United Church of Pittsford

paraphrase of portions of I Peter 4
from “Epistles/Now”

As Leslie Brandt states in his paraphrase of a portion of the First Letter of Peter, “Suffering, trails, conflict come to all of us
at one time or another!”

Life can be difficult, painful, scary, and cruel!

We grieve the loss of loved ones . . . and often, ask “why,”
especially when death seems particularly ill-timed and inappropriate . . . such as with the death of a child or a young person;
such as with a death caused by accident, or a random act of nature;
such as a death caused by illness or disease; such as a death caused by the indiscriminate anger, violence, hatred, and killing present in our own community and in every troubled corner of this world.

There are broken relationships, broken promises, unfulfilled expectations, personal failures.

There are fearful struggles with illness and disease . . . taxing, and at times, even dangerous struggles with those who oppose us, who threaten us, who disagree with us, who wish us harm.

There are times when we long to be forgiven for the mistakes of the past . . as well as times when we find it a difficult and daunting challenge to extend kindness and forgiveness to someone who has hurt us.

Life can be difficult, demanding, painful, scary, and cruel!

It is our faith, our trust that the Good Lord will somehow, in some way, help us, aid us, support us, and see us through our difficulties . . . that can sustain us while we pass through that dark valley of personal pain, sorrow, brokenness, and despair.

And, it is our church family, the community of faith, acting as agents of God’s hopeful and healing grace, that can help us, aid us, support us,
and see us through those difficulties.

At one point, while Sir Edmund Hillary and his native guide were making their historic climb up Mount Everest . . . Hillary slipped, lost his footing, and tumbled into a treacherous crevice.

Fortunately, Sir Edmund and his guide were bound together by a strong rope.

With much effort . . . while teetering on a precarious perch,
the Nepalese guide was able to pull his British companion,
inch by inch, back to safety.

The guide was later asked about the difficult and challenging event,
and simply replied, “Mountain climbers always help each other.”

It is the same with the Christian community, with our church family . . .
we are bound together by the love of Christ . . . a bond that requires us to care for, support, encourage, and love one another through whatever may befall us . . . for Christians always help each other!

That care and support can be quite tangible . . . such as the sharing
of material necessities and/or desperately needed funds.

Likewise, that care and support, that comfort and encouragement can be expressed through many intangibles . . . such as the sharing of
much needed forgiveness, or an encouraging word . . . or such as
just being present with another, in a time of trouble.

The story is told of a time, during Queen Victoria’s reign, when she heard that the wife of a common laborer had lost her baby.

Having experienced deep sorrow herself, she felt moved to express her sympathy.

So, she made arrangements to visit the bereaved woman, and spent some time with her.

After she left, the woman was asked what the queen had said.

“Nothing,” replied the grieving mother.

“She simply took hold of my hands, and we silently wept together.”

Sometimes . . . occasions arise when there is really nothing helpful
that can be said in the face of a particular tragedy.

There are no logical explanations . . . no adequate theological answers, reasons, or justifications for what has transpired . . .
and no way, whatsoever, to make any sense of the situation . . .
there is just the pain, sorrow, fear, confusion, loneliness, and despair.

Sometimes . . . we may avoid those frightful and pain-filled situations . . . and unfortunately leave the hurting person alone . . . because we don’t know what to say.

Other times . . . we may add to that persons suffering by attempting to explain the unexplainable . . . or provide some inadequate
theological answer, reason, or justification that actually alienates
the afflicted person from God by inadvertently encouraging a sense of fear, anger, frustration, or guilt.

A little girl returned home from a visit to a neighbor’s house where her playmate had died.

“Why did you go over there, honey?” her father asked . . . surprised by her action, and concerned for how she was dealing with her own grief.

“To comfort her mother,” the child responded.

“What could you possibly do to comfort her mother?” the father then inquired.

“I climbed into her lap,” the little girl answered, “and cried with her.”

There are occasions, when that is really all we can do to bring comfort to a suffering soul . . . and often, that is enough!

Often . . . when a person is grieving a loss . . . or coping with the fear,
and suffering the pain and anguish associated with some debilitating
illness or disease . . . or struggling with some irrational act of injustice . . . rarely does that person need answers, explanations,
or rational justifications for their unfortunate condition . . . what that person desperately needs is emotional support, a listening ear,
a warm embrace, gentle encouragement, and comforting love!

As Brandt says in his biblical paraphrase, “This is what it means to belong to the family of God.”

Not only are we called to care for one another . . . but to bear witness
for one another, of those occasions when the Good Lord saw us through some experience of suffering, some personal trial,
some painful conflict . . . and in that way, our faith, our trust in the Lord becomes an encouragement for those who need
to believe in, to trust in God’s loving involvement and intervention in their lives.

Life can be difficult, demanding, painful, scary, and cruel!

However, the Good Lord never leaves us alone with our suffering . . . somehow, in some way, God always sees us through . . .
and one way that happens is through God’s hopeful and healing love empowered and expressed through each one of us as we share it
with one another.

Amen.