This is the first week Robert and I (Ryan) are commenting on Kelly Kapic’s book Embodied Hope. Our goal is threefold: first, to help each of you face the difficult questions that come with suffering. Thinking through hard questions might stretch and even hurt you, but I believe the payoff is well worth it. Second, to help each of you see the strangeness of God in suffering. C.S. Lewis insightfully wrote, “Not that I am (I think) in much danger of ceasing to believe in God. The real danger is of coming to believe such dreadful things about Him. The conclusion I dread is not ‘So there’s no God after all,’ but ‘So this is what God’s really like?’”
Lewis wrote, in that one sentence, what I’ve always felt in my soul. I will, therefore, make no attempt to defend God. He moves in mysterious ways. Rather, I will attempt to help you know God as He is, that is, as He is given to us in Christ and in His word. Nothing less and nothing more. My third goal is to lead each of you into life together through suffering. The church, with her people, preaching, sacraments, and discipleship is God’s great gift to you in suffering. Join us for chapter one of Kapic’s book next week.