How to find comfort in times of strife

Greetings everyone.  

I don’t know about you but I have found our world to be an increasingly fearful or frightening place over the past couple of months.  

There are the increasing tensions and troubles in the Middle East concerning Israel and Hamas, a situation that is always ripe for many responses but perhaps the most unifying one should be that of mourning over the loss of life. There are the disturbing developments in the Ukraine and the lack of a cohesive approach to solving that escalating conflict which is leading to innocent planes being pulled down from the skies. At home there is the ever increasing split between the left and the right, the “game” of politics that grows more unproductive every day and the lack of reason amongst it all that seeks the good will of all.

Where does a person of faith turn in this?  Where do we find hope?

One easy answer is from our source and norm of strength, from the One who is the beginning and the end – Jesus Christ our Savior.  For me, and as much as I can speak from within my tradition and to others, this confession is about understanding the God of history that is actively involved in the present.  It is about understanding that God in the person of Jesus and through the ongoing promise of the Holy Spirit is always engaged and working for God’s good purposes. Yes, we, God’s creation, do a really good job of mucking all this up but that does not negate the witness scripture provides about how God is ever involved in our lives.

Another easy, although growingly uncommon answer, is from a community of people that share the good news with us. Typically this has been the church, a congregation, the body of Christ that gathers for a weekly worship service. Increasingly today, though, community is defined in many ways – online, hiking buddies, boating clubs, etc.  Wherever you find community though it should not be a group of only like-minded people, at least that is not what Jesus encouraged. Jesus gathered tax collectors, prostitutes and fishermen. He drew religious zealots, pagan Roman soldiers and homeless persons off the street. Jesus’ community was much more diverse and broad than many of our communities today and together they were somehow the 2 or 3 gathered that are necessary in order speak to the depth and breadth of God’s love in the world. In our gatherings then we are to find those that encourage and challenge us, comfort and enrich, strengthen and constructively tear walls down.  

Finally, we can rest secure that if all else fails there is nothing that will separate us from the love of God in Christ our Lord. (Rom. 8:39)  Far from a passive or pacifying piece of wisdom, this promise, and those that embrace it, leads us to actively engage our local community in Godly ways.  

I pray that the troubles of our world are not overwhelming you these days and that if they are, you may discover the presence of God in your life, a community that speaks and lives that promise and find ways to engage yourself in Godly pursuits as well.

(Pastor Andrew Wendle is a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America serving at Eidsvold Lutheran Church in Somers, MT.  He can be reached at pastorandy@optimum.net)