Theological Journal - May 15 Suffering and Presence
Our words of comfort to the suffering leave silences dripping off their edges. Presence fills these silences even without words. Consider Job’s much, and mostly rightly, maligned friends. They did one thing right, however. They beheld Job’s suffering from a distance. And they drew near and sit with in silence for a number of days. That probably gave them the credibility to speak to speak. But when they started speaking they quickly lost that credibility. Better they had continued sharing Job’s suffering silently! I suspect that answers to the questions that inevitably arise in times of suffering are (unwittingly) too often attempts to “name those silences” (Hauerwas) to give some sense of reason for or control over the suffering. This, I believe, is what Job’s friends did in their speaking. But these silences to far too important for any answers or names we may give them. Embracing those silences is far better. But that requires a community of not-Job’s friend...