"Elizaveta Iurievna Kuzmina-Karavaeva Skobtsova, later known as Mother Maria, was a Russian Orthodox religious thinker, poet and artist. Her multi-faceted legacy includes articles, poems, art, and drama. In the 1910s she was part of the literary milieu of St. Petersburg and was a member of the Socialist Revolutionary Party. She fled Russia soon after the Bolsheviks' takeover and lived in Paris, where she became a nun. In 1935, she participated in organizing the so-called Orthodox Action, which was designed to help Russian immigrants in France. She and her fellow-workers from Orthodox Action opened a house for homeless and sick immigrants in Paris. During the Nazi occupation of the city, the house was transformed into a refuge for Jews and displaced persons. Mother Maria and her son were arrested by the Gestapo in 1943 and died in the Ravensbruck camp in Germany. Mother Maria's selfless devotion to people and her death as a martyr will never be forgotten. In 2004, the Holy Synod confirmed the glorification of Mother Maria." - from Columbia University Libraries Special Collection link

Enter Job

If the wonders of technology and cinematography have taught us anything about ourselves, it is that we love happy endings.  We religious folk are no different.

We love tales from scriptures that wrap up rather nicely.  God tips off Noah so he can be saved.  Wanderers are miraculously heralded to the other side of the huge body of water, while their enemies are drowned as the walls of water crash on their heads.  A few faithful humans escape the hurling of fire and brimstone as the city is destroyed.  Ah, the good are safe and sound.  The bad are crushed.  Yeah!  Great ending.

Lest we forget the full body of scriptural encounters and wrestlings with God - ENTER JOB.  Here's a guy that was allegedly a super servant of the Most High.  But - he lost everything.  Reduced to dung and ashes his life was a mess.  And yet, from the hell he entered he sought to strive with the LORD.  He chose to continue to encounter and wrestle with God.

Just because we are crying out and praising the Most High, we are not immune from suffering.  Churches will close as the paradigms shift in this new age.  People will go jobless who love Jesus.  Right living does not produce prosperity.  Right living produces compassion, joy, peace, patience, kindness and the like.  Beware of folks who teach that if we do the right thing we will be blessed.  If we do the right thing, we will be doing the right thing.  Period.

As shifts occur in the organizational landscape of society and the church, let us remember that we are called to faithfulness whether we have "stuff" and "blessings" or whether we have "nothing" and "curses".  Stories with happy endings are only one piece of the Canon.  The "happy-enders" out there would remind me that at the end, Job gets a whole new family, new riches, a new life.  Yes, but, the ones he loved were annihilated.

The story of faithfulness is that we to learn to emerge from ashes and new growth with the same heart of love and devotion.   The journey is not about happiness, but union with an awesome and perhaps terrible God.  Making our way back to Him is not about comfort but connection.

TJM+

Posted by at
Labels: , , , , ,

1 comment:

  1. mfchefMay 7, 2010 at 2:55 PM

    Hey Tom,
    Peace be with you. Love your blogs and your insight in to the spiritual side of this life.
    Michael F. Hughes

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)