Monday, April 13, 2020

"God’s LOVE Pierces the Darkness in Scary (‘Covid-19’) Times "



                                                                                                    Ps. 103:13, NIRV

     As we gather ideas for this post the Coronavirus

Covid-19 is raging.  Easter was last Sunday; we had to

forgo Sunrise Services, except perhaps those celebrated

outside or through various forms of media.  We are still

very much in the midst of all the “cares” and concerns

that the spread of this virus has presented to us as

persons, as a nation, and as a global community. 
     How do we face it all?  There are two ways to face the “cares” 
and concerns that come into our lives--especially on a personal
level.  We can allow the “cares” to cause us to become “curved
in” upon ourselves.  Or, we can lean--even in the midst of our
"cares"--upon a LOVE and GRACE that lifts our perspective
above ourselves and helps us to carry our load with a lighter
footstep.  

     But is that last possibility really an option in light of the
heavy concerns that we face now?  For an answer to this
question we turn to the teaching of the same person we
turned to in the shocking week after “9/11.”  David had
to preach the next Sunday. What could he possibly say?
We knew that there was a voice that could help one speak
in such a wilderness of events.  During equally traumatic
events he raised the clear voice of a shepherd-pastor-
theologian (Lutheran) and taught his people to focus
more deeply on God in the great storm they were facing. 
 
     Helmut Thielicke spoke to the remnants of a congregation during the
frightening air raids of WWII in Stuttgart, Germany. Thielicke himself
was experiencing stress on multiple levels. He was being watched
by the Gestapo, for he was a man who spoke the truth.  After the
church's magnificent cathedral had been bombed, he preached
to the congregation in what remained: the choir room. He stood
before the congregation in a pair of old army boots--no longer
owning the proper clothing. 

Yet, faithfully he taught these care-worn people to seek God's
face in the darkness--in the wild storm that swirled all around them.
He also spoke personally, saying, “I have known moments--like
everybody else--in which discouragement crept into my heart and
I felt utterly stricken.  My work in Stuttgart seemed to have gone
to pieces; and my listeners were scattered to the four winds; the
churches lay in rubble and ashes.”[1]

     Yet on the whole he held strong.  He had preceded the words above
with these words: “Now we have to reach out for this right hand of God
[famous in the Psalms and Jesus’ words”[2]] and let it be the pillow on
which we rest, the watcher at our bed, the guide on our dark and
uncertain path, and our staff in the valley of the shadow.”[3]

     Before going further we should address a possible sticking point. 
Thielicke would surely say that this virus is not from God (no
matter who presumes to suggest that it might be)!  Thielicke
says that “On the contrary, what we hear in the Bible again and again
is that the powers of sin and suffering and death are . . . enemies of
God. . . .  They are disorderly and unnatural powers. . . . None
of this did God will, none of it did God send.”[4]

     Can you think of any case in which Jesus, who came to be
God’s image [Col. 1:15], sent an illness?  No, consistently he
had compassion for those stricken with illness--consistently he healed them!  (For further elaboration on this
topic, see a previous post containing more of Thielicke's
thought--as well as that of other theologians.[5])

     Having gotten past this point (which could derail us) what would
Thielicke want us to do?  It might be summed up in his first
quotation above: “reach for this right hand of God”--
REACH!  SEEK! FOCUS!

     But what if, instead, we take the opposite course?  What if we get
caught in a time of being focused upon ourselves and our many
concerns--“curved in” upon ourselves?  

     Before Martin Luther discovered God’s Love, Grace, and helping
“right hand,” he went through a time of being focused upon himself--
“curved in” upon his own struggles.[6]

  And he was miserable!  He agonized because he could not
see God as a gracious God--but only as a harsh judge.  Finally
God revealed the secret of Grace to him. Then Luther said it
was as if he had “entered paradise itself through open
gates.”[7] When he later looked back on his former agony
he realized that in his distress he had been very much
focused in--“curved in"--upon himself.

     Thus, one of the first lessons for us in this difficult time is
to make sure we don’t turn in upon ourselves.  One way that
this happens is that we can actually meditate upon our fears
and “cares.”  Thielicke saw many people, in effect, doing
this in war-torn Germany.

     Beginning on the positive side Thielicke (being a good counselor)
said: “[T]here comes into being a divine ‘pull’ which draws into its
wake our imagination, our feelings, and also our thoughts.”  But in
contrast to this, the modern person often has very different
meditations. “Oh, modern man [woman] meditates and
contemplates all right. . . . The spirit of care and worry also is a
kind of meditation.  We visualize dreadful pictures of what is going to
happen and . . . we allow to form in our minds eddies and suctions
which, like ‘fire, water, dagger, and poison,’ rob us of our peace.”[8]  

     Such negative meditation, which comes most readily to us, pulls
us down into its vortex and causes us to become more and more
“curved in” upon ourselves.

     How do we counter this?  The Bible has a consistent answer:
with prayer, which often works best if it is very simple, straightforward,
childlike--even faltering--prayer.  As Thielicke says, so simply:
"You should not repress your cares but let them out. ... [Let God]
wrap us round with his compassion. ... ”[9] 

     Speaking of our need in blunt language Thielicke counsels:

     We dare not remain alone for one moment with our cares and
anxieties; not for a minute of the worrisome night must we allow
them to claim our heart.  And very practically this means that as
soon as our cares appear they must be transformed into prayer.
They are highly explosive and if we keep them in our
hands too long they will tear us to pieces. . . .   [We see] people
who kept these grenades of care in their hands instead of flinging
them away and casting their care on him who in his immeasurable
goodness has promised to care for us and whose heart is proof
against these perilous things.

     But when we turn our cares into prayers a real
“transformation” takes place. . . .  For then they bring us far
closer to the heart of the Father than when we have no cares. 
He [she] that cares much is also much loved, and . . . [one]
who has many tears to dry feels the gentle hand of God far
more than others.  The fact is that, in order to be confronted
by God “as one whom his mother comforts [Isa. 66:13],” one
must become a child, with all a child’s fears and helplessness
and terror of the dark.  And this child is still within even the
strongest [woman] man. . . . [One] who never dares to cry
out “Abba! [‘Papa’[10] ] Father!” never learns that the
child within . . . is crying out for redemption, and instead
of finding the royal peace of the children of God . . . is left
alone with [her] his own artificially forced show of so-called
bravery.  Conversely. . . [one] who immediately and daily
transforms every care into a prayer will still have to face
the riddles of life and its mysterious leadings. But the
riddles will no longer torment . . . because [she] he has
contact with the Father’s heart, the heart . . . [in her] his
brother Jesus Christ, that heart in which all the
inscrutable mysteries of life prove [in the end] to be
mysteries of love and therefore become consolations
and joy.  “Nevertheless I am continually with thee”
[Ps. 73:23].

     . . . [Then] in all the storms of life I have a place of
peace where I can lay my head and relax and sleep,
just as Jesus slept in the plunging ship while the
faithless disciples were driven half mad by fear
[Mk. 4:35-41].[11]

     Thielicke also addresses the matter of exactly WHO we pray to.  It
is ONE, 

who has opened the door and is waiting for you, as did the father of the
prodigal son [Lk. 15:17-24] . . . . [A]ll the while this Father is thinking of
you day and night and waiting for the first sign that you are willing to come
home.  When you know that someone loves you and is near to you, it does
not require many words, but only a quiet sign, a glance, and little suggestion,
and he will understand.  Should it be any different with your Father?  Your
Father ‘who knows what you need before you ask him [Mt. 6:8]?”[12]

Next Thielicke stresses the tender understanding of God’s parenting heart:

God understands even a sigh or a groan.  He also understands the crude and
halting words [of our prayer]--simply because he loves us and knows us better
than we know ourselves. . . .  [I]n Jesus Christ we have the joyful and
indescribable surprise of knowing that we have a Father who loves us, that
there is someone upon whom we can cast all our cares [1 Pet. 5:7], that there
are watching over us eyes that see all the misery and the longing, that there
are ears listening to us that can interpret the sighs and groans [Rom. 8:26]
. . . . His ear is inclined to our voice and his heart is marvelously ready to
hear, to understand, and to help ‘more abundantly than all that we ask or
think.’ [Eph. 3:20].[13] 

   Then, speaking specifically of Jesus and what Jesus would wish us to
know about GOD’S FATHERING HEART, Thielicke says:

“[He will] wrap us round with his compassion. . . .  After 

all, it was his compassion that drove him to leave the 

glories of heaven and come to us.  So, because he is our

brother and companion, let us talk with God ‘as beloved 

children approach their dear father’ [quoting Luther].”[14]


     Jesus consistently wanted us to know that there is this

One whose fatherly heart is open to us and that, no matter 

what happens, we are his beloved children.  We learned 

that we are not orphans[15], left lonely and forlorn in this 

brutal world, but that we have a home, our Father’s house, 

where we can knock on the door and know that we will be 

received with rejoicing like the son who came back from 

the far country [Lk. 15:20].[16]


     Jesus teaches us that this is “the rock on which I stand [Ps. 18:22],
the hand that will never let me go, the eternity that abides, the peace
that holds within its grasp all the strife of this world--as a father holds
the hands of his feverish child" (Thielicke).[17]

     And to prove that all of this is so, as Thielicke says, Jesus
“squandered his whole heart upon” us--in his walk on earth, in his
self-emptying death, and in his return to be with us forever![18] 
Thus, Jesus will continue to squander his heart on us for all
time; he will be here for those who reach!--as he promises will be the
Father and the Companion-Comforter, the Holy Spirit (Jn. 14:26-27;
CEB, ASV).  “[T]here is a living heart [LIVING HEART] that beats for
this world. . . . ”[19]  Jesus lived and died to show us this!  Remember,
we just observed Holy Week, Good Friday, a Holy Saturday of waiting,
and glorious Easter morn where all of this is lived-out!

     So how do we humbly answer to such great generosity?  What
is my response to all these assurances (built upon scripture)? 
Again: REACH! SEEK! FOCUS!

     In Psalm 27 the psalmist carefully focuses our attention upon the
God who loves us beyond anything we will fully comprehend in this
lifetime.  He teaches us to seek God: “My heart says of you, ‘Seek
his face!’ Your face, Lord, I will seek”; Ps. 27:8, NIV.
(Note that it is as if the Psalmist's own heart is beckoning him. 
How often the heart is wiser than the head!)

     Similarly, Jesus promised: ASK AND IT SHALL BE GIVEN, SEEK
AND YOU WILL FIND, KNOCK AND THE DOOR WILL BE OPENED
(Lk. 11:9).  There is a kind of diligence needed.  

     In Psalm 27 we find that the psalmist/poet [traditionally thought to
be King David] has learned to focus.  This focus has tamed his fears
and given him a new sense of peace!  What does he focus on?
What should we focus upon?--especially in times of dark mystery. 
The Psalmist's answer is: “My heart says of you, ‘Seek his face!’”

     The psalmist is going through rough times, but, ultimately, the
psalmist is positive.  He says he will enjoy the “beauty” (or
“goodness”)[20] of the Lord and “will sing and make melody to the
Lord.”[21]   

     He instructs us to approach our “cares” in the same way he
has--to focus, to seek.  Only then can we be lifted above our
fretting, anxiety, and even our triviality. Again and again we will
have to turn our focus away from lesser things to the greatness
of our God of lovingkindness (the theme of our last post).      

     However, we are also reminded not to expect instant results. 
The final verse of Psalm 27 is: “Wait for the Lord; be strong and
take heart and wait for the Lord.”  The psalmist knows that God
is not established in our hearts instantly. We must ask and seek
and knock.  Sometimes we must pray: “I believe, help my
unbelief,” as--with tears in his eyes--did the father of an ill
boy who encountered Jesus (Mk. 9:24).  We may not be
transformed from fretters to people of faith as quickly as we wish. 
However, the psalmist is himself evidence that step by step--
seeking God's face and with the help of God’s “right hand”--
great progress is possible.      

     “[P]erfect love casts out fear,” 1 John tells us (4:18).  Fear
will diminish as our love for God (and our confidence in God’s
great Love and self-giving for us) grows deeper.  Conviction
will be established as our experience of that Love expands. 

     Philippians 4 contains the perfect corollary to Psalm 27
and 1 John.  It is also the perfect summary of how in love we can
learn to transcend fear:

“The Lord is near.  Do not be anxious about anything, 

but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with 

thanksgiving, present your request to God.  And the 

peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will

guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus”; 

Phil. 4:6-7, NIV.


     Let’s pause to add one more deeper thought from Thielicke
about prayer.  Exactly Who do we pray to once again? How do
we pray? When we pray the prayer Jesus taught we begin:
“Our Father, who art in heaven . . .”  In other words we address
our Divine Parent.

In regard to this address to our Father, Martin Luther says
that these are “friendly, sweet, and tender words.”

  Abba! (Papa!) Father!: this is the meaning Luther and
Thielicke give to the opening address of the Lord’s Prayer.
Thielicke shares the quotation above from Luther and then
continues speaking of “the secret that the Father’s
[‘Abba’s’] voice is really and truly calling our name in
the dark forest and that we can answer as beloved
children: ‘Abba!  Father!’”[22]  All of this is true because
of our “Abba’s” Love and Grace. 

     Nor do we have to earn such love first.  “God does not
love us because of our value [or because we have earned it];
we have value because God loves us,” Thielicke says.[23]  We have value just because--just because we are the
dearly “beloved” children of God.[24]  And because we are
God's children we can approach our God of Grace boldly,
earnestly, and honestly in prayer.

     Corrie ten Boom, who survived a concentration camp of
WWII (arrested for protecting and harboring Jewish refugees),
said: "You can do more than praying after we've prayed.  But
you can never do more than praying before you have
prayed." It is the first order of business! We will never know
how much of the light of Christ our prayers can and do bring
into a dark world.  We will never know how much difference
our prayers make amidst the storms of life--for our
neighbors as well as ourselves.

     We have a friend who once had a vision during a very dark
time.  She was facing surgery for cancer. The outcome was
most uncertain. Sitting on an examination table waiting for the
doctor, gripped with fear, she stared at the wall paper in the
room.  Suddenly the symbols in the wall paper formed a
picture: Christ came to her in a boat and welcomed her into
the boat with him. In faith she has stayed in the boat with him
ever since. He is always with me, she says.  It is now many
years since her surgery, and she is cancer free.  But even
if that hadn’t been the outcome, Christ would have been
with her as she crossed the valley over to a His Home of
many mansions (Jn. 14:2). “Nothing can separate us from
the love of God,” the Apostle Paul writes (Rom. 8:38-39).
Our part is to SEEK and accept such Love--a part that
God will also stoop to help us with if we but ask.

     Thielicke also taught us to pray about even the small things
that concern us: 

“Thank God that this Father is so compassionate and realistic that he
appraises the little things in our life (including a warm sweater [e.g., for
the air raid shelter] and our daily bread) at exactly the same value that
they actually have in our life.  Thank God that he accepts us just as we
are . . . with great dreams, perhaps, and sometimes even with great ideas
and achievement, but also with many little desires and fears, with hunger
and weariness and the thousand and one pettinesses and pinpricks of life
that fill even the lives of the great of this earth (one need only to read
their memoirs).[25]  

     And why can we pray thus?  “In these considerations we dare not
forget that it is God who takes the initiative.  He tells us to pray this way.
It is not as if we were forcing this talk about our little cares and troubles
upon him; he wants us to pray to him about them,” Thielicke 
declares.[26]  (See Lk. 11:3, 12:22-32; Mt. 7:7-11.) 

     In Psalm 17 we read: “I have called upon You, O God, for You
will hear me; incline Your ear to me and hear my speech.  Show
Your marvelous loving-kindness, O You Who save by Your right
hand those who trust and take refuge in You. . . .  Keep and
guard me as the pupil [or ‘apple’] of your eye . . . ”; Ps. 17:6-8,
AMPC, ASV.

     And finally, built upon such “marvelous loving-kindness,” we turn to
a task that is given to us as well.  Just as Jesus brought light
into our darkness, in our own way we, too, are called to bring light into
this present darkness.  Jesus showed us that we are “the apple of
God’s eye” (Thielicke). But we are also shown that our neighbor is
the same. Thielicke writes, “Only he [she] who knows that [her] his
neighbor is the apple of God’s eye really respects his inviolability”[27]
(i.e., each person is like an inviolable sanctuary or temple of God). 
After all, Jesus “squandered his whole heart upon” our neighbor too. 

So we ask now: "What can we do to bring greater light, joy,
comfort, and love into my neighbors’ lives at a difficult time?"

(A note added 6/8/20: Now, less than two months later, our nation is
in the midst of a second crisis. We add this comment: the same question
just asked applies here too! How can we as a people [as part of a
democracy] "bring greater light, joy, comfort, and love into our
neighbors’ lives at a difficult time"? Or, in other words: How can we
promote love and justice for all?  See our post "We Love (Extend
Justice and Mercy) Because God First Loved Us" for commentary.[28] 
This includes newly added commentary evoked by this second recent
crisis: the events that surrounded George Floyd’s violent death on
5/25/20 and the long-standing wounds this exposed.  These new events 
call us to look at another crucial side of God's tenderness/mercy, as
well as God's call to us to love by passing it on!--including in the
public sphere.)

     (Throughout this post we put “cares” in quotation marks.  This is based
on Jesus’ use of the word in the “Parable of the Sower”; Mk. 4:19.  How we
face “cares” affects the entire health of body and soul! The reader may
also find comfort at difficult times in previous posts. These are listed
at the end of today's post.)
* * * * *

We close with thoughts for meditation, prayer/poetry/proverbs: 

An opening to prayer/meditation (in difficult times):


     (“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own 

understanding . . .”, Prov. 3:5, NIV; “Be still and rest in the Lord; wait 

for Him and patiently lean yourself upon Him; fret not yourself . . .”, 

Ps. 37:7, AMPC, emphasis added. Also see Ps. 53:2 and Ps. 14:2, NRSV.)


     (For thoughts on God’s Eastering Hands, see a previous

Easter post.[29] Also note that “Let go … Let God!” is time tested

wisdom coming from AA and various "Twelve Step" groups.)

* * *


A prayer (early in the process of spilling “cares” & concerns):

My 🖤 heavy  heart looks at May’s fragile ðŸŒ· flowers. ⚘   

Their dancing colors speak No Words to me!

I long to throw my somber thoughts away--

To taste the Spirit Borne among the trees!


I long to pick the ♡ cares ♡ out of my life--

To know that YOU’RE the MATCH that they command.

I long to let my heart melt in the SPELL, 

The trees succumb to--startled by YOUR  HAND!

             
    (With reflection upon Ps. 55:22.) [30] 
 * * *

An opening to prayer/meditation:

    (With reflection upon the Shepherd of Love’s whispers in Ps. 46:10; 1 Pet. 2:25;

Heb. 13:20; Ex. 3:14, Isa. 40:11.  Also see our previous posts about the Shepherd

of Love.[31]) 

* * *

An opening to prayer/meditation (written early in the pandemic):
     (With reflection upon verses such as Jn. 14:2; Rom. 8: 38-39; Ps. 91:11;
Dan. 6:22; Lk. 22:43; Heb. 1:7; Gen. 21:17.)
      * * *

A mediation:

The birds are happy - 

even when I am not; 

the birds, so much wiser! 

Like that remarkable child, 

facing death . . .  

saying: Dying "is

only 

pretending-dying!" [32]


Don’t we awake

(on this side of “the veil” -

or the other)

in some Great Angel’s ARMS?

  

     (Martin Luther, speaking of a real experience, once wrote to Katie,

his wife: “Yesterday . . . a big stone, save for the dear angels, would

have fallen and crushed us like a mouse in a trap. . . .  Cast your

burden on the Lord [Ps. 55:22].”[33] Also see Lk. 12:24.)


* * *

An opening to prayer/meditation:

 
(Sometimes circumstances do get us down for the time being
[for we are only human]. Consistently the old saints encourage
us to "hold tight." They use words like cling, fix your eyes
upon, cleave to, abide in God's Love and promises--whether these
are sensibly felt at the time or not. This is our part in a covenant
relationship. As Julian of Norwich says, "[I]t belongeth to us to
do our diligence"! (as will be discussed in a future post).[34]  All
previous posts are also meant to help us "hold tight"
to a God of TLC!)
* * *


"Setting Dragons Free"


     (A "retreat" to the shore.)


The waves are washing petticoats                     

   Upon the breaking shore

Where endless blue meets endless blue

   Forever, ever . . . more.


Here we find our lives again

   And set those dragons free

That dwelt with us throughout the year . . .

   We leave them . . . by the sea!


    (What are the "dragons" in our lives that we must release--to our GOD

of TLC?  Fears?  Resentments?  Worry/anxiety [35]?  Anger (even at

God.[36])?  Guilt? [37] . . . )

* * *


Promises from Julian of Norwich and scripture that--

when we strive to be faithful--we will “not be overcome”:

                                         
Note: Julian's famous assurance "all shall be well" is somewhat
comparable to Lk. 12:32, NRSV: “Do not be afraid, little flock,
for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” 

* * *

 

A St. Teresa quote:


Let nothing disturb thee,

Nothing affright thee;

All things are passing;

God never changeth;

Patient endurance

Attaineth to all things;

Who God possesseth

In nothing is wanting;

Alone God sufficeth.


--Words of St. Teresa of Avila, 16th C., 

trans. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow


* * *

     Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel: “In darkness … we grope for 

solace, for meaning, for prayer.”[44]  (And so, it is in the very 

darkness that we are often found [FOUND]!)      

* * *

  

     The reader may also find comfort at difficult times in previous posts: 
Julian of Norwich lived through several cycles of the Black Death, thus we
place her astonishing understanding of God’s Love (in spite of all she lived
through) first among these posts; see:

“The World’s Darkness, God’s Love & Julian of Norwich.”[38] 
“Good Friday and Easter--In God’s Embrace.”[39] 
“‘TLC’: God’s Tender Loving CARE.”[40] 
“God’s ‘Tender Mercies’ and the World’s (Our) Pain.”[41]  
“The ‘Divine Romance,’ God’s Suffering, and God’s ‘Pathos’ (or ‘Wrath’?).” [42] 
“Most-Amazing Love.”[43]


* * *
            
(See additional blog posts after the “Notes” in “Older/Newer Posts.”)
………………………
Notes: 

1. Helmut Thielicke, Our Heavenly Father: Sermons on the Lord’s Prayer, trans. John 
W. Doberstein (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1960), p. 65. 
2. E.g., Ps. 139:10, 16:11; 73:23; Lk, 22:69.
3. Thielicke, Our Heavenly Father, p. 64. 
4. Ibid., p. 25. 
5. See God’s “Tender Mercies” and the World’s (Our) Pain”;
6.  Martin Marty, Martin Luther (New York: Penguin Group, Viking, 2004), pp. 16, 21.
7. Martin Luther, “Preface to the  Complete Edition of Luther’s Latin Writings,” 
Martin Luther’s Basic Theological Writings, ed. Timothy F. Lull and William R. 
Russell (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2005), p. 9.  (See a previous post that discusses 
Luther’s discovery of Grace: “Martin Luther’s Neglected Tenderness”;
https://sacred-tenderness-christian-tradition.blogspot.com/2015/03/martin-luthers-neglected-tenderness.html) 
8. Helmut Thielicke, The Waiting Father: Sermons on the Parables of Jesus, trans. 
John W. Doberstein  (New York: Harper & Row, 1959), p. 55. 
9. Helmut Thielke, Life Can Begin Again: Sermons on the Sermon on the Mount, 
trans. John W. Doberstein (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1963), pp. 143-144.
10. See Note 22. Also see “Abba” (“Papa”) discussed in an earlier post:
Note 3 of “The Descent of Tender Love: The Christmas Story”; 
11. Thielicke, Life Can Begin Again, pp. 144-145. 
12. Ibid., p. 105.
13. Ibid., p. 106-107.  
14. Ibid., p. 144 (quoting Martin Luther’s Small Catechism, on “The Lord’s Prayer”).
16. Thielicke, Life Can Begin Again, p. 172.
17. Ibid., p. 215.
18. Thielicke, Our Heavenly Father, p. 62.  Also see Mt. 28:20; and regarding Jesus’
self-emptying death, see “The ‘Divine Romance,’ the ‘Bride Price,’ and the Cross”;
https://sacred-tenderness-christian-tradition.blogspot.com/2018/02/the-divine-romance-bride-price-and-cross.html 
19. Thielicke, Life Can Begin Again, p. 140.  
20. Ps. 27:4; NIV, GNT.
21. Ps. 27:6; RSV.
22. Thielicke, Our Heavenly Father, p. 28 (emphasis added). Also see Note 10.
23. Helmut Thielicke, Out of the Depths, trans. G. W. Bromiley (Grand Rapids, MI: 
William B. Eerdmans, 1962), p. 28.
25. Thielicke, Our Heavenly Father, pp. 81.
26. Ibid., p. 85.   
27. Thielicke, Life Can Begin Again, pp. 171-172.
28. "We Love (Extend Justice and Mercy) Because God First Loved Us (Updated 6/20)"; https://sacred-tenderness-christian-tradition.blogspot.com/2018/06/
29. See Note 39 below.
30. Meditations, prayer/poetry/proverbs by Lorraine B. Eshleman.
31. See "The 'Shepherd of Love'--An Enduring Image of God's
Tender Care";
https://sacred-tenderness-christian-tradition.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-shepherd-of-love-and-divine-romance.html and "Can we Hinder The 'Shepherd of Love’--Can we Hinder God?”;
https://sacred-tenderness-christian-tradition.blogspot.com/2018/08/can-we-hinder-shepherd-of-love-can-we.html
32. Quoted by Grace Warrack, Intro., Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine
Love, ed. Grace Warrack (London: Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1901, 1949), p. xliv, Note 2
(from Grace Harriet Warrack, Little Flowers of a Childhood).
33. Quoted in William J. Petersen, Martin Luther Had a Wife (Wheaton, IL:
Tyndale House Publishers, 1983), p. 33.
34. Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, p. 89 (Chap. 42, Long Text);
Julian also uses words like "cleave to" or "cling" at difficult
times. See discussion of "dry" or "low" spiritual times
in “The ‘Fickle’ Weather of the Human Soul, God’s TLC & Advice

from the Old Saints: Julian of Norwich, Luther, St. Ignatius, etc.”;

Also we would refer to old saints in the Bible who experienced "low"
times and the advice offered: see Jn. 15:4, RSV; Josh. 23:8, MEV, ASV;
Ps. 63:8, RSV, NJB.)
35. See Phil. 4:6; Ps. 23:4, 55:22, 56:3 ; Isa. 40:31, 41:10; Jn. 14:1;
Lk. 12:22-32; 1 Pet. 5:7.
36. This was discussed in a previous post. See part of that discussion
copied at the end of today's notes.
37. See 1 Jn. 1:9; Rom. 5:1; Lk. 15:7; Ps. 103.
39. “Good Friday and Easter--In God’s Embrace”;
http://sacred-tenderness-christian-tradition.blogspot.com/2016_03_01_archive.html. 
40. “‘TLC’: God’s Tender Loving CARE”;
http://sacred-tenderness-christian-tradition.blogspot.com/2019/01/.
41. “God’s ‘Tender Mercies’ and the World’s (Our) Pain”;
42. “The ‘Divine Romance,’ God’s Suffering, and God’s ‘Pathos’ (or ‘Wrath’?)”;
https://sacred-tenderness-christian-tradition.blogspot.com/2018/04/
44. Abraham Joshua Heschel, “I Asked for Wonder: A Spiritual Anthology,” 

ed. Samuel H. Dresner (New York: Crossroad, 1991), p. 22 (from “Man’s

Quest for God”).

. . . . .

Copy of previous discussion regarding "anger at God":

  Scripture shows that God can handle our honest anger!*  Job

addresses God with candid anger (9:14-10:3), and our God of “tender

mercy” understands--responding to Job in profound personal

encounter (Job 38).  God also lets Job know that he is both right

and wrong (42:7-8; 38:2**).  He is right in his genuine honestly (even

expressing his pain-filled anger at God) but wrong because on this

side of "the veil," he--in his mortality--cannot grasp the full picture.  


* See sincere, honest expression of anger at God: Ps. 39, 60: 1-3, 10;

Jer. 20:7-9, Num. 11:13-15; Hab. 1:2; Job 9:14-10:3.


** "Right" because catharsis and honesty are necessary, and

scripture gives plenty of precedent for both (see above).  

Catharsis is sometimes the only way to move beyond--climb up out

of--the pit of emotion in which we find ourselves (and surely God,

the great Healer, understands). But "wrong" because Job's

picture/view wasn’t great enough to comprehend the entirety of

God’s ways (Isa. 55:8-9) nor the true intimacy of God’s love

(Isa. 49:15-16).


--From: "God's 'Tender Mercies' and the World's (Our) Pain"

where there are additional thoughts about this topic;

http://sacred-tenderness-christian-tradition.blogspot.com/2016/10/


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