Much has happened since I last penned a religious article for this paper a few months ago. COVID-19 is no longer something that was just happening overseas. The George Floyd killing has focused a light on systemic racism in this country. War and suffering continue unabated in many of the world’s hotspots. And people are still asking, where is God in all of this turmoil and suffering.
How about you? Do you find yourself asking this question? It’s a fair question and, frankly, one that should be considered by each of us, especially in the face of troubling news.
I must confess that this question has come up for me more than a few times during the last several years. It sometimes seems as if equal justice and caring for others have been sacrificed to hollow talking points and blind nationalism.
During Jesus’ life, turbulence and political upheaval were everywhere. In the face of those challenges, he spoke of an all-loving and forgiving God. But beyond that, he proved his words with examples of healing and redemption. In so doing, he repeatedly stressed that the kingdom of the God is within each of us. It is a present reality and not some future reward.
Thomas Merton once observed that, “we are not at peace with others because we are not at peace with ourselves.” Do you ever wonder how Jesus found peace within himself amid the multitudes who thronged him and the political and religious powers that sought to silence him? I believe that he did it by first finding peace with God, the source of love. This enabled him to love those that hated him and sought his life. It also lifted a sense of burden. How else could he proclaim that, “my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:30. By seeing his “enemies” as God saw them, as they truly were, he found peace and comfort where anger and confusion seemed to be. Jesus could not be touched by the forces of hatred because he saw only what God had created — not its ugly counterfeit.
I don’t suggest that this is in any way an easy path. The events leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion illustrate that. But the ultimate victory of his resurrection is proof of a loving God.
Remembering this in the face of today’s claim that God does not exist and that people are not loving and caring is a helpful beginning in seeing light where darkness often appears to reign.
— Reflections appears regularly on the religion page. The column features a variety of local writers, coordinated through the Monroe Area Clergy Group. Charles Wellington is a member of the First Church of Christ, Scientist, Boston, Massachusetts, and regularly meditates with the Great Plains Zen Center in Monroe.
