Lent course 2021 – After a year of Covid we lament

Introduction

 In Advent we looked at a series of scenes based on the theme ‘The gift of a Child’. At Candlemas we gave thanks for the gift of the child Jesus as a light to the nations. Now we turn from the crib to the Cross.

During the past year many have suffered bereavement so now, during Lent, I offer a series of reflections considering loss. Whatever the age, the person remains a child to the parents.

Session 4 – Thursday 11 March – Wednesday 17 March

But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
his mercies never come to an end;                             Lam 3. 21 – 22

Job and loss                                        Job 1

A man ‘blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil’ (Job 1. 1) is the description of Job. In the thought of the time this explains why he has many children, an abundance of livestock, much wealth and a happy life. But his children die, his livestock is stolen and his servants killed.

The concept of an arrangement with God, I worship you and keep the teachings and you give me prosperity, underpins much of the argument and discussion in the book of Job. It questions why he has deserved to lose everything. His wife asks what is the point of being faithful to God if this is how God treats you: ‘Curse God, and die’ (Job 2. 9).

A problem arises because Job is afflicted while he is a good person. He is not guilty. Job responds initially ‘the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord’ (Job 1. 21). But later he exclaims, ‘Let the day perish on which I was born’ (Job 3. 3). It sounds as if he is contemplating suicide. He cannot see a way forward. He feels alone. Life is no longer meaningful and it is almost unbearable.

Job’s friends try to find a solution to the conundrum but they give unsatisfactory explanations. They cannot help him. This leaves Job depressed and withdrawn. We still cannot understand why good people suffer or die. We are left feeling despondent and vulnerable.

The making of a contract with God is a familiar way of dealing with the dilemma. We might think, say or pray something like, “I will do anything for you, God, if you just let my loved one recover and live” but this does not solve the problem and leads to further ethical issues. Some will see loss, sickness or misfortune as a measurement of faith but we know that God ‘will not let you be tested beyond your strength’ (1 Corinthians 10.13). Job remains faithful despite his loss. However his trust in God allows him to challenge God.

Despite demanding an answer from God Job does not receive one. Job is asking the wrong question: it is not valid. God cannot be held to account. In his anguish Job confronts God and God receives Job’s pain and deals with it. God interrogates Job in such a way as to leave Job speechless. At last Job begins to understand the impossibility of his asking apposite questions because humans do not have the power to comprehend the mind of God. A reorientation of attitude, imagination and understanding is needed.

That faithful believers can suffer in the same way as anyone else, becomes clear to Job. There is no immunity and God’s plan is incomprehensible to humanity. We have to trust in God. As we lament, others witness our suffering and it is helpful if they can empathise silently. The expression of feelings may allow a person’s emotions to develop and for healing to begin. The tension for us concerning the apparent injustice of indiscriminate suffering remains but we can take our pain, agony and distress to God and offer it in lament certain that God will receive it.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.           Mat 5. 8

Prayer

We praise and adore you, God, our Father.

You are the maker of all things and you sustain your creation with love.

Let us magnify and let us sanctify the great name of God in the world
which He created according to His will.

 May His kingdom come in your lifetime, and in your days,
… quickly and speedily may it come. Amen.

 May the greatness of His being be blessed from eternity to eternity.

Let us bless and let us extol, let us tell aloud and let us raise aloft,

let us set on high and let us honour, let us exalt and let us praise the Holy One –

blessed be He! –
though He is far beyond any blessing or song, any honour or any consolation

that can be spoken in this world. Amen.

 May great peace from heaven, and the gift of life, be granted to us…. Amen.

May He who makes peace in the highest bring this peace upon us…. Amen.

[Kaddish- the Mourner’s prayer – adapted from Forms of prayer for Jewish Worship, (The Reform Synagogues of Great Britain, 1985)