A Reflection on the Book of Job after hearing a reading on Sunday, February 8, 2009

Dear, dear Job,

Much has changed since you first proclaimed your sadness. I will not challenge your faith as your old friends did, but will hold your hand in the darkness while life goes on around us (children laugh, plants grow, and lovers find each other.)

Together we will learn that God does not give us reasons, God gives us presence. The alpha and omega of all presence, Jesus, the son of God, became flesh a thousand years after we walked the earth, and his death and resurrection completed the meaning of your suffering. Twice a thousand years later, God’s Spirit walks through me and with me (and you also) and in and through the community of all, living and dead.

Today, while we sit in your mourning, dear, dear Job, the community cares for us. The lovers love us, the harvest feeds us and the children learn compassion.

You may not believe me now, but what I say is true. I have lived your story.

Shalom,

Naomi