When It Hurts to Be Human

When through the deep waters I call thee to go,

The rivers of sorrow shall not overflow;

For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,

And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

---Rippon's Selection of Hymns, 1787

There are lots of ways to look at the rough patches and tragedies in our lives. Some folk choose to look at everything that happens as God’s distinct will, some look at bad stuff as karma or payback. I see the bad things that happen as part of the price of being truly human in this world. For me, this resonates with my observations, with history, with my own life experience, and with my belief in a loving God.

In today’s hymn, with its text from the 18^th century, the hymnist speaks from the viewpoint of a strong, caring God to a searching believer. We will be called, no choice about it, through our life experiences, to journey through deep waters; but we will not go alone. God goes with us through our troubles and distress, to bless and even to make holy those experiences that try us the most. To me this says that God can bring some worth out of even the most tragic, worthless, hurtful situation.

What a hopeful thought from a loving God!

Re-membering, and re-union

As Christ breaks bread and bids us share, each proud division ends.

The love that made us, makes us one, and strangers now are friends.

---Brian Wren

The word “communion” has shadows of many other words in it. I see community, common, commune, union, unity (also ‘ion’, but that doesn’t fit with this devotional!). What is it about communion that makes us keep it central to our religious tradition? Why is it so important to us? I think it is the concept of ‘one-ness’ that communion implies. Brian Wren has gracefully captured that yearning we have for belonging in his hymn, 'I Come with Joy' (set to a lilting American tune that will always make me want to sway when I sing it). The meal is to break down barriers, to remind us through shared elements that we are the same on some fundamental level. As John Bell, preacher and musician from Scotland says, the tradition is kept to re-member the body of Christ --- to put the pieces back together, to unite us at last.

See you at the table, to re-member the body of Christ.