The Monday Morning Quarterback
In yesterday's sermon, Where is God?", the text upon which I focused was Psalm 77. Referring to Mother Theresa's struggle with a sense of God's absence, even God's abandonment, I tried to make sense of it through both scripture and Christian History.
God deals with each of us uniquely, and so our experience of God is unique. For example, St. Francis de Sales who lived in the seventeenth century and wrote An Introduction to the Devout Life, reported that his experience of God was so close, 15 minutes was the greatest duration of time that he was not aware of God's presence. On the other hand, the experience of many spiritual masters included a sense--sometimes for very long periods of time--of God's utter absence. St. John of the Cross wrote about this "dark night of the soul."
I was aware not long after Mother Theresa's death that she had experienced this long dark night of the soul. When the new book on her came out and I read some articles about it and the depth of this "darkness," I must admit that it made me cringe and tell God that I hoped He wouldn't put me through something like that.
But, if in our following Jesus we do experience the dark night of the soul, we shouldn't be surprised that it happens to some. Our task is to stay engaged with God. We need to 1) voice our experience, our doubts, our feeling abandoned to God and not pretend that everything is OK. 2) We need to remember the past, to remember this great story of which we are apart, God's acting not only in history but also in our own lives. 3) We need to remind ourselves that feelings of God's presence is not the only evidence of our faith. Feelings are important to our lives, but we shouldn't run our lives based on our feelings. 4) We need spiritual friends with whom we can share our struggle. Mother Theresa had a series of spiritual directors and advisors, and confidants that she used to share her struggle. We need one another and we need trusted spiritual friends with whom we can share our struggle, receive good counsel, and be in prayer.
As I mentioned in an earlier blog, Scot McKnight is blogging on the book. He has blogged about it today. I find his reviews interesting, informative, and thought-provoking.
God deals with each of us uniquely, and so our experience of God is unique. For example, St. Francis de Sales who lived in the seventeenth century and wrote An Introduction to the Devout Life, reported that his experience of God was so close, 15 minutes was the greatest duration of time that he was not aware of God's presence. On the other hand, the experience of many spiritual masters included a sense--sometimes for very long periods of time--of God's utter absence. St. John of the Cross wrote about this "dark night of the soul."
I was aware not long after Mother Theresa's death that she had experienced this long dark night of the soul. When the new book on her came out and I read some articles about it and the depth of this "darkness," I must admit that it made me cringe and tell God that I hoped He wouldn't put me through something like that.
But, if in our following Jesus we do experience the dark night of the soul, we shouldn't be surprised that it happens to some. Our task is to stay engaged with God. We need to 1) voice our experience, our doubts, our feeling abandoned to God and not pretend that everything is OK. 2) We need to remember the past, to remember this great story of which we are apart, God's acting not only in history but also in our own lives. 3) We need to remind ourselves that feelings of God's presence is not the only evidence of our faith. Feelings are important to our lives, but we shouldn't run our lives based on our feelings. 4) We need spiritual friends with whom we can share our struggle. Mother Theresa had a series of spiritual directors and advisors, and confidants that she used to share her struggle. We need one another and we need trusted spiritual friends with whom we can share our struggle, receive good counsel, and be in prayer.
As I mentioned in an earlier blog, Scot McKnight is blogging on the book. He has blogged about it today. I find his reviews interesting, informative, and thought-provoking.
posted by UCC Medfield at 8:28 AM
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