Where are You, God?

Do you remember reading The Shack? It seemed to hit the world by storm a few years ago and, like many others, the St. Peter’s Book Group read and discussed the novel. You might recall that Mack, devastated by the disappearance and murder of his daughter Missy while on a camping trip, finally made his way to the shack, where he met Father, Son and Holy Spirit although they appeared to him as a Woman of colour, her carpenter Son and the shimmering Sarayu, the Holy Spirit.

Wm. Paul Young’s latest book Return to the Shack takes up the narrative some years later when Missy’s killer is in a high security prison but demands that Mack visits and talks to him before he will reveal the whereabouts of other children he has murdered and buried. 

Naturally, meeting Missy’s killer is almost impossibly hard for Mack but he is driven to do it so that it will present some sort of closure for the other bereaved parents. Returning to the shack seems to be of no help – he cannot find God there - but, while staying in a nearby hotel, he is visited in his dreams by Jesus. He is assured that Jesus has never left him: the truth is that Mack has recently alienated himself from God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, the Trinity who gave him so much help previously.

Early November seems the correct time to be reading about loss and about God’s love for us, in spite of difficulties. 1st November is All Saints’ Day, when we remember and give thanks for those named saints, particularly Peter and Alban, who gave their lives for their faith, as well as the ‘great cloud of witnesses’, ordinary people of every age who have helped us to see God in their words and actions.

Then, on 2nd November, is All Souls’ Day, a time for remembering those we have lost – as we did at the service on the previous Sunday. It does not matter if the grief is still raw or from some time ago. It is the very time when we might question the whereabouts of God and then, hopefully, find, like Mack did, that God is always with us. 

And, as we pray, we remember those people, that written word, which has reminded us of that fact:

We remember with gratitude all whose lives and words have led us to Christ and awakened our faith. May we in our turn live and speak so that other people are drawn to your love. Amen.