eChurch Blog

It’s so easy to blog whilst the going is good, the seas are calm and the weather is fair. The faith is strong, the confidence high, the ideas flow and God is on His throne; all will be well.

It’s a far harder thing to write when life is shit and you feel like shit. When you’re stressed out of your face, it’s one thing after another, tragedy strikes, evil abounds and your “pan out” theology falters.

Why would a Christian bother blogging at such a time? Nobody wants to hear the travails of another. We need encouraging, upbuilding and edifying, not brought low.

Anyway, it would hardly befit the victorious conqueror in Christ. Real Christians don’t have ‘issues’.

It’s a rare thing indeed for a Christian blogger in the midst of tough times to hit the keyboard; key by painful key, faltering, not flowing, filled with doubt, struggles, trepidation and pointlessness.

And I think that’s a deep shame.

There’s so much advice out there; theological musing, spiritual contemplation, Biblical exegesis, lamenting the world – or the Church – going to hell in a handbasket, and so forth, on Christian blogs. And all of this is excellent and has its place.

But you know what, sometimes I simply need to know I’m not struggling alone in the grit and shit. It’s good to hear of Christians wrestling and battling with the crap this world throws, and despite it all, holding to the faith. It’s good and healthy to see your battle scars, even if they’re still gaping wounds.

Flaws and wounds are considered as weakness in this world and probably more so in some quarters of Christendom. We’re programmed to mask our vulnerabilities and project an image. Christians especially mustn’t show that they are struggling and suffering.

But that’s the irony isn’t it, in that Jesus became vulnerable, waded into our suffering and misery, shared it with us, and became the suffering servant King, so that he could comfort us. No longer did God just look on and sympathise, but now fully empathises with us and our suffering. How could he possibly of done so without entering into our condition and standing in our shoes?

How can we do this for others if we will not be open to share honestly? Folk need to know that we have been there – or are there – and intimately know their pain and brokenness. Who better to understand than a person who can draw from their own frame of reference.

Pithy answers, soundbites, and solutions, are all well and good, but there is nothing quite so soothing and connecting as talking to somebody who understands through their own experience.

It’s all about knowing you are not alone, someone understands and loves you; that’s who Jesus is for us, and that’s who we need to be for others.

It’s about taking the first step and showing that through – and despite – all the crap, we hold to the faith. Because Jesus took the first step for us.

It’s OK to walk with a limp, it’s OK to be imperfect; full of flaws and weaknesses and brokenness, it’s OK not to have a solution to every problem, an answer to every question.

This was inspired by Michael Patton’s post.

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Tags: Christian Life

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 4th, 2012 at 1:53 pm and is filed under Webmaster's Ramblings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.