More to Life: Relieving Suffering

More to Life:  Relieving Suffering!

At Christ Church UM, we are part of the larger mission of the United Methodist Church to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.  We believe that we will discover a deeper life living as followers of Jesus; we become the people that God made us to be, we better understand that we are loved by God and called to love other people in the same way.  We come to know that in God’s eyes we are not defined by a broken past, but by a grace filled future!   At Christ Church, we “make disciples” and show that there is more to life by Introducing Jesus, Growing Faith, Relieving Suffering, and Shaping Children.  For four weeks, my articles will focus on one of these elements of our vision, continuing today with Relieving Suffering.

Many of us have seen on the news members of the Westboro Baptist Church showing up to boycott funerals of soldiers, people who are gay, or anyone else that they may disagree with.  To be honest, I haven’t met too many people that are in favor of their tactics or methods, even if in agreement with some of their critiques.   I think the reason for that lack of support is simple:  in the arrogance of certainty those who would profess faith in God have missed a vital part of God’s own heart, and others see that very clearly.

God is with the suffering, not the self-righteous!  This truth is lived by Jesus over and over in the Gospels.  Think of all of the debates that Jesus had with the self-righteous in his own day; drawing criticism for having meals with tax collectors and sinners, how he cared more about the suffering individual than the fact that it was the Sabbath (not that Jesus disregarded the Sabbath, he just saw that honoring God comes through relieving suffering more so than even ritual observance).  Jesus’ heart, over and over, is with the suffering.

Jesus made disciples by relieving the suffering of people all around.  He didn’t have conditions upon his care:  they didn’t have to be holy enough, or Jewish enough, and didn’t even have to have a repentant heart (just look at so many stories of healing, Jesus heals and then says, “your sins are forgiven”, even if they didn’t ask for that. Luke 5:17-26 is just one example).  I think Jesus trusted that an experience of God’s radical grace would best lead to a change of heart and life.  How many hearts were changed and transformed as people watched the gentle and caring ways that Jesus reached out unconditionally to the broken and the suffering. 

As we live faith today, I think that relieving suffering is still a powerful way that we can form and shape disciples.  When we have a heart for the hurting and we demonstrate that care in real, meaningful and tangible ways it boldly proclaims that faith is more than words or simply as set of beliefs, rather it is a way of life that captures our whole being (words, actions and attitudes).  It shows that we are more than self-righteous people certain in our own beliefs and our holiness.  It shows that God’s love is contagious and as we have experienced it we want to live in such a way that others experience God’s care too.  This will draw people towards the Gospel and the Kingdom way of life, particularly when we do it unconditionally with our only desire to make God’s love visible, regardless of who the other person is or how they respond. 

Far too often, Christians have been willing to show God’s concern for the suffering, as long as the suffering person is repentant or like us or willing to join the church.  This is dangerous as it demonstrates a conditional grace.  We proclaim something much bolder; that God’s concern for the suffering (as seen in Jesus) is much bigger and broader than we could possibly imagine and that is a message and a truth that will draw people closer to Him. 

So when we relieve suffering in our world today, it is more than doing nice things, more than acts random acts of kindness.  Rather it is living out God’s own heart and building the Kingdom one person at a time.  Live boldly!

You are the hands and feet of Christ,

Brett