“God is love. That is why he suffers.”

We were assigned a book to read a year ago. Its title is “Lament For A Son,” by Nicholas Wolterstorff. I did not want to read it. It sounded like it would be about the death of someone’s son. I have a son. I dearly love my son. And to think of the pain of thinking of the impossible – though no, not really impossible – was not somewhere I was willing to go emotionally. But our beloved and wise R.I.M. (Residents in Ministry) leader, Bob Bushong, had asked us all to procure it. So I did. And it sat on a shelf for a year. Recently, though, I was looking for something profound to read and decided it was time to read “Lament For A Son.” I knew it would be good if Bob recommended it. And perhaps I was more ready to read it because of personal growth in painful self-awareness over the past year. Regardless, I opened it up late one Thursday night, and had finished it by Friday night. It’s only 103 pages long, and many of the pages have less than half a page of text on them. But oh what a meaningful and important book this is. Nicholas Wolterstorff is a professor of theology at Yale Divinity School. And, yes, his beloved son Eric died when he was only 25 yrs. old. This gift of a book teaches those of us who have not experienced that depth of suffering what layers we may be actually missing. (Though Professor Wolterstorff would not have wished that on himself or on any of us.)


At VBay UMC, we’ve been studying the “Presence Based Church” and fine-tuning our focus as a church who is passionate about worship, prayer, compassion, outreach, Jesus, humility, and Presence-drawn leadership. More of Him – less of us. And now the season of Lent is upon us. All of this ties together. As we live to draw more people into more of God’s Presence, (Matthew 28:19), Nicholas Wolterstorff gives us a key to unlock a door into understanding more of the profundity of “sharing in the sufferings of Christ.” (Romans 8:17) And others. This season of Lent, as we reflect on Christ’s love and life and gift to the world, let’s work to grasp that “God is love. That is why He suffers.”


“Lament For A Son” Nicholas Wolterstorff. 1987/ Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Mi., p.90.