty much has to be forced onto us.”
We humans run from pain or even from what we think might be pain until we are brought to our knees and no longer have the energy or even the will to run. We reluctantly face the pain and, if lucky, begin to move through it. We kick, scream and shout to anyone who will hear us, including the God of our understanding, that we are cannot do this. We cannot stand the pain. In the 12-step program it is said that if one is sick and tired of being sick and tired one will stop, face the pain, move through it and discover the miracle of resurrection which will happen “if we do not give up just before the miracle.” At the time we are living in the midst of the pain we are not thinking that with the help of others and the God of our understanding if we take what Soren Kierkegaard the Danish theologian called the leap of Faith, we shall experience the resurrection – the rebirth of that strong, innocent, trusting child who entered this world knowing that he/she was enough.
The paradox is, of course, that without suffering there can be no death and without death there can be no resurrection/rebirth.
Whether one believes that the Good Friday and Easter stories are literally true or are a metaphorical truth describing the cycle of birth, growth, death, and rebirth for all of life does not, in my mind matter. In this life dance we are either going to move forwards or backwards. We can either keep running from suffering because we believe we are too weak or fragile to face our discomfort or we can trust in that leap of faith and move through what may seem like the excruciating pain of the crucifixion in that hot sun with nothing but vinegar to drink to the resurrection.
Father Rorh says that one of his daily prayers comes out of his knowing how vulnerable he is to allowing praise to feed his ego and, thus, to run from his own humanness. That prayer is, “ I ask God for one good humiliation a day, and I usually get it, one hate letter or whatever it might be.” This prayer comes out of his knowledge or belief that, “” See, I’m convinced that the discovery of a true God and the discovery of the true self are simultaneous journeys, and they feed one another. When you meet the true self, you’re most open to a bigger, truer name for God. When you meet a bigger, truer, more loving God, you surrender to that same identity within yourself.’
Today, on this good Friday I will accept that it is safe to face my own suffering which will lead me to the resurrection of all that is good and strong and holy within me. Today I will give thanks not for suffering per se but for the opportunity and the strength to face the suffering which for all of us humans experience on the road to the resurrection.
Written April 14, 2017
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