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Dear
Friends,
Despite being an optimistic sort of person I am always suspicious of
Christians who are always cheerful and enthusiastic and never seem to have a low
day. Some people are very clever at disguising their inner pain and retain a
smile even though their heart is breaking. Many Christians do know desolation.
They have seen long held hopes come to nothing. Either their own marriage
perhaps, or that of a near relative or friend has entered a bleak period to
which there seemed no end.
A church’s vision for the future has lacked the people or the money to
put it into effect. Countless people have suffered loss and injury in Haiti.
Some have seen loved ones going to war in places like Iraq or Afghanistan and
have had to learn how to live in the ‘Interim’. A drug addiction or depression
of a son or daughter has created a Good Friday for which there seemed to be no
Easter Day.
As we recently looked at the post Easter appearance to the two on the
road during the week of prayer for Christian Unity we were reminded of the tired
despair of Cleopas and his companion. The disciples on the Emmaus road were in
this 'interim period’; their lives were in turmoil- especially as they had heard
rumours of Jesus appearing to some after being dead and buried.
How do we survive when our lives are shattered by loss?
The New Testament has an answer. In the Greek it is called '
makrothumia'; in our English versions it is translated as 'patience' or 'long
suffering'. (2 Corinthians 6.6 and Hebrews 6.13). But it has none of the lack of
decision, which 'Patience' can imply, and none of the ‘teeth-gritting' that
'long suffering' can suggest. William Barclay described it as 'the ability to
endure delay and bear suffering and never give in'.
Jesus needed makrothumia to live creatively when few understood his
message. Amos needed makrothumia to continue to preach in a God rejecting
society, Jeremiah when he was thrown down a pit to silence him. Nelson Mandela
showed it during his years in prison.
We can better develop this virtue when we realise that makrothumia is an
attribute of God. Peter (1 Peter 3.20) attributes it to God in waiting. God has
patience with his people. Jesus told his disciples before his Ascension to go to
Jerusalem and wait there. It is the gift of God to us, as it was to the
disciples to simply wait upon God in Christ in all circumstances - the gift of
steadfast waiting.
Shalom,
Chris
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