Last holiday season, I had a difficult time being grateful. Trump had just won the election, and 80% of the evangelical vote went to him. Again. I felt like everything I had been saying over the previous five years, not to mention many other more prominent and popular voices than myself, had really fallen on deaf ears. Useless. How was it possible we were going to go through it again?
I was devastated. Worried. Overwhelmed. I didn’t even decorate for Christmas. My kids still got their presents, but the whole holiday spirit for me... was completely missing.
Nearly eleven months later, after things have been even shockingly worse than I anticipated, here we are again at the time of the holidays. And I'm not sure how to feel.
Even just this week, I read the news about how refugees who were accepted during the term of Biden will be undergoing a re-interview process by the Trump administration. Something that is totally unnecessary since they are the most screened and background checked immigrants our country receives. The only purpose of putting them through this is to terrorize them and their community. With everything that’s been going on and how many legal immigrants are being rounded up, terrorized, and even deported, it is possible they could be sent back. They have real reason to be afraid.
So much for, as long as they come here legally, they'll be fine...
In the midst of all of this suffering, how can we still be grateful on a day of Thanksgiving? How do we still gather with family members who voted for these things to happen? Who are even celebrating the suffering happening around us? How are we supposed to dive into the holiday spirit when we know so many are going without, struggling with finances and healthcare and employment, hiding in attics and basements from ICE, or simply disappearing?
It is the time-old question. And underneath that question is another question, which is, why does God allow so much suffering in the first place? Have all our prayers gone to naught? Where is God in the midst of suffering?
As I have pondered this question for much of my life, I have come to the same answer: the answer to suffering is the Church. BUT if the Church is missing in action, or worse, helping perpetrate the suffering, then what?
Perhaps the answer is in Jesus himself. Jesus, even though being God, did not escape suffering in this life. If it were possible to prevent suffering, or if it were preferable even, wouldn’t He have done that for Himself? Yet Jesus' life is a life of suffering.
Most theologians and Biblical scholars believe Jesus lost his father sometime in His teen years or young adulthood. He was scorned and rejected by His own people. They tried to kill Him several times before He was actually arrested. He was greatly misunderstood, even by His own disciples. He had to deal with people all the time who were limited by their human understanding. He was beaten, mocked, hung on a cross, and killed.
If God, the Creator of the universe, couldn’t escape suffering, why should we expect to?
It wasn’t just that Jesus couldn’t escape it. It was that He embraced it. When Peter tried to stop what was to happen, Jesus rebuked Him. He had come to suffer and die. The early church martyrs also embraced suffering. In fact, they celebrated when they suffered. They believed that suffering drew them closer to Christ.
So, how do we find gratitude in the midst of suffering? Jesus, the night before He was arrested, shared a meal with His disciples. He shared a meal, even with the one who had betrayed Him. He thanked God for them. And He washed their feet. He even washed the feet of Judas, the ultimate example of loving our enemies.
Jesus knew something we often forget. He told His disciples, in this world you will have trouble, but take heart, for I have overcome the world. Jesus is the Overcomer. Those who stay close to Him will overcome as well. If not in this life, then in the next. Our comfort during suffering is the fact that Jesus never leaves us. Even when we feel abandoned, we are not.
We went on a road trip this week, and at one point we were driving through really dense fog. We could only see you maybe 10 to 15 feet on any side of us. It was a road I did not know, and we were going up a mountain. I had to trust that there was another side of the fog, even if I couldn’t see it. At one point, I prayed, Jesus, take the wheel, because I knew He could see what I could not.
There is another side to suffering, even if we can’t see it. But the beautiful thing is that Jesus is with us on the ride. He is our comfort. He is our strength. He is our love through it all.
And that is a reason to be infinitely grateful.
So, we take a deep breath. We find those glimmers of hope and joy where we can. We bite our tongues when need be. And we keep moving forward.
One step at a time.
One day at a time.
Doing our part to help those in need and to advocate for better.
And we trust that Jesus walks with us, every step of the way.
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