Karen Keen

When Death Comes Too Soon

2 Comments / Reconstructing Faith / By

During Lent this year, death hovered near. My friend Bill, a beloved pastor in the community, underwent chemo for an unexpected brain tumor. The spouse of someone I provide spiritual care for was suddenly hospitalized. And well-known Christian writer, Rachel Held Evans was placed in a medically induced coma after the flu took a dangerous turn. On Holy Saturday I mentioned each of them in a tweet and pleaded, “This Holy Saturday I am crying out for life!”

All three of them died this week. Tomorrow I am attending two memorial services.

Bill was only 56 years old and blessed the lives of so many, including refugees. He persuaded his congregation to turn the parsonage into a home for transitioning immigrants. Bill died just weeks after the birth of a grandchild who will grow up without him. Rachel was 37 and had a profound impact through her writing and speaking, challenging the evangelical world to follow Christ more fully. She leaves behind a three old son and a little girl not even a year old.

It always startles me when good people die young. It goes against my gut sense of justice that God should and surely will look out for the faithful. Yet, even Jesus and his disciples died unfairly. The gospel does not offer the protection that I so wish it did.

I first began to reckon with this truth several years ago when I encountered another unexpected death. At the time I was ending a stable career, packing my bags, and moving across the country to pursue a new vocational dream, namely, a Th.M. degree at Duke Divinity School with hopes of going on for a Ph.D. in Old Testament. But amid my hopeful beginning, David died. I didn’t know David, but his death hit me hard. His dreams mirrored my own dreams, having just completed his Ph.D. in Old Testament at Duke.  …

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Review: Sacred Word Broken Word by Kenton Sparks

2 Comments / Book Reviews, Reading Scripture / By

In his book, Sacred Word Broken Word, Kenton Sparks proposes an “adoptionist” model for understanding how God speaks to us in Scripture. He writes, “Scripture is God’s Word because God providentially adopted ancient human beings, like Paul, as his spokespersons. In doing so God ‘set apart’ or ‘sanctified’ their words for use in his redemptive activity” (29, 156). Interestingly, he chooses a 2nd century heresy as an analogy. Adoptionism denies that Jesus was eternally pre-existent with the Father, but rather he became divine when “adopted” by God at his baptism and the Spirit of God descended upon him (e.g. Luke 3:22). Sparks says “there is a theological purpose behind God’s choice to use human beings as we are, so that the glory for redemption will truly be his” (156). But, he does not expand on this theory of theological purpose.

Sparks believes the biblical authors were sinful human beings who erred like any other human beings (29, 32, 46-47, 59). They sometimes “thought and wrote ungodly things.” He also believes the Bible not only has errors (6, 29), but also contains within its pages evil that is in need of redemption (46-47). He compares Scripture with creation—good, but fallen. Some texts should be prioritized for reading above “those that are more partial or distorted by the human condition” (49).

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Rabbi Green on the Bible and “Halakhah”

Ethics, Reading Scripture / By
In my Old Testament class at the local community college I teach students about Israelite law in its ancient Near Eastern context, as well as the meaning of biblical law in Christian and Jewish tradition today. In this brief three minute video, Rabbi Arthur Green provides a lovely discussion of how he understands the law texts in relation to faith and practice. The word “halakhah” is the word used in the Jewish community to refer to Jewish law, but more literally means the path that a person walks.

Where Is God in a World of Suffering?

Reconstructing Faith / By

If God loves us and has a purpose for our lives, why is there so much suffering? What does it mean that God doesn’t stop tragedy from happening? Is God truly good?

Trying to make sense of suffering is as old as Job. One common tendency is to suggest a person did something wrong to incur God’s disfavor or discipline. However, the author of Job rejects claims that bad things only happen because God is angry. Innocent people do, in fact, suffer. When asked why a man was born blind, Jesus denied the cause was sin (John 9:1-3). Instead he says God is actively working to bring good into painful situations. Similarly, the author of Acts describes God directly opposing the forces that cause suffering (10:38).

Anglican pastor and theologian, Rowan Williams, says when it comes to trusting God sometimes the first baby step is to look to people who take responsibility for God:

Faith has a lot to do with the simple fact that there are trustworthy lives to be seen, that we can see in some believing people a world we’d like to live in . . . This turn of phrase, about taking responsibility for God, I owe to one of the most striking believers of the twentieth century, one of the many who made God believable by their resistance to the nightmares of modern totalitarianism and violence. Etty Hillesum was a young Jewish woman in her twenties when the Germans occupied Holland . . . Imprisoned in the transit camp at Westerbork . . . she wrote, “There must be someone to live through it all and bear witness to the fact that God lived, even in these times. And why should I not be that witness?”[1]

As you continue to process your image of God, be patient with yourself. Talk with a spiritual director, mentor, or friend who can walk alongside you. Trusting God takes time. Wrestling with pain takes time. The question “Why?” may never be answered, but it is possible to arrive at the same understanding as witnesses before us: God is light and in God there is no darkness at all (1 John 1:15).

During this time, the following suggestions may be helpful:

1. Ponder the stories of others who have suffered such as Nicholas Wolterstorff’s Lament for Son or Etty Hillesum’s An Interrupted Life and Letters from Westerbork.

2. Engage in practices of lament. This could be as diverse as praying the Psalms, writing your own lament, or symbolic acts (e.g. tying a burden to a helium balloon and sending it into the sky etc).

3. Daydream about previous experiences of God in your life. When Mother Teresa went through long periods without sensing God’s presence, her distinct and memorable call to ministry as a young woman kept her going.

4. Meditate on Scriptures that remind you of God’s love, even if part of you still struggles to believe them. For example, consider contemplating stories of Jesus’s caring ministry to those around him.

5. Practice self-care, including recreation/exercise, talking with trusted friends and family, eating healthy, journaling, listen to comforting music, etc.

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[1] Rowan Williams, Tokens of Trust: An Introduction to Christian Belief (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2007), 21-22.

Doubt: When You’re Not Sure What You Believe

Reconstructing Faith / By

Several years ago, I was walking down the street on an ordinary day when suddenly a thought inserted itself out of the blue: What if there is no God? Given that I was not pondering the subject at the time, the intruding thought felt strangely self-animating. But rather than disturbing me, I felt relieved. My body began to relax and an exhilarating sense of freedom washed over me. I was surprised by my reaction. Why would I, a devout Christian, dedicated to studying the Scriptures feel relief at the thought of no God? As I pondered my response, I realized I was afraid of God. If there was no God I didn’t need to worry about getting all the answers right. I didn’t need to worry about getting the answers wrong. It was like someone telling me I could skip the nerve wracking exam.

This incident came at a time when I was increasingly discouraged and disillusioned about finding answers to certain theological questions. Biblical research had challenged long held beliefs and provoked numerous questions. My presuppositions about the Bible were being rattled. Like many other students whose faith is disrupted by biblical scholarship, I came from a tradition that puts considerable emphasis on correct doctrine. Pinning down answers is of utmost importance. Apologetic books abound and parishioners are warned not to read material that might contradict the approved doctrines. At the root lies considerable fear of getting the answers wrong and facing a punishing God.  …

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World So Full

Reconstructing Faith / By

I recently came across a song called “World So Full” by Jon Dee Graham. It is covered below by Gloria Showalter who writes, “My major is Peace, Justice, and Conflict Studies, which means that many of my classes deal with some of the worst stuff in the world. My four years here at Goshen College have been challenging as I look at the pain of the world in my academic study, and in my own life. Sometimes, amidst the study of PTSD, sexual violence, systemic oppression, and genocide, I have felt pretty hopeless.. . . Working towards God’s vision of healing and reconciliation is not the sort of thing that feels good all the time or always yields the results I want. Yet, my time here at Goshen has deepened my hope and strengthened my commitment to working to bring that just and peaceful world a little closer to reality. In the words of this song, ‘I’m still in love with the world so full.'”

Excerpts from the song include:

Little stars hang on tight
to the roof of this night.
Don’t turn away,
Don’t turn away
From the world so full.

Make me willing,
Make me strong,
Make me brave as the day is long.

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