The Problem of Pain
In The Princess Bride, the Dread Pirate Roberts says to Princess Buttercup, “Life is pain, your highness. Anyone that says differently is selling something.”
Among the most difficult questions, perhaps the most difficult question, of faith is the problem of pain. The basic question goes something like this: We know that God is good. We know that God is perfect. We know that God is all loving. We know that God created us in his image. So, if God is perfectly good and perfectly loving, why does he permit such awful and constant pain, suffering and evil in the world?
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Small Beginnings, Immeasurable Ends
I want to begin this morning with a brief word about parables. Jesus used them a lot. The synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) record 30-40 of them, depending on how you count them. They are very effective for a couple of reasons.
Whether he’s using an example like a lost sheep or a story like the Good Samaritan, they are extremely accessible. The parable meets us where we are, with the whole constellation of what that means in terms of experience, education, age, spiritual maturity etc. We can share them with elementary kids, high schoolers, seniors, bankers and ranchers.
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The Weight of Glory and Today.
You know the moment. The night has been slowly yielding to the dawn. Then you see the edge of that fiery orange ball break the horizon. And it mesmerizes every time - but only for a few minutes. Once the sun rises in the sky, the day beckons, and on we go. Or, maybe you prefer the sun setting, watching it slip away to give us the night. But you know the moment.
C.S. Lewis says such moments give us glimpses of heaven, not in the sensual beauty of the moment but in the tug that beauty gives to our soul. That sunrise or sunset carries us farther than mere beauty. It could be nature, music, art, a space launch, a fine meal or sip of wine, or a heart-to-heart conversation that opens that vision. It awakens a longing we can scarcely identify before it slips away. In the same way a hungry person, whether or not they ever get fed again, needs food, so this longing reminds that we are made for something more but that is beyond our reach.
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