I see more clearly now the power of prayer through community and by getting in touch with God. But even Jesus asked God to change the course of events and prayed that the cup be passed from Him. Of course he added "Thy will be done". Does God cause miracles to happen or are we simply catylists for change through prayer as God works through us for His purpose?

Chapters 6 speaks to the Stephen Minister who often has to love the (at least temporarily) unlovable. People who are hurting are often blaming themselves or nurturing the thought that they must have done something wrong and that even God has abanodoned them. They push people away and make it harder to let in care.

We can help them"stop hurting themselves" by giving sympathy: "you are not a bad person"..."God is not punishing you".

If God leaves us free to choose either good or bad and doesn't intervene to redirect our decisions then our prayers should be only for the knowledge if His will for us. Right? And further, our prayers for healing, and for safe travel, and for protection are all said with, "thy will be done", knowing that God does not will us to be sick, in danger, nor does He put us in peril. Right?

How do we respond too Jesus' directive to pray, "...and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil?" Is it that we are praying for God to help us choose the good but if we don't, praying for Him to be there for us and help us "get through it?" (the evil).

When my sister lost her son, Adam at age 19 in a fatal car crash, her faith and trust in God ended for two years. God was no longer her refuge or her strength. God became her enemy along with Hallmark Cards. The sorrowful words of comfort only served to sting and irritate. I am convinced that we try to fill all of those "empty moments" with words and more words, when the most comforting gift we can give is our presence and our faith. She now knows that God was and is the one constant in her life. That when the stress and fear of an overwhelming time in our lives, God is the one steady and constant protector. He is our strength. We only need to trust our faith which God has given us so much of.

The answer to tragedy is not, "Why did this happen?" but, "What do I do now that it HAS happened!" I get that. And I also get that we humans try and take control and act independently of God which is what has gotten us in trouble since we bit the apple. What I don't get is when if ever does God act in the world in response to our prayerful petitions? Is there such a thing as "divine intervention"? What "good"are healing services? Is God working in this world totally through us? That's OK I get that too! What say Y'all???

David

As I read chapter 4, what I saw was the idea that much suffering is caused by the natural laws that consistantly govern the world. That God's greatness is shown by this consistancy and not by miracles. That if God were involved in rescuing the righteous, he would create a world that had no consistancy and that we couldn't handle that. That these "laws" are inanimate and impersonal. They neither "know" or "care" who is righteous. "That the rain falls on the just and the unjust." The question is why did God create a world like that. Chapter 4 seems to say that, in addition to the discussion above, it is because pain is useful and death in this world is better than living forever. I wasn't really satisfied with that answer. I found chapter 5 more persuasive with its discussion of free will. I have long felt that the suffering we face is less important than our reaction to it. Our physical self (animal self according to Kushner) lives in this world of uncaring but consistant rules and good and bad choices, but our spiritual self, our divine self has the free will to respond with either good or bad choices. The challenges we face are the exercise equipment that can strengthen or injure our souls depending on how we choose to react to them.

Free will

I missed last Sunday's meeting, but as I read through the first 3 chapters it kept occuring to me that the concept of free will was missing until I began chapter 4. Now I see Kushner was building the case for free will by discussing in detail all the other reasons we have developed in our culture for why bad things happen if God is a loving God. The greatest gift we could be given is freedom...... and this includes the understanding that our decisions in life have consequences. Having said this, we still experience in life, and in Stephen Ministry, that bad things can still happen even after we have made what we believe are good decisions. The reason good people may suffer is simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time and being affected by someone else's bad decision.