Sermon Tone Analysis

Three unbiblical stories for approaching suffering:

3) I can handle anything that comes my way.

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate,

I am the captain of my soul.

William Ernest Henley

1) Intersectionality.

The concept of intersectionality describes the ways in which systems of inequality based on gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, class and other forms of discrimination “intersect” to create unique dynamics and effects.

For example, when a Muslim woman wearing the Hijab is being discriminated, it would be impossible to dissociate her female* from her Muslim identity and to isolate the dimension(s) causing her discrimination.

All forms of inequality are mutually reinforcing and must therefore be analysed and addressed simultaneously to prevent one form of inequality from reinforcing another.

For example, tackling the gender pay gap alone – without including other dimensions such as race, socio-economic status and immigration status – will likely reinforce inequalities among women.

If this seems radical, it is because we have been so beaten about the head with the assertion that identity fundamentally consists of ascriptive characteristics, especially ones that have become politically salient in recent decades.

We would do well to revisit Michael Oakeshott’s insights about human identity and the moral life from the first essay in On Human Conduct.

There he observes that the beginning of human action “is a state of reflective consciousness, namely, the agent’s own understanding of his situation, what it means to him.”

Our capacity for self-knowledge and self-interpretation is crucial, and it’s an element of our freedom.

A genetic inheritance, or even a personal history composed of particular episodes, never determines who we are.

All such inputs are subject to human understanding.

Elizabeth Corey, First Things blog

It has often been observed that intersectionality creates a kind of “oppression Olympics” among those who hold the theory.

Ironically, within college campus subculture, one’s moral authority can be enhanced by intersecting identities of oppression.

This kind of a social dynamic incentivizes grievance based on identity.

In that way, it entrenches social divisions rather than healing them.

- Denny Burk

Suffering is multiplied by various categories of identities that are oppressed.

One can alleviate suffering through “using your voice” and “fighting for the rights of yourself and others.”

It assumes that identities are fixed based on things that can’t change.

It actually creates more division and therefore more suffering because you must depend on yourself.

2) God won’t give you more than you can handle.

Suffering is minimized because it can’t be “more.”

Suffering should be alleviated through simply believing you’re ok.

It assumes you have identity that is fixed.

It actually sets you up to depend on yourself because you should be able to “handle it” and isolates us when we feel we can’t.

Biblically, suffering is not solely something done to us nor what we do to ourselves nor is it simply random nor does it give one moral superiority as if one can determine who has suffered more.

Suffering is sovereignly used by God to cause us to relate to Him and seek Him out.

The combination of divine sovereignty and human responsibility

Pattern 1. Someone else’s response to similar suffering surprises us to repentance

Judah’s cynical about his family, the family’s covenant with God and its blessing.

Judah’s sons are wicked.

They don’t care about their family just like Judah didn’t.

But Judah wanted grandchildren.

Tamar couldn’t have children, yet tricked her father-in-law into having them.

She at least stayed loyal to her family when Judah hadn’t.

Judah’s surprise admission starts his transformation.

Judah’s grandson’s birth would have reminded him of the covenant promises and God’s grace.

Examples - me at baptism...

It was around ten o'clock in the morning that I went up to Kathryn's to call for her to come out and play.

There was no one on the porch or in the kitchen.

The breakfast dishes had all been washed.

They were long railroad apartments, those flats, and thinking the children must be in the front room, I burst in and ran through the bedrooms.

"In the front room, Mrs. Barrett was on her knees, saying her prayers.

She turned to tell me that Kathryn and the children had all gone to the store and went on with her praying.

And I felt a warm burst of love toward Mrs. Barrett that I have never forgotten, a feeling of gratitude and happiness that still warms my heart when I remember her.

She had God, and there was

"All through my life what she was doing remained with me.

And though I became oppressed with the problem of poverty and injustice, though I groaned at the hideous sordidness of man's lot, though there were years when I clung to the philosophy of economic determination as an explanation of man's fate, still there were moments when in the midst of misery and class strife, life was shot through with glory.

Mrs.

Barrett in her sordid little tenement flat finished her breakfast dishes at ten o'clock in the morning and got down on her knees and prayed to God" - Dorothy Day

Out of the light that dazzles me,

Bright as the sun from pole to pole,

I thank the God I know to be,

For Christ – the Conqueror of my soul.

Since His the sway of circumstance,

I would not wince nor cry aloud.

Under the rule which men call chance,

My head, with joy, is humbly bowed.

Beyond this place of sin and tears,

That Life with Him and His the Aid,

That, spite the menace of the years,

Keeps, and will keep me unafraid.

I have no fear though straight the gate:

He cleared from punishment the scroll.

Christ is the Master of my fate!

Christ is the Captain of my soul!

Dorothy Day

Pattern 2. Suffering when doing what’s right completes our ability to help others.

His handsomeness caused problems.

Not his consistent refusal even when suffering

He goes from slave to prison slave

Did he really suffer?

Maybe just stoically taking it and seeking to obey God without emotion is the ideal?

Why is suffering when doing right so important?

Why is it actually a pattern?

Where God’s story and your story intersect.

Your story matters because your suffering matters.

3. Trust God’s steadfast love in the midst of suffering

Patterns between the 2 stories

Both end up separated from their families but for different reasons