With
LETTER BY BRIAN MORYKON
It’s a strange thought.
When Jesus was here on earth working a miracle in one place, some atrocity was unfolding in another.
In Cana he made wine from water to keep a party going. Somewhere at that same moment some child was being used as a slave.
He healed a woman crippled for 18 years when 18 people had just died from a tower collapsing.
He made no attempt to explain away the tension of tragedy.
He gave no apologies for making a world with such staggering possibilities for suffering.
He offered no tidy explanation for the problem of pain.
Instead, he gave us himself. And he showed us a life.
He carried in his earthly body the weight of the world, yet on a day-to-day basis it did not crush him. He cried for Lazarus. He lamented for Jerusalem. He cared about everything and everyone more than anyone could ever care. And he could still take a nap.
Jesus embodied a present life. He was with people — rejoicing with those who rejoiced, weeping with those who wept. With, with, with.
His parting words were Behold, I will be with you always. With us in joy, with us in sorrow. The invitation is there: to be with him.
Will we find answers there with him? Unlikely. But we will find in his company something to sustain us — the hard-won hope of someone who’s known all the trouble the world can dish out but has still overcome.
Brian Morykon
Director of Communications
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LET’S DIVE IN...
CURATED BY GRACE POUCH
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1.
Abiding with God is everything. A classic letter by Richard Foster from the Renovaré archive puts the whole point of spiritual formation into perspective.
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2.
There is a way to encounter suffering without reflecting or connecting to God, but Trevor Hudson explains a better way. Any encounter with pain — whether it be an intentional pilgrimage or an unexpected brush with deep suffering — is an opportunity to be drawn nearer to God and to learn from the One who is an “ever present help in time of trouble.” (Ps. 46)
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3.
A short but powerful prayer from our friend Pete Greig invites us to intercede for the people of Los Angeles. Lord, have mercy.
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4.
The wording is antique, but Andrew Murray’s teaching is fresh in this excerpt from his 1895 book, Abide in Christ.
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5.
How do we cultivate a sustainable friendship with God? Don’t miss our workshop “Cultivating a Rule of Life” (Jan 23 and 25, 2025) where Jonathan Bailey (Renovaré Board member, cofounder of Dwell) will guide us through a way of intentionally seeking to center our lives on abiding in God and growing in grace.
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6.
“In my years of stepping in and out of some of the more extreme situations of our world, I have learned a few lessons for how to remain fruitfully and sustainably engaged,” writes Tiffany Clark. Read her list of helpful suggestions for how to pray and hope in situations of despair.
Grace Pouch
Content Manager
WORTH QUOTING
“Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day; earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away.
Change and decay in all around I see. O thou who changest not, abide with me.”
– Henry Francis Lyte
Hymnary.org
(source)
TO CONTEMPLATE
Job Tapestry
Marc Chagall and Yvette Cauquil-Prince - completed 1985
(source)
An image of hope and love for all who suffer, Chagall’s composition features Job as the largest figure. Gabriel swoops down from the top center with the good news of Emmanuel, “God with us.” Christ is on the cross in the top left corner, and beneath him stands a crowd of people, some in wheelchairs and some with canes and braces. These figures represent all people with disabilities, to whom Chagall dedicated the piece. In giant lettering on the back of the tapestry are the words: “For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.” (Job 14:7)
TO PONDER
An exercise adapted from Tiffany Clark’s article (#6 above).
Visualize a person or situation and Christ there with them.
- Allow Jesus’ gaze to become your focal point, until you are more aware of his presence in the situation than the situation itself.
- Ask him what is on his heart for that situation or person, and listen for the longings that emerge in your heart as his response.
- Offer these longings back to him in prayer.
- Rest the situation in his pierced, capable hands, taking only whatever course of action or ongoing prayer he has asked you to keep carrying.