Pastor, what is the meaning of suffering? Wow what a question! I was asked that about ten years ago while serving as a chaplain at the Duke Medical center. Overall I think the answer I gave is still true: Suffering is not something God wills or inflicts on us but is simply a part of the human condition. God reaches out to us in our suffering and gives us hope.

Lately I have been having to take my own advice. I have been suffering for over a year with pain. and I am finally taking action by having surgery to correct the problem. I put it off for so long not because I was sacred or in denial, but because I just felt like I didn't have the time. Wayne Muller rites in his book on sabbath that the gift of the Hebrew sabbath is that it comes every Friday at sundown. At that time you must stop. It does not matter if it is at 4:30 in the middle of winter or late in the summer evening. Whenever it comes you stop. Weather you are done with a project or not you stop. If we wait until we are finished we will never stop because we are never finished. There is always something more to do. It is a gift that forces us to stop and to rest renew and heal.

So even though I picked a time when things are relatively quiet around the church, I still am confronted with things that must be done. Yet I must stop and heal, just as Jesus took time to renew, we too must follow this example and gift that is given to us, and allow God's hope to break through our suffering and live in Gods grace.