I grabbed an unknown book off my shelf on my way to the hospital with Covid. Someone had given it to me at least a decade ago, and it had sat on my shelf for years, unread. The title caught my eye, and so I stuffed it in my bag. It was With God in the Crucible: Preaching Costly Descipleship, by South African Pastor Peter Storey. I started reading that first day, and immediately burst into tears. Here are some excerpts:
"If you want to know whether God is alive, don't go to the places of comfort and ease. Inquire rather in those places where the fire of testing burns most fiercely. Living in the furnace of apartheid forges a unique experience of God. It melts away cheap piety, until all that is left is something you know is real -- someone you know is real. You discover that with you in the furnace is another, 'whose form is like that of the Son of God.' "
- Pastor Peter Storey, addressing the World Methodist Council, Nairobi, 1986.
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"Many people are suffering at this time for conscience' sake, and my prayers go out to them. In asking God what I should say in this broadcast my thoughts were led to another prisoner of conscience, waiting in his cell for execution. His name was Paul, the great Christian evangelist. He was in chains too. He had every right to be hopeless; yet surprisingly, instead of thinking of himself as a prisoner, he called himself an ambassador- in chains! He had a message to deliver on behalf of God, and his deepest concern was that his message would get through. So he asked his friends to pray for him: "Pray that I speak of it boldly, as it is my duty to speak " (Ephesians 6:20).
His message did get through. For two thousand years, followers of Jesus have had their hearts encouraged and their wills reinforced by Paul's words in Ephesians, chapter 6, from verse 10. He starts by calling us to turn to God: "Find your strength in the Lord, in his mighty power!"
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Chapter 10, The Power of Faithful Suffering
From that time on Jesus began to make it clear to his disciples that he had to go to Jerusalem, and there to suffer much." (Matthew 16:21)
My dear friends, do not be bewildered by the fiery ordeal that is upon you, as though it were something extraordinary. It gives you a share in Christ's sufferings, and that is cause for joy." (I Peter 4:12-13)
There is power in faithful suffering! Where most religions offer escape from suffering and increases in comfort, the Christian faith makes this astounding claim. The Christian Bible speaks of "going to Jerusalem, there to suffer much." It speaks of "taking up a cross," and of "being given a share in Christ's suffering."
My father died of heart disease in his late fifties. I was only twenty years old then, and as I watched his dramatic deterioration on my homecomings from university, I was angry. Why should this remarkable man be taken so soon? Why should I lose a father when I was just beginning to discover him as a friend? Then, when we were together for the last time, he said to me, "Peter, God has TRUSTED me with this illness." Not, "God has SENT this illness." He knew Jesus too well to waste time with a God who would ever SEND suffering. What he was saying was, "Now that I have this disease, God is trusting me with the bearing of it." And the way he bore it made a difference to others... Peter Storey, With God in the Crucible, Abingdon Press, 2002
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"Thank God that in spite of all the locks on all the doors, Jesus can still get into the Church. He invades our places of fear and offers the gift that only he can bring: "Peace be with you!"
Shalom was the daily Jewish greeting, but from the lips of Jesus it became something more. It was a tangible, transferable gift that I want to give you from Jesus again.
What is this Shalom?
Certainly it isn't going to be absence of conflict. Outside of these locked doors there was a very rough world. Shalom is more like the place where an experienced sailor steers, the very eye of the storm. He knows there will be found in the midst of the roaring wind a place of balance, a place where one force is countered against the other and held in remarkable equilibrium. There, in the center of the storm- Shalom.
How can we know this Shalom?
Jesus gives his peace-- and this is going to sound so simple- by being there. "I will see you again," he said, "and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you." (John 16:22). Why? Because they would see him again! You remember when he came to their little boat, tossed about in the storm, how he trod the waves underfoot? You remember what he said to them? "Cheer up. Don't be afraid. It's me!" That doesn't sound like a profound theological statement. One would expect something a little more complex from the Son of God. But no, that's where shalom comes from: "Don't be afraid, I'm here, I'm with you."
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