Resurrection Care

First off, all my apologies for not getting this post done sooner.  Our whole Congregational Care team has been moving into our new suite of offices.  We invite you to come by for a tour this next Tuesday, July first.  The hours for this are 5:30 to 6:30, open house, 6:30 worship, and 7:30 pie and entertainment.  We’re planning on having a great time.

Now back to the Will of God.  Last blog I mentioned Leslie Weatherhead’s little book, The Will of God.   The study of how evil of the world collides with the understanding of a good and loving God is called theodicy.  Theodicy boils down to how people understand the will of God.  Weatherhead has three ways to look at the will of God: Intentional, Circumstantial and Ultimate.

I’ll try to explain these with the use of an example of someone’s tragic death.  Say it is a young person killed by a motorcycle accident.  God’s intentional will was that the person enjoy the ride…hundreds of them if the person was doing no harm and enjoying life.  God intends for us to have happy moments.  

God’s circumstantial will is what happens to us when the situation runs amuck.  Then in those circumstances God hopes for the best.  If there is an accident, God would hope for no one to be hurt but if they were hurt that they would be healed.  If healing is not possible then the wish would be for no suffering.  God is still hoping for the best no matter what the circumstances.  Amanda who works in our department, told me that her mother received two kidneys from people who had been in motorcycle accidents.  So from this terrible circumstances, a great life-saving blessing came to another person. 

The third way that Weatherhead explains it is known as the ultimate will of God.  This is the place where despite evil or pain that happens in the world, God’s purposes will be achieved.  So that even if the young person tragically died, somehow there would be great good that came out of the tragedy.  Perhaps a scholarship would be established to honor the young person, or perhaps a biking school for bikers. Lastly, and most importantly of course, we must remember that death does not have the last say.  This is seen throughout the scriptures, but particuarly in I Corinthians 15:50-57, where Paul says (my words) that we all will have to take off these mortal bodies at some time and put on the our new immortal body.  (I liken it to taking off an old coat that no longer fits us.)  Then we put on a new body.  And he ends the scripture triumphantly, “Death has been swallowed up in victory.  Where O death, is your sting?” 

So in a nut shell, our loving God of the scriptures intends for us to have long lives, but circumstances of the world can go badly, yet God still is hoping for the best out of whatever comes our way.  Lastly, God intends for us to end up in heaven.  So that even if the worse comes against us…an untimely tragic death…we will be with God. 

I hope that all of this makes some sense for you.  Take time to ponder it and just remember the little book.  “Stuff happens” for all of us……and we need to be able to make sense of it somehow.  

God is good, all the time.  All the time….God is good.