“In place of pain”

H,

There is no hiding from the painful world around us. It will take a herculean feat of closing our eyes and ears and hearts and souls to what is really going on, to not feel the pain of abuse or war or violence all around the falling and fallen state of the world we live in now. There is no story to put in place of pain.

And I think it is important we face up to it. We have to stop webbing these terrors with the veneer of respectability. We have to stop putting a spin of life so we can all live better in the trap of it and not in the truth of eventual solutions. There is something beautiful about the advocate, the peacemaker, the activist and the one who shouts truth above power. There is something godly and holy and sacred about the soul who sets about to face the sickness in the world and, sometimes, in themselves with a heavy heart and a beautiful mind. That to the common eye, they may seem to fail, is only our own lack of imagination.

The extra dimension for us, is that we actually do believe in divine redemption. We think the world is on fire, but we also believe that there is a flood of truth coming to restart the human heart. There is a Kingdom of light to come and we try to be sparks for it, heralds, progenitors and harbingers of this eternal truth. We do not miss the pain. We know it well. We know that there is violence and darkness in the world and in us. We know we will give and receive pain. Our only hope is in the painless era to come. We have bet big and large on the grand idea that God is good, and the Lord is coming.

Amen.