Bad Theology & Suffering: What God is NOT Doing in the Midst of Our Hurt

"Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished?  Where were the upright ever destroyed?"     -Eliphaz 

"If we have a bad day, we have missed something somewhere because God has made provision for us to enjoy His blessings." -Gloria Copeland

     Whether they know it or not, prosperity preachers have managed to make a belief system as rigid and depressing as “retribution theology” incredibly appealing to modern audiences.  How does one do this?  Focus only on the “divine reward” section and take the “divine” part out of “punishment,” leaving it as something man brings on himself.  Now, God is limited to bringing about only “good” things like success and wealth.  Well-known prosperity preacher Robert Tilton has done nothing more than re-name the “law of retribution” to something more appealing: the “law of compensation.”   The framework of the Prosperity Gospel’s “success formula,” touted as a “universal or cosmic law,” is that “financial success will come to those who have the faith to believe it and who are themselves a giving people.”   Define “success” in terms of the worldly treasures and God becomes a cosmic ATM machine, only dispensing those things that we ask for to make us happy.  This distorted view of “blessings” also creates a distorted view of “suffering,” which can no longer come from God.  Things like sickness, pain, and poverty can only come from Satan or man’s own foolishness, because God does not allow or cause those things for His children.   “If we have a bad day, we have missed something somewhere because God has made provision for us to enjoy His blessings.”   In other words, if you are not receiving Gloria Copeland’s definition of blessings (health, wealth, and success), it’s your fault.  

       This part of prosperity teaching is the same retribution theology espoused by Job’s friends.  Eliphaz, in Job 4:6-7, asks.  “Should not your piety be your confidence and your blameless ways your hope?  Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished?  Where were the upright ever destroyed?”  Bildad is a bit blunter when, in 8:2-4, he rebukes Job’s claims of innocence: “How long will you say such things? You words are a blustering wind.  Does God pervert justice?  Does the Almighty pervert what is right?  When your children sinned against him, he gave them over to the penalty of their sin.”   Worse than blaming Job, Bildad places causality in the hands of Job’s children.  Much like Jesus’ apostles in John 9, retribution theology and Prosperity theology center on causality, or identifying the source of suffering.  As Job reflects on his “bad day,” prosperity preachers can only remind him, “If we have a bad day, we have missed something.”  What stinging words of hopelessness and despair in the midst of such tragedy!  Yet this is exactly what retribution theology and Prosperity teaching offers in such situations.

Far from the Bible’s portrayal of God as caring for the oppressed and the downtrodden, Prosperity preachers can offer only a guilt-centered solution: get right with God.

       It is important to note here how retribution theology, and thus Prosperity teaching, works “in reverse.”  If God always rewards the righteous with success, and poverty and sickness are always a result of man’s refusing to follow Him, then a man like Job, in the throes of despair and suffering, can only be looked down upon as “unblessed.”   God has not brought this upon Job; Job has brought it upon himself.  Retribution theology and the Prosperity Gospel unfortunately share a terrible view of the poor and diseased: they have brought it upon themselves.  Far from the Bible’s portrayal of God as caring for the oppressed and the downtrodden, Prosperity preachers can offer only a guilt-centered solution: get right with God.  The words of W. Edward Glenny in his analysis of retribution theology, “…this doctrine becomes a reason to reject people who are hurting (…) [because] suffering is seen as the judgment of God for sin and wickedness” echoes both J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu’s criticism of Prosperity teaching when he proclaims that “these churches make little room for the poor” and the AJET Editorial’s remarks that “the Prosperity Gospel victimizes the poor.”   In the face of suffering, instead of pointing people to God, the Prosperity Gospel, like retribution theology, points people back to themselves.   Creflo Dollar says that “every failure in life is a prayer failure.”   God’s sovereignty as seen in His ability to use suffering to benefit and strengthen His people is taken away, leaving “the poor, the marginalized, and those who have not succeeded without any grounds for faith in God.” 

The above article is an excerpt from my term paper, "Retribution Theology, Sunny-Side Up: Examining the Prosperity Gospel through the Lenses of Job."  If you would like to read the entire paper, email me at grego [dot] parks [at] gmail [dot] com.

References:

Sarles, Ken L. "A Theological Evaluation of the Prosperity Gospel." Bibliotheca Sacra 143, no. 572 (October 1, 1986): 329-352.

Hollinger, Dennis P. "Enjoying God Forever : An Historical/Sociological Profile of the Health and Wealth Gospel." Trinity Journal 9, no. 2 (September 1, 1988): 131-149.

Calvin, Jean, and Knox Bucer-Beza. "The real prosperity gospel: God's ways may be hidden, but his purpose for us is not." Christianity Today 53, no. 4 (April 1, 2009): 58-318. 

Copeland, Gloria. Blessed Beyond Measure: Experience the Extraordinary Goodness of God. Tulsa, OK: Harrison House, 2004.

Withrow, Lisa R. "Success and the Prosperity Gospel: From Commodification toTransformation: A Wesleyan Perspective." Journal of Religious Leadership 6, no. 2 (September 1, 2007): 15-41.

Glenny, W. Edward. “How Well Do You Know God? The Dangers of Retribution Theology.” Searching Together 23 (Spring 1995): 13-17.

Asamoah-Gyadu, J Kwabena. “Did Jesus Wear Designer Robes? The Gospel preached in Africa’s new Pentecostal churches ends up leaving the poor more impoverished than ever.” Christianity Today 53, no. 11 (November 1, 2009): 38-41.

Gehman, Richard J. “The Prosperity Gospel: An AJET Editorial.” Africa Journal of Evangelical Theology 20, no. 1 (2001): 1-2.

Ross, Bobby, Jr. "Prosperity Gospel on Skid Row: Difficulties of high-profile pastors may reorient movement -- or reinforce it." Christianity Today 53, no. 2 (February 1, 2009): 12-13.

Dollar, Creflo. Eight Steps to Create the Life You Want: The Anatomy of a Successful Life. New York: FaithWords, 2008.

Comfort From Those Who Have Been There

One of my most treasured experiences as part of my grief studies this semester has been sitting down with members of our congregation who have lost someone, whether recently or many years ago, and letting them share their story and their wisdom with me.  I took some time earlier this week to go back and listen to the recordings of our conversations again and pull out some common themes.  Two of these ladies lost their husbands and the third lost her mother, all quite suddenly.  All three were forced to deal with the pain of grief that came out of nowhere, from a loss that was neither expected nor welcomed.  And all three are beautiful testimonies to the goodness of God and the strength and comfort He provides.

One of the questions I asked all three of these ladies was "What would you say to someone now who has just lost someone close to them and is beginning their own journey through grief?"  Two key phrases came up in all three conversations, which occurred separately and weeks apart from each other- to me that says these two pieces of wisdom are worth sharing here.

First, take life moment by moment in these beginning weeks and months.  The realization that someone we have shared our life with is gone does not come all at once- it comes gradually, and therefore painfully, in the little reminders of every part of our day where we once again catch ourselves looking for them or wondering where they are, only to remember they are gone.  Our minds have become so accustomed to their presence that our brain seems to play dirty little tricks on us, wherein we turn to say something to our loved one, suddenly remember they are gone and become emotional for a few moments, then turn and do the same thing again just an hour later.  It is a very painful and gut-wrenching experience these first few weeks as we re-train our minds to no longer look for their face or listen for their voice.  The silence that is left in their place is deafening, especially after the friends and family have gone back to their lives after the obligatory two-week vigil with us.

This painful process of gradual realization requires us to take life moment by moment, to focus only on the step we are on, and to allow ourselves the time necessary to cry, to weep, to mourn, and to miss our loved one each time we are reminded that they are gone.  These are the times where we are the most tempted to go around our grief rather than through it, because the pain is just too great.  And certainly there are times where we need to choose to walk away for a bit and let our minds and our hearts focus on something else.  But as one of these ladies told me:

"I found my tears to be helpful and to be healing because when I cried, it emptied out the fullness I felt of grief so I could have spare [room] to fill up again with peace."

What a beautiful illustration of grief allowing us the necessary act of "emptying ourselves" through tears and sadness so that we can be free to be filled up again with peace, comfort, and hope.  This "emptying" is such an important part of grief, and I believe it is part of the wisdom found in Ecclesiastes 7:2,

"It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart."

If we continually go to the house of feasting, we will deprive ourselves of the emptiness needed to be filled with the "peace that passes understanding" promised to us in Philippians 4:6-11.  Remember, one who is empty can find comfort and peace with God in a way that a full person cannot.

Second, it will get better.  Perhaps the most difficult advice to believe is that, eventually, this ache will lessen, the crying will taper, and the difficulty of simply getting through a day will become lighter.  But all three of these ladies are testimonies to the fact that grief does get better over time.   There is hope to be found, there is light at the end of this dark tunnel, and you will not feel this way forever.  The "emptying" mentioned above will not be needed forever.   Eventually, that peace and hope will remain longer and longer, and the emptiness will begin to lessen, until we come to a place where we are filled in a new way.  We will still have moments where we need to grieve and remember, but we will no longer need to empty ourselves in the process; the peace and comfort we have now stays with us, even in times of sadness.

And in this new "fullness," we have become different person.  We have allowed our grief to shape us, to mature us, to strengthen us and to make us wise.  It has not dominated us completely, but we have allowed it to serve a purpose for us.  We have not ignored our grief or treated it like an illness to be cured- we have given it the time and attention it asks for, and we continue to do so, only in new and less "dominating" ways.  We are filled with hope and peace in a way that we would never have been before were it not for our grief forcing us to empty ourselves so that we could be filled again.  And for that, we are better. 

For all of us missing loved ones around the Thanksgiving table this holiday, may God grant us that fullness, not just the kind that comes from turkey and dressing, but that comes from the peace and hope that only He can grant.

Lion Cannibalism, Theodicy, & The Joker

"You know what I've noticed?  Nobody panics when things go 'according to plan.'  Even if the plan is horrifying!"  -The Joker

This past Sunday afternoon at the Dallas Zoo, a pair of lion brothers fatally attacked a lioness in their pride, seizing her by the throat and crushing her.  Horrified guests at the zoo could only look on helplessly.  The zoo quickly issued a "Code Red" and cleared the lion exhibit, and the remaining lions have been separated from the two attackers.  (The cats will not be euthanized.)

Zoo officials and animal experts have called it a "seemingly unprovoked attack."

The reaction to this attack has been interesting.  People who the night before lounged partially amused on the couch watching lions attack each other (along with zebras and gazelles) on the National Geographic channel were suddenly horrified by the same thing occurring in front of them at the zoo.

Why?  Because this wasn't "according to plan."

Big cats in captivity are supposed to be tame (we say), to have their natural instincts slowly worn down.  We go to a zoo to see big powerful lions yawn and spend lazy days in the sun, not tap into their God-given "wild animal side" and kill each other.

But lion attacks on National Geographic on safari, in the wilds of Africa?  No problem.  Horrifying, yes, but also "according to plan."

Now, don't get me wrong.  I would probably have been horrified, too, especially if Nolan (my 3-month old son) was there with me.  As much as I respect the "red in tooth and claw" aspect of nature, I've always had a soft-spot for animals (especially dogs), and it saddens me that this beautiful lioness (described as "clever" and "playful" by her handlers) was taken down in such an unexpected and violent manner.  It really is a tough thing and I feel for those who are mourning her loss.

But it got me thinking about how we, as human beings, react to death and tragedy in different contexts.  The Joker was on to something when he observed that no one really freaks out in reaction to death and tragedy when they are "according to plan."  If the context calls for death and tragedy as a part of the "natural order of things," such as a soldier being killed in a war zone, we react differently than if that same soldier is shot in his stateside army barracks by a fellow soldier, or gunned down outside of his home in a quiet suburban neighborhood.

Or when captive lions in a zoo suddenly kill one of their own.

How we react to tragedy reveals a lot about ourselves as human beings, but it also reveals a lot about our view of God.  Theodicy is the area of the theological study that deals with how we reconcile God and suffering.  It looks at questions like "How can a benevolent God allow all this suffering in the world?" and "How much control does God have over evil in this world?"  And as Christians I think we tend to waiver between two somewhat contradictory views about God and suffering.  When things go "according to plan," i.e. we experience tragedy that is expected or somewhat warranted by the situation, we don't question God, and we chalk it up to things like "natural law" and a "broken, fallen creation."  But when tragedy strikes without warning and doesn't follow our preconceived ideas about how this world should work, we suddenly question God's love, His power, even His every existence, and our faith is dashed against the rocks in a moment of despair and confusion.

So, for example, when we see lions kill each other in the Serengeti or the casualties of war, Christians tend to say "Well, there's Genesis 3 for you.  All this violence in creation- one day it will be righted."  But when we lose a loved one in a freak car accident or see "tame" lions kill each other in the zoo exhibit, we question everything, including God, and throw up our hands in desperation.

This "loss of control" when things go astray from a preconceived "plan" is one of the harshest parts of grief.  The anger that comes with loss is simply our way of saying we are unhappy with the way things are, that we can't control them and put things right.  Our "plan" has not been followed- nothing is stable anymore!  This is one of the dangers of trying to decipher life through the lens of a cosmic order- if your "order" is not correct, it can lead to some terrible thoughts about God, creation, and humanity.

God's Word makes it clear that this world is broken, that life will not be easy, and that suffering will come.  In John 16:33 Jesus promises us His peace, but the fact that we need His peace at all is a sign of what the world has in store for us!  "In this world you will have trouble!"  And in Romans 8 Paul describes the "groaning" of creation and the "bondage to decay" that the world experiences, but also the "glorious freedom" that awaits us as God's children.

In other words, suffering is a part of this "plan" whether we like it or not. 

Part of the "plan" that God is slowly working out involves suffering.  If Scripture is the blueprint for this plan that we keep trying to refer to and figure out, then we need to make sure we understand the whole plan, and not just parts of it.  Liberation, freedom, and heaven are part of that plan...but for now, so is suffering, trouble, and hardship.

When this is the lens we use to view life, Jesus' words take on new meaning and new hope, because Jesus is not sugarcoating the suffering this world will bring, but He looks through it to something better- something only He can give...and that, too, is part of God's plan.  God is many things, including honest.  He does not promise what He cannot give, and He does not keep things from us even when we may not want to hear them.  So when He promises trouble and suffering, I believe Him.  But in the same breath He promises peace and freedom from fear, and when the same God promises both things, it's comforting, because a God who is real about tragedy is also real about the peace He provides.

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.  I do not give as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."

Lessons from a Fellow Mourner

The other day I was blessed to spend some time with an older lady who was widowed one year ago.  We met to talk about her journey of grief and what she has learned and gained from her experience.  To say our time together was enlightening would be an understatement.  You see, all of us will go through times of grief in our lives, but not all of us will be as aware and as attentive as she was in "taking it all in" and really processing our grief experience.  For me personally, my grief journey at the death of my father is still in a lot of fog- I have been able to recall parts of it, but much of it is still lost to me.  In contrast, this sweet sister kept three daily journals, some of which she shared with me.  They are full of her thoughts, feelings, experiences, and moments that she wanted to capture, both on good days and bad days.

I wanted to share a few of her insights here regarding grief, especially as a widow:

• The moment of loss becomes, for many, the "defining moment" from which someone in grief bases all other life moments.  Just like scientists use the terms "B.C" and "A.D." as defining markers in history, so many of us use the terms "before I lost him" and "after I lost him" to tell time in life after we lose someone.  Without even realizing it, we will use those terms in conversations that have nothing to do with loss or that person.  For example, we might say in a conversation about a car we used to own, "Yeah, before John died I had a car just like that."
  
• One of the hardest things to measure after a loss is how, and if, we're growing spiritually and mentally in a healthy way.  Journaling, for those that enjoy writing, is an excellent way to record thoughts and feelings each day, so that later on you can go back and see the changes in our outlook and demeanor.  Grief provides enough of a roller coaster emotionally that judging whether or not we have progressed in any real way can be incredibly difficult.  We can go for weeks without really acknowledging or remembering how we felt the day before.  Days run together and become a blur.  Journaling freezes our emotions for us and records them for us to serve as a measuring line.
  
• We live, and the church operates in, a "couples world."  The idea of "husband, wife, and kids" is so ingrained in our minds that we have difficulty seeing the world through any other kind of lens.  This is not necessarily a terrible way to view life (it is certainly a Godly lens), but it has the common consequence of leaving those who have been widowed on the sideline, the periphery, to grieve alone.  The church is full of couples who arrive together, sit and worship together, fellowship together in the hallway, and leave together for a meal.  We acknowledge our widowed brothers and sisters while we are in church with them, but ultimately we forget (because we are not trained to look for it) that they arrive alone, worship alone (many times but not all the time), and (worst of all, according to my friend) leave the church alone.  As ministers, elders, and church members, we need to re-train our eyes and hearts to look for these solitary brothers and sisters who have lost their "better-half," who have gone from two to one, and reach out to them.  Invite them to a meal, sit with them during worship, even just walk with them to their car.  The "alone-ness" is one of the most difficult physical aspects of grief at the loss of a spouse.
  
• The "seasons of sentiment" are very lopsided for those who are grieving.  The holidays tend to bring an "over-showering" of sentiment for those who have lost a loved one because everyone around them (friends and family) are suddenly remembering how hard the holidays will be for them.  But they forget the other days of the year many times.  The holidays might be difficult, but so are springs where suddenly "spring cleaning" has to be done alone, summers where vacations for "just the two of you" no longer can take place, and autumns where enjoying the changing leaves can no longer be shared.  Let's not just remember our friends who have lost loved ones during Christmas and Thanksgiving- let's remember that grief doesn't take a holiday, and that we need to be mindful year-round of their grief journey.

 These are just a few of those insights, shared by a wonderful sweet sister who has much to share, and for whose life and experiences I am grateful.  May each of us find ways to encourage others as she has.

Grief: Not Just a "Death" Reaction

The emotional response that we call "grief" can be triggered by events other than the loss of a loved one.

The other day I met with a young lady who had recently been in her first car accident.  She had just gotten her license a few months back and had owned her new car for just a little over a week.  She failed to yield at a green light while making a left turn and was hit by an oncoming driver- an older man whom she happened to be previously acquainted with.  His reaction of anger, blame, and yelling did not help the situation.  No one was seriously injured, but both cars were damaged and in need of repair.

As we talked about her mental and emotional struggle to come to deal with anxiety and frustration over what happened, and as I listened to her describe what she was feeling and experiencing in the days following the accident, it suddenly occurred to me: she's going through a period of grief.  Not grief over the specific situation of losing someone, but grief in the more general sense of having just gone through a traumatic experience that temporarily turned everything upside down for her...and isn't that what losing someone does to us?

Clearly, the expression of grief can come about even without a death.  Many of the basic symptoms of grief can come about simply through a traumatic experience.  Symptoms such as an inability to focus on anything but that event, nervousness and anxiety, difficulty sleeping, depression, guilt and regret, and conflicting reactions to other people trying to help ("I value your help" almost simultaneously with "Leave me alone").

Once I realized that she was, in essence, grieving, I figured it best to give her what all of us who grieve need most:  permission.  Permission to be on a roller coaster of emotion for a while.  Permission to be alone at times and to need to be around people at other times.  Permission to "get away" from everything for a bit when she needed a break from constantly dwelling on the accident.  Most of all, I wanted her to realize that "It's OK not to be OK for a while."  The body, both emotionally and mentally, is simply trying to put everything back together.  A car accident, even without a death, physically, mentally, and emotionally throws us out of whack, and we have to gather the pieces again, much like after a loss.

The disciples after the storm on the lake...Peter nearly drowning when he tried to walk out to Jesus on the water...Malchus having his ear removed by Peter's sword and re-attached by the hand of Jesus...Judas after he realizes the depth of his betrayal...all of these characters were going through a grief process, only without a loss to accompany it.

As those who mourn and those who help mourners, let us remember to be sensitive to even "non-loss" situations, because anytime there is a traumatic event, grief is not far off.

Grief as Temptation: When Bad Theology Speaks to Pain

"Death has been swallowed up in victory."  Isaiah 25:8 

"Where, O death, is your victory?Where, O death, is your sting?"  Hosea 13:14 

"The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God!  He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."  1 Cor. 15:56-57

Our culture and our churches handle grief in some strange ways.

Culturally, we expect people to basically become Stoics in their time of loss.  Be strong, buck up, and press on.  You can do it!  We use words like "meltdown" and phrases like "He's really not handling it well" when people we know continue to cry after several days, refuse to get back into their routine, and seem "stuck" in their grief.  In other words, if your grief is radically altering your life and making you a different person, something must be wrong.  You are not grieving properly.

What about churches?  Church can be a whole different experience in grief, because in church we have regular people shaped extensively by their culture trying to view things through a lens of faith, and many times the words and actions that come out of this collision of culture and faith are messy, strange, and unhelpful.  "God just wanted her to come home."  "This was His will."  And what's interesting is that what's behind those well-meaning but horribly-worded platitudes is, many times, the same message behind what culture says:  "You need to move on."  "Come on, be strong, you'll get through it."  It's a cultural message covered with, frankly, a cheap Christian veneer.

Suddenly everyone at church becomes a trained theologian, each with a word of wisdom to answer the questions you're not really asking and to help you move quickly through the feelings that you're not supposed to dwell on.

Many of us as Christians seem to equate a strong faith with the ability to be Stoic in times of grief and loss.  The less crying and more "inner strength" someone has, the stronger their faith must be.  And I think that comes from the subconscious view of "loss" as a kind of "test"- like a kind of temptation.  God has either given us or allowed us (it doesn't really matter) to go through this time of "testing" in the loss of someone we love, and He is waiting to see how we handle it.  Does our faith bring us to simply trust, smile, read our Bibles, and wait to see that person in Heaven?  Or does it bring us to our knees as a sobbing, uncontrollable mess, where we go for weeks in moods of depression and fear and sadness?

Surely the former is the result of a strong faith, and the latter is what comes from a weak faith.

Right?

I wonder why we feel this need to view death and loss as a kind of "test", automatically ascribing it to God.  And when death is merely a test and grief is the "temptation" we are to avoid, then our response to this test determines our level of faith.

 Perhaps what is really going on is that we are afraid to be real about death.  We are afraid to ascribe death to its true master- Satan.  Perhaps we are afraid to talk frankly about death, to be real about the immense pain it causes and the hurt that it brings.  Maybe we are afraid to call death what it really is- the great enemy and destroyer!  Death is destructive!  Death is a terrible, awful, life-changing experience!  Are we afraid to describe death like this?  Do we think that perhaps to describe death in this way is somehow to give it too much power?  Is this why try so hard to dance around it and try to give God the "credit" by making death a test that He sends us instead of the enemy that Christ came to defeat?

Downplaying that which Christ came to defeat, Death, isn't just bad counseling- it's bad theology.

Being real about Death means we can be real about the Victory that defeats it!

It means we can rejoice in the knowledge that Christ has redeemed us from spiritual death that separated us from God.  It means we can know with confidence that this loss is not permanent.  And it means we can look forward to a day when death will be no more!

But being real about death is a double-sided coin.  Being real about death also means we don't downplay the heartache or the grief that accompanies it- because grief and heartache are not signs of a weak faith, they are signs that someone we love has died!  Being real about death means that we don't seek to "fix" mourners, we seek to accompany them.

And being real about death means that we can talk openly about death as it really is- a *defeated but still hanging around for now* enemy.

"We'll Grieve Later"

"Grief is not an enemy to be avoided, it is a healing path to be walked." 

There are lots of things in life that simply won't settle with being put on hold.

The other day I was already on my phone in the church office when another call came in for me.  Our secretary paged me and I told her I was already on the line.  Her response was, "This can't wait."  I excused myself from the conversation I was currently in and switched over to the new call.  After just a few seconds of listening I realized our secretary (as always!) was right- this was a call I needed to take, right then!

Grief and mourning are just like that second phone call- they cannot wait or be put on hold.  They are emotions that call for validation, affirmation, and attention in the present.    We can try to push them away and ignore them (what we call repression), but eventually they will be addressed!  We can either address them now when they are fresh with some level of control and understanding, or we can be at their mercy later when they well-up from deep inside of us, demanding to be noticed.

Grief can also be like that kid in the mall who stands next to his mother, pulling on her pant leg, shouting "Mommy mommy mommy mommy" incessantly.  The customers who walk by point and shake their heads; the mother is the only one unaware of the begging child.  Everyone else can see it but her!  "Can't she see he needs something?  Doesn't she hear him?"  In the same way, sometimes everyone around us can see our grief pulling at our pant leg but us.  "Doesn't she know how different she looks?  Is she aware of how she's coming across to others?  Has she really given herself permission to grieve?"

I remember watching a news report not long after the tragic explosion in the town of West, TX.  The schools were getting ready to re-open and the Mayor of West was telling reporters (my paraphrase),

"We need to get our kids back to some sense of normalcy.  We'll grieve later.  Today we need to get back to school."

 Clearly all of us know what the Mayor was trying to say, because it's probably what all of us would say, too, and have done in the past in our own families.  We need to get the kids to focus on something else besides all of this death and destruction and sadness, so let's help them feel normal again.  Let's get them back into a familiar rhythm.  The need for routine and normalcy is common and, in many ways, a very necessary and healthy part of the grieving process.  A child's first reaction to the sudden death of a parent might be, to our surprise, asking the surviving parent "Who is going to take me to school tomorrow?"  Clearly children are seeking normalcy and familiarity as they struggle to put the pieces together- a return to routine is part of that journey for them.

But this desire for normalcy, for a feeling of something solid, and this incessant need that many adults have to "shield" their kids from the painful process of grief can cause more bad than good, when it tries to circumvent the grief journey altogether.  As adults we probably feel better when it appears our kids gone back to their "old schedule", but in reality grief tugs at our children's pant legs just as it does our own as parents.  A future post will focus on the importance of children, when possible, attending the funeral of the loved one they have lost.  Ritual and symbolism are extremely important to all of us, whether children or adults, in helping us move through grief.

For children and adults alike:

Grief needs to be addressed, not ignored. 

Grief needs to be gone through, not skirted around. 

And grief needs to be validated, not condemned.

Sure, we can say "I'll grieve later" especially when we feel like we are doing it for the "sake of the kids."  But grief will not be put on hold forever.  It will tug at us until we pay attention.  We will slowly return to a "new normal" in time- for now, it is good and proper for us to go "to a house of mourning" (Ecc. 7:2)

"We are doing well with our grief when we are grieving.  Somehow we have it backwards.  We think people are doing well when they aren't crying.  Grief is a process of walking through some painful periods toward learning to cope again.  We do not walk this path without pain and tears.  When we are in the most pain, we are making the most progress.  When the pain is less, we are coasting and resting up for the next steps.  People need to grieve.  Grief is not an enemy to be avoided, it is a healing path to be walked."   -Doug Manning, The Gift of Significance

Letter to a Grieving Friend

   I am greatly indebted to Larry Barber, director of GriefWorks here in Dallas, for his teachings and current mentoring which have helped shaped my view of grief and how to walk alongside someone who is grieving.  His most recent blog article has informed the following letter in many ways, and I encourage you to check it out.

(this was an actual letter, recently written, but edited for anonymity)

Dear Friend,
     I am so sorry for your loss and for the pain it has brought. I know how much you looked up to this person- what a great example they were for you. Even in your grief you can thank God for them and the way God used them in your life. Most of all with this message, I want to give you permission to grieve, because even well-meaning family and friends will try to take that away from you, without meaning to or intending to, by trying to help comfort you out of it, provide explanations, or help move you toward closure. But know that the grief you feel is simply your love for that person continuing even after he is gone. It is the ultimate expression of love.  You have permission to weep, to mourn, to be angry, to ask questions, to need to be alone sometimes, and to need to be with others at other times. Don't ever feel like you have to have it all together or buck up, put on a brave face, and get back to "normal". You have permission to love this person even after they are gone- and that is called grief, and it is a gift from God.

For those of you have gone through a time of grief, how does this letter resonate with you?  

What "permissions" did you find necessary during your initial time of grief?

As always, your story and your voice are welcome here.

Grief in the Bible: Abraham and Isaac Mourn for Sarah

     One of the main goals of this blog is to piece together a kind of "grief theology." In other words, "what is God doing in times of grief?" Clearly one of the best sources to guide us in this endeavor would be God's Word, specifically sections of Scripture that deal with grief. Sometimes we come across grief in a Bible story, such as the one we will look at today with Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac. Other times we will find grief in the context of a proverb, a piece of poetry describing someone who is mourning, or in an epistle, speaking to a specific context about grief or death. If we are going to try and find out what God is doing in grief, our own experiences can give us a lot of perspective, but if we only look to our own feelings then we run the risk of attributing things to God that He has not done,or giving him traits He does not possess. We must tread lightly in the area of saying "God feels this" or "God is doing that." God's Word must always inform our own thoughts and ideas about what God is, or is not, doing in times of grief, and not the other way around. So let's start with one of the first real examples of human grief in Scripture: the loss of Sarah, Abraham's wife and Isaac's mother.

     Genesis 23:1-2 says that Sarah lived 127 years before her death, that she died in Kiriath-arba (Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and then it says that Abraham

     "went in to mourn for her and to weep for her. Then Abraham rose from before his dead..." 

     and later, in a strange interjection in Genesis 24:67, we read that

    "Isaac brought [Rebekah] into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he married [her].  So she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death."

     If we take the text literally, meaning that the writer of Genesis is recording what Abraham and Isaac actually did in response to Sarah's death, and if we assume that he is choosing his Hebrew words carefully to paint a picture as guided by the hand of God, then several things are important to notice here:

1. First, Abraham was purposeful in his mourning and weeping. The text says that he went "for the purpose of" mourning and weeping Sarah's loss.  Abraham is following an important custom in his time- it most likely would have appeared strange for him to not do this. But even while following a custom, he is engaging in something very important. He is setting aside time for the purpose of mourning. He is not ignoring time for grieving, nor is he squeezing it in by himself at the end of a long day of funeral arranging and meeting with friends and relatives while putting on a strong front. He is fully and intentionally present for a time of grief. When people asked for Abraham or wondered where he was, they were met with "He is mourning." One large advantage to a specified time for mourning is that it is expected by you and for you- in other words, no one is put off by your absence during your time of mourning. You don't have to explain yourself or make excuses or put on a "brave face." You are mourning, and you have society's permission and expectation to do so.

The great preacher and minister Tom Long once said that "a society that has forgotten how to honor the bodies of those who have departed is more inclined to neglect, even torture, the bodies of those still living."  Mourning and grieving the death of a loved one is, in every sense of the word, honoring that person.  As I mentioned in my earlier post about the death of my father, I was so wrapped up in myself on the day of his funeral that I missed the many honorable acts that were done to remember him, such as the Sheriff's Honor Guard.  My complete lack of grieving in any real sense after his death was in many ways due to a lack of expectation for me to do so, unlike the society that Abraham lived in; after all, who knows what to tell a thirteen-year old kid who just lost his dad?  My mom, bless her, had no idea, and I harbor absolutely no anger toward her for that whatsoever.  She was working through her own grief also, and I believe her concern for me most likely resulted in less time for her to grieve in a healthy way.  A parent is always a parent first, even before they are a spouse, and so I believe my mother always viewed her primary role as helping me through my grief, and so she put her own grieving on hold.  All in all, I did not make time for grief, and in so many ways this would come back later, because grief refuses to go unacknowledged.

2. Second, the beginning of verse 3 implies that Abraham was mourning and weeping in the presence of Sarah's body. For many of us even picturing this event is a bit uncomfortable for us. Abraham is mourning in the same room as his dead wife? Is that even sanitary? Without going too much into what we know concerning the cultural views about death and the body in the time of Abraham and the patriarchs, it would seem enough to say that Abraham's culture knew the importance of spending time with the body of the person that has died. To do so cements the reality of the loss- this person that we love and have cherished for so long really is gone. We need this firm reminder of the loss in many cases because our minds (and our hearts) are so desperate to fight it, to refuse to acknowledge it on a subconscious level, leading to all kinds of problems and issues later on.

In many funerals today, it seems we are moving away, albeit slowly, from including the deceased in their own funeral!  Even at the time of death, most bodies are quickly shuffled away by professionals to be cared for, and their inclusion in any kind of memorial service, wake, visitation, etc. is optional, left up to whether or not the remaining family members feel it appropriate or think they can handle it.  Now don't get me wrong, I am not in any way downplaying the enormous significance of what those in the funeral industry do.  They fill a gap of great importance in our society, many times filling it even as a kind of lay-clergy for those who mourn and have no church to call home.  And in all honesty the growth of the funeral industry is a free-market response to how our society has decided to deal with death; in other words, we created the modern funeral as a response to our own perceived difficulties in dealing with death.  But this is, again, a discussion for another post at a later time. 

Again, Tom Long reminds us of the theological significance of the body of the deceased being present at the funeral, just as it was for Abraham as he mourned and wept in the presence of Sarah, when he states that our "current shift to a memorial service with the body absent means that Christian death practices are no longer metaphorical expressions of the journey of a saint to be with God." (italics mine)  The funeral, says Long, was originally viewed as the next phase of the Christian saint's journey to be with God; thus, conducting a funeral without the body of the deceased would be like celebrating the send-off a cruise ship that was empty of passengers!  For me, the fact that I never again saw the body of my father after that rest stop meet-up on the bike rally most likely was behind some of the struggles I would later have with grief.  My mother went to view his body at the hospital but I did not.  For whatever reason, in most cases, it is both mentally and spiritually necessary for us to observe the body of our deceased loved one- in a way, this grounds our grief in reality.  When we experience death, many times our minds work feverishly to construct an alternate reality wherein this current pain and loss is non-existent...we call this denial.  Being physically present with the body grounds us in the one reality that matters- the one we are in where we have lost someone close to us.

3.  Third, Isaac finds comfort about his mother's death, seemingly after quite a bit of time has passed, in his taking of Rebekah as his wife.  We don't know much about Sarah and Isaac's relationship; the big story in Isaac's life (at least as far as the Biblical text is concerned) is Isaac's "near miss" at the altar with his father in chapter 22.  But it's probably safe to say Isaac and Sarah were very close- after all, he was the fulfillment of God's ridiculous-sounding promise to Sarah that she would conceive a child in her old age!  He is also her only child, and so their bond was a close one.  This is made all the more apparent when we come to the end of chapter 24 and find out that only now, with his marriage to Rebekah, is Isaac's grief over the loss of his mother assuaged!  There was a hole left in his life with her loss, and he carried it with him all the way until his wedding vows.  It's interesting, too, that the writer of Genesis chose to add this statement about Isaac's comfort, for the reader has surely not given his mourning a second thought.  The story has moved on- so should Isaac!

But we know that grief does not work that way.  The world around us, our friends, our family, co-workers, society- all say "move along!"  But grief anchors us, slows us and weighs us down.  But for Isaac, and for us, God provides comfort in many ways- for Isaac, it was in Rebekah.  Robert Alter, in his commentary on Genesis, points out that "Rebekah fills the emotional gap left by Sarah's death, as the end of the verse indicates, and with the first matriarch deceased, Rebekah also takes up the role of matriarch in the family.  It is exactly right that Isaac should take her into his mother's tent."  The symbolism of Rebekah becoming matriarch and marrying Isaac inside Sarah's tent is not lost on Isaac. This symbolism, as all symbolism does, provides some level of closure for him (although I would say that there is no such thing as true closure), and this void has been, in some ways, filled for him.  The anchor is lifted; the story, and Isaac, can now move on.

So what is God doing here? As we take the story of Abraham's and Isaac's mourning for Sarah and attempt to identify some theological underpinnings, we must be careful not to:

a) assume Abraham's cultural norms (regarding grief and mourning,or any other issue for that matter) automatically receive God's endorsement simply because we are reading about them in the Bible, and

b) read too much into Abraham's (or any other character's) actions when they are presented without Godly comment, i.e. God does not comment on His own views of what Abraham does or does not do regarding the way he handles the loss of his wife, or about Isaac regarding how he handles the loss of his mother.

So, with these cautions in mind, I want to frame "what God is doing" here in terms of what God is providing for Abraham and Isaac in their grief:

A.  First, God provides us time for mourning.  Again, Abraham makes purposeful time to mourn and weep over Sarah's death.  God provides that time for us in the fact that he creates us with an inherent need for mourning.  How we choose to deal with that need is up to us.

B.  Second, God provides us comfort in ways that might surprise us.  For Isaac, comfort came in the form of a wife.  (An as-yet not written future post will detail some of the many ways that my own wife has provided innumerable comfort to me during my journey through grief.)  When we lose someone close to us, everything is thrown up into the air, and when things "settle down" they do not always settle back in their original places; i.e. our lives do not come back together like a game of Tetris.  There are holes and gaps left behind, sometimes becomes something is missing but other times because something has settled back but in the wrong place.  For Isaac, Sarah's absence created a void that was filled by Rebekah.  

For you, reader, how has reflecting upon the grief of Abraham and Isaac influenced you in your own grief?  What similarities and difference do you find?  More importantly...

How has God provided you with time for mourning?  Did you take advantage of it?  If so, how did it help?  If not, what issues came about (or are currently coming about) because of it?

And how has God provided comfort for you?  Has God used anything surprising to comfort you, something you weren't expecting?

And, finally, in your "new normal" after your loss, what pieces of your life are missing, and what pieces have returned but to the wrong place?

As always, your voice and your story are welcome here.  Thanks for reading.

References

Thomas G. Long, Accompany Them With Singing: The Christian Funeral.  Westminster John Knox Press: 2009.

Robert Alter, Genesis: Translation and Commentary.  W.W. Norton & Company: 1996.

My Journey through Grief, part 1

While grief is one of the most universal emotions we share as human beings, it is also one of the most personal.  Our grief is our own- it is unique to each of us, precisely because grief is shaped by so much more than just the events that bring it about- it is also shaped by our personality, our family, our upbringing, our relationship to the person that has died, and our faith and values.  In addition to conditioning how each of us grieves a loss, each of these factors also shapes how we view grief itself.

Therefore I feel like a good place to start in this blog is to share my own journey with grief.  By no means do I hold myself up to have some special knowledge or understanding of grief, not do I claim that my experience trumps anyone else's.  But in sharing my own story I hope to invite others of you to share yours, as much or as little as you would like.  Each time I recount my story, there's a tiny element of healing and closure that occurs, but, more importantly, there is a renewed knowledge and understanding that God is using my experience to minister to others.  Each time I tell my story, it's a reminder that there is, in fact, something on the other side of grief, and that grief does not simply end nor does it stretch on and on in the same way, either.  Each time I tell my story, it becomes just a bit more my story, meaning something I claim as my own and not something I am ashamed of.  And when we come to the point where we can claim something as our own, we are in a better position to use it in a productive way to bless others.  So, yet again, here is my journey with grief- here is my story.

In June of 1998, my father, William "Bill" Parks, and I were riding in a bicycle rally.  I was 13, my dad was 41 (I believe), and the temperatures were soaring through the 100's.  We were tackling the 30-miler this year.  At one of the last rest stops before the finish line, I downed a bottle of water and a banana, told my dad I'd see him at the finish line (probably adding an "old man" zinger in there), and took off on my own.  My dad had been riding with someone he met on the ride who turned out to be an EMT.  That would turn out to be important- but not enough.

When I reached the finish line I made my way through the mass of riders, when I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder.  I turned around to see a police officer, who asked my name and then told me I needed to come with him.  I probably thought I was in trouble, so I followed him to a medical tent, where I learned that my dad had had a heart attack on the ride and had been taken already to the hospital.  They put me and my bike in a police car and went to pick up my mom at our house.  She had already been notified and was a wreck, to say the least.

I don't remember any of the ride to the hospital, except thinking, as if on a broken record in my mind, "He's fine He's fine He's fine He's fine."  I was numb and in a daze.  I don't remember a whole lot of arriving at the hospital either, but I remember the doctor coming in to our private waiting room.  I remember him telling my mom and I, not that my dad had "died"or "passed away" or "didn't make it," but that he had "expired."  Like some meat or milk left out too long.  I don't remember much about that day but his words stand out like a sore thumb.  The callous way in which he broke the news to my mom still hurts and angers me.  I don't believe he did it on purpose, and I know as a doctor he may have had to break the same sad news several times already that week and I do not envy him for that- but his word choice was cold and unfeeling, and it stays with me.

After that point I remember my mom crying, wailing almost.  I remember waiting at the window for my grandparents to arrive at the hospital, watching for their car to pull in.  It would take them nearly an hour to arrive, and I'm pretty sure I stood at the window that entire hour, without moving, just thinking about how much I wanted them to get here, because grandparents make everything better.   They would fix this.  They would make it right and then things wouldn't be bad anymore and we could go home and forget this whole thing. When I would get in trouble as a kid I would lay in bed and wish I was at their house.  This was one of those times.  Part of me remembers, perhaps, a police officer standing behind me, but I didn't really notice him at all.  But at the same time, in the back of my mind, as I stood at that window waiting, I knew that everything had changed.  Everything was different now.  And it was very, very bad.

As I will discuss more in-depth in later posts, I can pretty much describe the next several weeks in one word: hazy.  Both at the time and long after, there was a lot of repression going on, which would come back later to initially cause problems but ultimately bring the healing I needed so badly.  For the sake of time and brevity, here are some "snapshots" of things I remember in the weeks after losing my father that I feel are important for our grief discussion here.

• I honestly only remember actually crying one time in response to losing my dad, and it was while we were still in that waiting room at the hospital.  My closest friend, my best friend really, from church and his family came up (I'm still not sure how they found out so quickly), and when he came and sat next to me I vividly remember "losing it" for a few minutes and crying my eyes out.  I'm not sure exactly what it was about my friend's presence that triggered it- maybe seeing him and knowing he cared for me enough to come and be with me, maybe it was a subconscious realization that I could cry in front of him and he wouldn't judge me, who knows?  But whatever it was, that was where I "let loose" for a bit.  And for many years after that I convinced myself that, at that moment, I "came to grips" with reality, got it together, and "dealt with it" like we are all supposed to do over time, except I was able to do it in a matter of a few minutes.  I convinced myself that I had, in fact, gone through the grieving process like everyone is supposed to, and so I could move on and be fine.  Wrong, wrong, and wrong.  But more on that later.
• I remember all the family and friends that came to our house.  Probably around 100 or so over that next week, but it felt like thousands.  I probably spent about 95% of that time in my room on my computer playing "Shadows of the Empire", my new Star Wars game I had bought just a few weeks earlier.  I was told that lots of people came back to see me, and I can honestly say I don't remember any of it.  Looking back it is painfully obvious how I was choosing to deal with the loss- I put myself in another reality, a video game, where I could zone out and be someone else, somewhere else, and not think about everything else going on.
• At the funeral, I remember being gathered with family in our church's "cry room" (where parents could take crying babies and still observe the worship service), and joking around with my cousins.  Joking around with them made it easy to ignore why we were there and what was really going on, and I was so thankful they were there.  I also remember walking down the aisle with my family to take our seats up front in the church auditorium, and everyone in the audience turning and staring at us, including some of my school teachers.  I felt like everyone was watching me, not anyone else in my family, and that I was in an auditorium of over 800 people (that was the rough count later on, and I am told it was the largest funeral our church ever hosted) who felt sorry for me.  And I absolutely hated it.  I wanted to be anywhere but there. 
• Even worse, because I made everything about me that day, I missed so many elements of that service that honored my dad in amazing ways, ways that I can only see in photographs now, like the Sheriff's Dept. Honor Guard that made a procession into and out of the auditorium in full dress uniform.  (My dad was a bailiff for the county.)  This picture is all I have to remember that by:

• I guess the last snapshot to share is one of being back at school, 8th grade, that fall.  I was sitting at my desk, class was slowly getting underway, and a friend of mine across the room caught my attention and mouthed/whispered (in a way that was even more obvious than if he had just asked me out loud) "Did your dad die?"  I think I nodded yes, but I may have just ignored him altogether.  I don't remember.  But I do remember thinking, at that point, that my final place of solace, school, the one place where maybe I didn't have to deal with the loss of my dad, had been taken from me.  Now there wasn't anywhere I could go where I didn't have to be reminded of how much things had changed.  I was now "one of those kids" who only had one parent, and unlike other kids who entered middle school that way so it wasn't a big deal to anyone else, I became a "one parent kid" right smack in the middle of the summer, so everything was fresh to me and everyone else at school.  

          Some of my analysis here on these thoughts has come as a result of some counseling I went through about two years ago.  But that counseling time provided so much more than that- it helped me deal with what had suddenly become an avalanche of grief, grief so sudden and full that I literally could not control my thoughts or feelings, and I found myself crying and couldn't figure out why.  Needless to say, God used counseling to finally help me grieve in a healthy way.  But again, that is another post for another time. 

    Oh, and the part about the guy my dad was riding with being an EMT?  I found out later that when my dad went down while riding, that man jumped off his own bike and began CPR almost immediately, and he continued it non-stop until paramedics arrived.  I get choked up even writing these words now, mainly because I have yet to be able to meet the man that tried his hardest to save my dad's life.  I want to thank him and hug him and tell him how great he is.  The fact that he began CPR so fast, and yet we still lost my dad, assures me that literally everything that could have been done to save my dad's life was done- there was nothing that could have saved him.  And, strangely, there is a lot comfort in that fact.  It was his time.  But I'd also like to meet this man to find out what he and my dad talked about before he died- this was the last man to have a conversation with my dad during his life.  I wonder what they talked about while they rode together?  I'd like to think that my dad was, once again, being a goofball and making this man laugh hysterically, because that's what my dad was always doing, and it's nice to think that making someone laugh was the last thing my dad did before he left us.  I bet I'm right, too.

     You'll notice this post is titled "part 1."  That's because my grief journey isn't finished yet.  I'll take some time next week to add the rest of my story, but for now, I hope you'll share some of your thoughts and feelings that this post has brought up for you.  

• Where do you find similarities and connections between my story and yours? 
• Where do you see differences?  
• Were there places in your journey where you, like me, look back and regret decisions you made about how to deal with your grief?  
• Do you have a clearer picture now of your journey, looking back?

     As always, your voice and your story are welcome here.  Thanks for reading. 

About this Blog

A blog about grief...sounds pretty depressing, doesn't it?

But a blog about my journey to find out what God is doing in the midst of our grief...now that could be interesting.  I am a graduate student at Harding School Theology pursuing my Master's in Christian Ministry.  I am also a full-time minister for a church in the Dallas area, working with teenagers and their families.  This blog is part of my ministry practicum course for the Fall 2013 semester, and is part of my desire to increase my ministry skills in the formerly uncharted waters of grief counseling.  Each week I will be posting my thoughts, experiences, and ideas regarding what God is up to when we are at our lowest points.

I welcome your comments and feedback to all posts, and I encourage you to let your own experiences with grief inform all of us as readers.

Feel free to contact me at grego [dot] parks [at] gmail [dot] com.