Weaknesses, Comforts and Boasts
December 1, 2013 | Patrick Preheim
2nd Corinthians is just the right book of the bible to study following a Grey Cup triumph. The word “boast” (καύχησις) appears 30 times in this Pauline epistle. And we in Saskatchewan know a little something of boasting. Last Sunday the Roughriders completely dominated the Ti-cats from Hamilton in Grey Cup 101. The tabbies were totally tamed, and all of Roughrider Nation has beamed with pride. We have boasted on national television, boasted in print media, and boasted through text messaging. Our boasts stand in stark contrast to the attitude many of us take with our other religion, and here I mean our Christian Faith.
Most of us, including me, resist taking vocal pride in our faith. There are many reasons for this and I think teasing them out in conversation would be more effective than preaching about them. To get the dialogue going, though, I offer a couple thoughts on our tongue tied faith.
Boasting in the egocentric context of North American individualism and consumerism, where humans are the centre of the world, necessarily leads to arrogance. And, good on us, we resist this. It is a challenge to live as if God is the centre of all things let alone find language which isn’t confused with idolatrous boasting. Secondly, and related to this first point, in these post-modern times the language of faith is changing and we have not yet settled on a religious vocabulary which feels right. Lacking words, we say little. A third observation—Mennonite experience of persecution and dislocation is, I think, also a part of the mix. Historically, our Mennonite communities traded an evangelistic faith for toleration among the nations (see N. van der Zijpp’s “From Anabaptist Missionary Congregation to Mennonite Seclusion in Anabaptism and Mission (edited by Wilbert Shenk)). Silence on matters of faith became part of our DNA. Given these three factors, and others which may be out there, how do we make sense of the copious boasting found in 2nd Corinthians? Is there some Good News for us in this Epistle? I think so.
Unlike the boasts of the world Paul places his boasting in the context of weakness. 14 times throughout 2nd Corinthians Paul uses the term weak or weakness (ἀσθένεια). The weaknesses of which he wrote sometimes came from his personal issues. For example, in chapter 12 Paul waxed on about a thorn in his flesh. Other instances of weakness came from hardships which were imposed by external forces. I find it striking that three times in this letter Paul enters a rant mode in describing the turmoil he and the church had suffered: persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed (4.8ff); enduring beatings, calamities, tumults (6.4ff); imprisonments, lashing, ship-wrecks and stoning (11.23ff). These negative experiences, along with the thorn in the flesh, underscore frailty and weakness. Paul found himself able to boast in these situations not because he had conquered, but on account of God’s comfort.
Did we all notice the 10 references to comfort in Paul’s opening paragraph to the Corinthian church? My English teachers would have seriously docked my grade had I handed in a paper with such overt redundancy. Paul, however, was out to make a point. As often as he wrote of affliction he wrote of comfort. In John’s Gospel the disciples are promised the Paraclete (Παράκλητος)—the comforter—to help them (14.26). John wrote that this Paraclete is the Holy Spirit. I will not abandon you, said Jesus. I will not leave you orphaned. The Paraclete will help you remember me and all that I have taught. Do not let your hearts be troubled. It is the verb form of Paraclete which Paul used throughout 2nd Corinthians (παρακλήσεως). All tallied Paul invoked the Paraclete 19 times in his short letter. His boast is not that God has spared him from suffering, but rather that God has comforted him in the midst of affliction. Compare Paul’s approach to weakness, comfort and boasting with what we often encounter.
We usually think of boasting in relation to those things done well: a high mark in school, a shrewd purchase in the market, victory in sports. Weakness and suffering are too be avoided, and if they can not be avoided they shall not be mentioned. Out of shame, or to minimize vulnerability, we typically hide our weaknesses and down play our suffering. The failed business shall not be spoken of. Depression or mental health concerns shall be hidden. Family strife will remain within the family. Eating disorders and other addictions will be battled in solitude. We shall be comforted and comfortable when we have conquered weakness and vulnerability has been eliminated. We will boast in our self-sufficiency and invincibility.
These are the cultural messages which have shaped us, but they are not the message of 2nd Corinthians or the Gospels. Jesus and Paul acknowledged human frailty. They knew that we, and all humans, fail. They understood that good people sometimes suffer unjustly. Affliction is a part of life. They took humanity seriously and have given us a compass to navigate through the muck. Just how exactly do we faithfully boast in our weaknesses?
We are invited to make friends with our weaknesses. “Making friends with our weakness” is the way a young adult put it during our October 10 Thursday evening Bible Study. The conversation had been centred on 1st Corinthians where Paul also wrote of weaker members and being at peace in the body. Until we are able to love the least lovable parts of ourselves, he implied, the peace which passes understanding will be beyond our grasp. I was struck by the insight of this reflection. We were invited to consider this in our lives. The weaker parts of me? You mean my propensity to…. My proclivity toward… This burden I carry which is….. (we can all end these sentence, can’t we). Ron took this challenge seriously. Plagued by an on-going health issue that has afflicted his physical as well as his emotional well being, he began to consider loving rather than resenting his rebellious body part. It might be odd to think about intentionally giving thanks and loving parts of the body which are out of sorts or that we do not like, and yet this is what he did. He willfully began to love the body part out of whack. Within days many of the physical symptoms from which he suffered began to abate. He has felt better physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
As Ron shared this experience in a sub group after a session in November I had several reflections. We often talk in military terms about those things which afflict us. We battle cancer. We fight illness. We declare war on poverty, terrorism, this and that. How utterly Christian, I thought, to begin loving the unlovable. Be it parts of ourselves, our community, our world. A second thought occurred to me as he thanked the young facilitator of the evening for changing his life. Ron was really thanking this young man for allowing God to impart wisdom through him. The four of us in the conversation all knew this to be true, but we didn’t have the words for it. From the perspective of Paul, when we thank people for their ministry to us we are doing so knowing that we are really thanking God who works beyond and through humanity.
Just how do we boast in our weaknesses? In mid November I attended a Mennonite Economic Development Associates convention in Wichita, Kansas. It was a great event, all the more so since my immediate family live near Wichita and we had a great time of reconnecting. No offense to my family, but the highlight of the weekend came at a seminar called “Can This Farm Business be Saved? Should This Farm Business be Saved?”. The presenter was Mike Yoder. He has always been a believer that a strong work ethic and financial sensibilities are what a make a business succeed; any business but particularly a farm business. Following this formula he expanded his dairy heard several times over and bought up additional acreage to feed the milk producing beasts. And then things went sideways. Droughts in 2009 and 2010 forced a massive increase in the price of feed. And then his foreman literally left for greener pastures while leaving behind significant debt for which Mr. Yoder bore responsibility. And then the milk price dropped. And then the bank would not renegotiate the loan. And so on… Mike remembers hearing a radio report on the number of U.S. dairymen who had committed suicide because the financial burden and shame of failure were so great. He said that while he never considered suicide he could understand the impulses which led to such despair. The dairy was finally able to turn the corner when a financial angel provided a principal only loan which gave the respite necessary to right the cash flow problems. Even though the financial scene looks much better now than it did, it is not clear at this point whether the business will make it. Work ethic and financial sensibility serve a person well in business, but Mike has come to understand that some forces are beyond our control. Supply and demand, the actions of others, timing of investment, drought—all these are factors are beyond our control.
Mike told us that this was the first time he had publically shared about the demise of his business. A small group of dairymen had formed a support group for each other, but his congregation was either unaware of the struggle or uninvited to be present or unequipped to be a support. An executive within MEDA had heard Mike’s story over coffee a year or so ago and insisted that it was important for him to share it and offer it at a MEDA convention; that sharing is important to making sense of pain and that the people of MEDA would understand all the factors at play. And still Mike resisted. Who enjoys talking about these things? Who wants to be known as the farmer who couldn’t make it without an angel?
I had a series of reflections after that particular seminar. Suffering and affliction finds even the most industrious and sensible people, and comfort comes when we recognize that often there are forces beyond our control. In the midst of suffering there are positive and destructive ways of coping with the pain. Comfort often comes when we share our story among people who listen well. Often it takes the distance of years or even decades before we have made theological meaning of our experience and are able to share publically. Sharing the story at some point, though, is important because in the telling we are reminded of God’s salvation. Offering the story is also important for the community because you can be sure there are others who have gone through a similar affliction or need to hear that they are not alone in their current pain. The boast of the wisest people I know emerges not from what they have done, but rather from those whose recognize the angels and communities who have comforted them in their weakness and fostered new life out of a seeming death.
Today is the first Sunday of Advent. Weakness, comfort, and boasting have everything to do with incarnation. In the incarnation we recognize that Jesus, though in the likeness of God, emptied himself and took on human form in all its weakness (Phil 2.5-10). It ought to be of some comfort to us that we have a high priest and saviour able to sympathize with us in our weakness, and who gives us a Holy Spirit to help us remember that life will come from death (Heb 4:14-16). It ought to be liberating that our pride is not about what we have or have not done, but rather about what God has done and will do again. Maybe the days are nearing when we will be as quick to boast at what God has done as what the Roughriders accomplished in Grey Cup 101. Maybe. God willing these days come soon. Amen.
