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Giving thanks for those who have inspired and helped us

Isaac Newton, the famous mathematician and scientist, once wrote that ‘If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants’. It is customary on All Saints Day (1st November) for us to pause, acknowledge and give thanks for those who have walked before us and inspired us in the faith, whether these people are renowned church leaders or little known people who played an important part in our personal faith journey. They are the giants on whose shoulders we stand today.

As Melbourne emerges from our sixth and hopefully final Covid lockdown, it also seems appropriate to pause, acknowledge and give thanks for the thousands of people who have helped us through this pandemic, whether medical researchers, healthcare workers, teachers, delivery truck drivers, supermarket workers or cleaners. The pandemic has highlighted who really are ‘essential’ workers and how the burden of the pandemic has often fallen on their shoulders, often at significant personal cost.

The Bible readings set down for All Saints Day all highlight that new life often comes out of the worst of circumstances. Lazarus succumbed to an unnamed illness and died. Many people, including Jesus, are caught up in the circle of grief and loss. But then surprising and unexpected new life emerges as Jesus calls Lazarus back to life. We have been living through nearly two years of grief and loss caused by Covid. As we emerge from this experience, where have you found unexpected new life? For what are you especially thankful?

From the Minister

Learning from Job

This year has sometimes felt as though we are living through a second pandemic. We thought at this time last year that we were nearly done with Covid, that summer and the arrival of vaccines in the new year would return everything to normal. Then along came Delta and we were thrust once more back into the anxiety and isolation of extended lockdowns that we are only just emerging from. The future still feels uncertain. This second year of the pandemic has been much harder to live through for many as the virus and the lockdowns have taken a significant toll on our physical, mental and spiritual health. Where has God been through this time of suffering and loss?

This question lies at the heart of the book of Job. Where is God in the midst of suffering? Although this book is often bleak, the last few chapters suggest that God is with us in our darkest despair and in our pain – even though, like Job, we may not always be aware of God’s presence. God does eventually break the silence and speak to Job, restores him to health and blesses him.

Our lives may not always come to such a happy ending as the book of Job, but along with Job we can be comforted when we recognise God’s power, justice and love at work in the world and in our lives. God never explains the cause of Job’s suffering, however, which remains a mystery. So too we may never know the cause of suffering in our lives but we can take solace from Job’s experience that God does hear our cries, does care and does want to have relationship with us.

From the Minister,

Sitting with Job

The book of Job is not an easy or feel-good read. The subject matter is fairly heavy – about loss, grieving, suffering and God’s justice. But it’s also about the value of community, about faith and about wisdom. It may actually be a good book for our current times as we struggle with some of these same issues in the midst of our extended and worsening Covid lockdown.

While we may at times ponder the themes of suffering, and loss and the presence/absence of God in a general or abstract way, we experience suffering and loss in specific and personal ways – the loss of a loved one, the loss of a job or a dream, the mental suffering caused by lockdowns or the physical suffering caused by sickness. Each person’s experience of suffering is unique. Just as it is for Job.

As Job suffers loss after loss, he maintains his faith in God, who is seen to bring blessing but who may also allow trouble to afflict us. As Job struggles on with a painful disease, three friends come to see him. They too are affected and distressed by Job’s suffering and sit with him, silently, for several days. We might learn from this initial approach taken by the three friends that our presence at such a time is probably more important than any words we may speak. Our presence, our empathy and perhaps gentle touch are appropriate responses – rather than our judgments or solutions to the person’s problems. May we carry this wisdom with us when we encounter people who are suffering.

From the Minister