Episode 2: The Book of Job, Chapters 6-14

Dearest Listeners - 

I got laryngitis this week and was not able to speak a prayer at the end of this episode so I'm typing it here instead.

Also this week, my dad died. And with the passing of my dad, a new layer was added to these readings. When I read this week and last, the desperation of Job’s words broke my heart. The way that his friends chide and scold him was hard for me to read. When those we love are hurting, how do we show up for them? How can we show up authentically and lovingly for those around us? 

In times of suffering (our suffering or the suffering of others), this is often when our theology is on full display. The deep things we hold about God arise. In what ways do we believe that our actions (or inactions) contribute to life's outcomes? In what ways do we see God present/active in suffering? How do we sense God's absence/silence in suffering? Sit with that idea of God and see how it makes you feel. 

Dear Creator God, this day I lift up to you those who are suffering, in mind, in body, in spirit, in big ways or small ways.  Come into their hurt and their wounded places and heal. I thank you for the courage of Job to speak his true feelings, to question, to come to you when he was hurting. Remind us that you are a God that is for us. That you are okay if we have questions, if there are places that we don't understand - either from our books of faith or situations in our own lives. Connect us to your unconditional love - this love that you both ARE and give freely - that through that love we might love others and love ourselves well. Strengthen our sympathy for others as they experience pain - and guide us in providing care that feels soothing, and not like rejection or correction. Show us our blindspots and give us a spirit that is willing to change. These things we pray in Jesus’s name. Amen.