Bzzzz...Bzzzz...my cell phone rings and the person on the other end asks to meet me for a cup of coffee. Life has gotten to them again. Stress. Crisis. The pressure is building and they simply need someone to talk to about what they are going through.
Beep...a text message hits my phone. Another friend tells me they need to catch up with me that evening. Long hours at work. It's hard on them. Hard on their family. They are struggling to keep their head above water. For whatever reason, just talking it out seems to make the load lighter.
Bounce...bounce...bounce goes the ball. The final ball game is over. A few guys are sitting around cooling down from all the exercise. The conversation gets personal. Struggles are shared. Questions asked. They just need someone to listen for a bit.
Brrrppp...Brrrppp...Brrrppp...cards are shuffled and then dealt. The smell of cigarette smoke is in the air. Beers are poured and conversation ensues. A man dealing with a painful divorce. Doesn't want to go home. Too much tension. Struggling with his kids. Life is upside down.
The sounds and smells and experiences of life. Life is not lived in the abstract. It is lived in the midst of tension, heartache, and pain. In fact, it is pain that lets us know that we are truly alive in the first place! Dr. Philip Brand is a world-renowned physician who specializes in treating Hansen's Disease or, as it's more commonly known, leprosy. It was Brand who first discovered that leprosy does not so much rot the flesh as it deadens the nerves. It takes away are ability to feel pain. And because a person with leprosy can't feel pain, they do things or allow things to happen to their bodies that they otherwise wouldn't. Heat, cold, puncture wounds, abrasions, blisters, sprains, strains, you name it...they simply can't feel it and therefore aren't aware of the devastating impact such things have on their bodies. Pain, Dr. Brand argues counter-intuitively, is a gift. It helps us remain healthy, vital, and strong. It plays a critical role in sustaining life and therefore should be embraced not avoided.
I'm convinced he's right. And what I am discovering is that I am a spiritual leper. Out of fear, I tend to avoid pain. Out of fear, I tend to avoid suffering. But I can't escape it. Nor can you. Nor can anyone. We live in a tormented world. People are dying, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. They don't have enough to eat. Clean water to drink. Or ways to combat disease. Wars rage. The innocent suffer. Millions are displaced. Children are abused. Marriages are lost. Families broken up. People lose jobs. And they lose hope. They are in pain. Their lives are full of pain. And they want to share. They NEED to share. They are more than willing to share if we will simply listen. If we have compassion. If we are willing to go to where they are, live among them, and love them honestly and faithfully in the name of Jesus.
Overcoming spiritual leprosy means relentlessly pursuing authenticity and transparency as a community. It means building relationships that are vulnerable and honest. This is our passion and our commitment as a community. We want this for one another and for the people God brings into our lives on a daily basis. We believe with all our hearts that this is how we experience God's grace and love in tangible and concrete ways. But it isn't easy. Pursuing such authenticity in community means having the courage to embrace pain and thereby overcome it in the name of Jesus who himself embraced ultimate suffering on the cross. This is what it means to follow Jesus and to have truly Christ-like, Jesus-shaped relationships. And it is into such relationships that we are called to invite those we meet along the way.
Salvation, dear friends, isn't just about getting our ticket punched to heaven. It is a reality we can taste and see and experience in our daily lives. And the more authentic, the more transparent, the more vulnerable we become with one another, the more we will experience the grace and peace God brings in Jesus Christ. As a church, we have put with, even encouraged in some places, "spiritual leprosy" for far too long. My brothers and sisters, it is time to stop running. It is time to embrace life. To embrace pain. To embrace suffering. To embrace even death. It is time...to follow Jesus.
Thank you for posting this - I really needed to read it today! I've really been thinking a lot lately about what salvaiton means, and what suffering means.
Posted by: Jennifer | June 20, 2009 at 10:24 PM