Why?

September 30, 2024

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there; the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” ~ Job 1:21

I am retiring from parish ministry at the end of this year. After years of living with the rhythm of weekly sermon preparation based on the lectionary, I’m diving into the book of Job.  I’ve often said that those who embrace pastoral ministry are called or crazy, or perhaps a bit of both.

I chose to preach on Job now because I figured it’s about time. It would be so much easier to default to Mark’s gospel, or even Hebrews, and I confess to having second and third thoughts about this choice. 

I’ve written and preached over 1,000 sermons since my ordination because I believe that the Bible’s story is relevant. I believe those stories are relevant to our lives and to the life of our world, in little and big ways. I believe that in all things God is present. Each week, I try to connect the Bible to real, every day life. With a dive into Job, given natural and human-made disasters, my calling is to preach, and live with those stories.

At the age of 71, the first part of Job 1:21 – “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there; the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away” – seems far more real to me than when my High School English teacher assigned us “J.B.” a play by Archibald MacLeish that is based on the book of Job. The phrase, “You can’t take it with you,” rings  true.

The second portion, “blessed be the name of the Lord,” is the existential problem. If God is found in all things, it must be true for better or for worse.

Blessed be the name of the Lord.?! We shall see.  Easy to say when life is going our way. It’s not so easy in the rough patches.  ~ Anne