thy will be done -- a book review

One of the key pastoral tasks is to work and proclaim the Gospel in the midst of some of the worst human moments of suffering.  I think, for example, of my student days and working as a pastoral counselor on the children's oncology wing.  Ours is a world that has so many voices speaking in those moments:  Doctors who hold out a hope connected to machines and medicines, a culture that believes only when we live without pain are we really living.  So learning to listen to God's word in Christ is the key pastoral work -- whether in preaching or in pastoral care.

And Blumhardt's Thy Will Be Done:  Sickness, Faith, and the God Who Heals is one of those voices who knows how to speak loud truth above all those other voices.  Because this book speaks Jesus.

Jesus alone is the "glory of God" in whom our hope is placed.  Jesus alone is our joy in the midst of suffering, because he alone is our perseverance.  That's why Blumhardt begins this collection of meditations with the simple proclamation of the Good News of God in Jesus Christ.  "There are two sides of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  It is a message of forgiveness of sins, of everlasting life, but also a message of opposition to human misery" (p. 3).  And it's that dual proclamation that sets the tone for these meditations.

Blumhart goes on to connect the New Testament's call to the faithfulness of God in Jesus Christ to our faith in the God made known in Jesus Christ, and how that faith leads us toward wholeness, toward healing.  In a world of fragmentation and sickness -- physical, spiritual, social illness -- Thy Will Be Done is a testament to our hope in the God who is with us, even in the very depth of our human suffering.

Several years ago, I was diagnosed with cancer.  As with most folks I sat next to in treatment, we ached -- in body, sure, but also in our souls -- for good news.  Sometimes, we heard it from doctors.  Sometimes we didn't.  But I know now that the message I wanted to hear is the clear message Blumhardt is given us in this little book of meditations.

This is a resource for pastors who are developing what to say in those moments of pastoral theodicy.  This is a resource in and for the Church.  I've already read and marked my copy.  And I know I'll be returning to it again and again.  Because there's real spiritual wisdom here.

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I received a free copy of this book from Plough Publishing in exchange for my honest review here.