a sermon on evil and suffering

This Spring 07, I'm taking a class called 'Persevering Hope: The Theology of Evil, Suffering, and the Goodness of God. The first major assignment for this class is due next week. From the title of this entry, you've probably guessed that it's a sermon we had to prepare. Because there's some twenty people in the class, we don't have time to deliver these sermons to the class, as was the original intent. But we had to write a sermon with a particular tragedy that had effected our specific congregation at some point in recent memory.

I was challenged to come up with something; that is, I was challenged to come up with something other than the only real, true evil event that I could recall from my time at my church: the murder/suicide of a divorced couple who had both been members of our congregation. I really didn't want to write a sermon on this. But nothing else came to mind. I didn't want to write it because I realize that deep down, I'm still deeply saddened about it, and I didn't want to go back and revisit that hurt and pain. I also didn't want write on it because I didn't know what I could possibly say, even what I could find within Scripture that could possibly come across as anything but trite.

But I wrote it. Just finished it and printed it out earlier in the hour. I don't know about it. I'll have my wife read it over, and get her input. It might do it. It might not. I don't know. But I do know that if there's anything good about it, anything worthy to it, I give God the glory. As I was writing, wondering what points am I going to be able to make, the Lord led me to John 11, and three points within the story of Lazarus. Praise God for anything good and worthy in it.

If you're at all interested in reading it, drop me a line with your email, and I'll be happy to share it with you. That is, if it floats.

Coram Deo.