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Up-to-the-minute jumping-off points for sermons, linking the reading to the latest news and global issues
Hearing, seeing and understanding Job 42.5-6
Context
It has been said that truth is the first casualty of war. How do we get to the truth of situations on the ground in the conflict in the Middle East? e.g. the Israeli strike near a hospital in Beirut last Monday. Does knowing about the destruction in Gaza help us towards a deep understanding of the humanitarian catastrophe that is unfolding in front of us day by day?
Civil war in Sudan continues to cause unprecedented suffering: we hear about it but do we see in a way that leads to understanding?
How do hearing and seeing combine to help us make sense of the world?
How much do we need to know about the impacts of biodiversity loss before we understand, change and act?
Ideas for sermons or interactive talks
How do we respond to the ‘happy ending’ for Job, after so much suffering, when we know that this is not the way that events turn out for everyone who suffers? Not every poor soul who cries is saved from every trouble (Psalm 34.6). Sometimes it is so hard to listen out for God’s voice when pain or distress are drowning out everything. Job says that he had heard of God, but he had not truly seen God. Part of Job’s repentance is about this not seeing, not understanding, not knowing deep in his bones.
But how do we even begin to experience God when all around us falls apart? The clocks have gone back and we are at the turning of the year. As leaves fall and daylight hours get shorter we have an opportunity to reflect on what we can learn from times of change, darkness and loss. Many people find this time of year depressing because of the reminders of emptiness and decay. What spiritual practices can help us through? The poet Mary Oliver wrote an intriguing poem called “The Uses of Sorrow”. How do we respond to the gift of darkness?
God’s ways can seem mysterious, confusing or even downright incomprehensible to us. The Psalms are full of cries of ‘when?’ and ‘why?’ and it is so true of our own lives that suffering - our own or that of others - can make us question God. Why? Why? And Where are you God? Job struggles and argues which is a way of working though a situation that seems to have no point except pain or punishment. How much of our own lives are reflected in the various conversations that we have followed through this book? Job’s experience of God is a life-changing moment for him. Confucius once said "I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand." Will Job go on to believe and live differently so that his life demonstrates his new experience of God rather than belief expressed in following rules?
In the ending of Job’s story God shows up - but there are no direct answers to all of the questions that Job has asked God. God accepts Job’s questioning and shows Job not a list of answers but something about God’s self. So what does Job see/understand? He learns that there is so much more to see and know of God than we can ever imagine and this new experience prompts Job to wonder ‘Who is this?’ (Job 42.3). There is nothing that God cannot do but that does not mean that God will give us the answers we seek or do what we want. And in the end, there is no answer but there is God’s presence when all else is absent, holding our struggles when our understanding runs out. And in the mystery of God’s presence we are asked to trust - whether or not there is a happy ending.
Diane Craven is a Freelance Education and Spirituality Consultant and a Reader in the Church of England.
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Connecting faith with everyday, real-life issues for young people
On Tuesday, a team of scientists announced their discovery that a giant meteorite strike played a significant part in the development of advanced life on earth over three billion years ago. By examining fragments of space rock from the impact site in South Africa, they believe that the meteorite created a 500km crater, sending out rocks and dust that formed a cloud around the earth and a huge tsunami to sweep the globe and turn the skies black. The huge amount of energy involved would have boiled the oceans and raised air temperatures by 100°C. The impact of all of this would have been to almost wipe out the simple single-cell life-forms that existed at the time.
It is tempting to assume that dust clouds, dark skies and boiling seas made for a devastating outcome, yet the team believes that this impact was actually the beginning of life as we know it. It churned up and distributed nutrients such as iron and phosphorus which were necessary for growth to develop, creating the conditions for life to flourish. As creator of all things, God was present and working through all of this.
This pattern of life, catastrophic events, growth and flourishing is similar to the story of Job. His life was upended by catastrophic events as he lost everything he had and suffered in his health, yet he grew in understanding when he encountered God in the storm. In Job 42:1-6, 10-17, we discover that Job is again going through a period of flourishing in his life, and through it all he has learned that God is present in everything: the good times and the bad times.
Take a moment to look back on one particularly good event and one particularly challenging event in your life. Where was God in each of these?
Job proclaims that God is all-powerful, able to perform “things too wonderful for me to know” (v. 3), but he also acknowledges that he has not only heard about God, but seen God with his own eyes. Where do you see God in the world today?
Many scientists see God at work when they make discoveries such as the meteorite strike announced this week. America’s first female astronomer, Maria Mitchell, wrote “Scientific investigations… will reveal new ways in which God works” while Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, told CNN, “God can be found in the cathedral or the laboratory. By investigating God’s majestic creation, science can actually be a means of worship.” Others find God in art, music, nature, silence, community, activism and so many other ways. What connects you most with God and helps you realise God’s greatness?
Darren Philip is National Stewardship Consultant with the Church of Scotland where he writes resources for intergenerational ministry.
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