Where there is no suffering…

Last week I was describing to a friend the idea that there is a place where suffering and joy meet, and in that place we find a joy that endures, even in the presence of suffering. That place where suffering and joy meet is the place where heaven and earth overlap. It is the place where we encounter Christ. My friend listened thoughtfully, and then he said, “It is not suffering that meets joy. It is our pain and grief that meet joy. When we bring our pain and loss to God, they are transformed. We may still have pain, grief and loss, but we no longer suffer. That is what happens in this place where heaven and earth overlap. That is the place where there is no suffering.”

This is an interesting idea. Pain, grief, loss, and struggle are a part of life. We know that we cannot avoid these things. The question is, how we will live even as we experience pain, loss, grief, and struggles. That place where we encounter God’s love is the place where our pain, loss, grief, and struggles are transformed by joy, a quiet and enduring joy, and it is the place where there is no suffering.St. Dunstan’s Church has a lot to give thanks for. As we approach Thanksgiving Day we rightly stop to thank God for our vision of a world transformed, a world where heaven and earth meet, a world where on earth as in heaven, all are welcome, all are fed, and all are loved. We are living for that vision, in faith and with hope that God will meet us and work through us. In gratitude we turn our faces to God, opening our hearts in thanksgiving, opening our arms in love, and asking God to use us for God’s best purposes in this life.

I am grateful to be walking with you on this spiritual journey. I give thanks to God for your generous contributions, for your joyful singing and praying in our worship, and for your compassion as we do the hard but worthwhile work of building a congregation to do God’s work in the world.

Yours in Christ,
David+