Day 230: How Can We Bear This Much Loss?

 DAY 230

                              Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic                     

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

pastorrobert@paxpres.org

Week Thirty-three    Friday 30 October 2020

How Can We Bear This Much Loss?

“If grief could be calculated strictly in the number of lives lost – to war, disease, natural disaster – then this time surely ranks as one of the most sorrowful in United States history. As the nation passes the grim milestone of 200,000 deaths from Covid-19 we know that the grieving has only just begun. It will continue with loss of jobs and social structures; routines and ways of life that have been interrupted may never return. For many, the loss may seem too swift, too great, and too much to bear, each story to some degree a modern version of the biblical trials of Job.” - From an article by the same title in a current newspaper.

Years ago, I viewed a vast assemblage of the woodcut engravings of WiIliam Blake, 1757-1827, at the Tate Britain, a museum gallery in London. Among other Biblical stories, Blake portrayed the story of Job, the universal symbol of suffering figuring in the sacred scriptures of all three Abrahamic faiths – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Suffering the loss of all his children and all his possessions, Job cries out, “’Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.’” Job 1:21.      

This verse forms the text for one of the plates in Blake’s story of Job, about which the author of the above-referenced article writes, “So, the Book of Job isn’t just about grief or just about faith. It’s also about our attachments – to our identities, our faith, the possessions and people we have in our lives. Grief is a symbol of letting go when we don’t want to.” *

God has promised to place limits on loss, although some like Job feel he has forgotten to keep to them. The Message gives a fresh clear look at this principle when in 1 Corinthians 10:13 it reads: “No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it.” 

*This entire article is worth reading. Google:

  “How Can We Bear This Much Loss?” by Amitha Kalaichandran.

Reflective question: Will God ever allow more loss than we can bear? How much is enough?

Reflective Scripture: Job 13:15 – “’Though he slay me, yet will I trust him.’” – Job.  

Reflective hymn:

‘If You but Trust in God to Guide You” – Paul Gerhardt (1607-1676)

If you but trust in God to guide you and place your confidence in him,

You’ll find him always there beside you to give you hope and strength within;

For those who trust God’s changeless love build on the rock that will not move.