Nonsense?

“Our days are full of nonsense, and yet not, because it is precisely into the nonsense of our days that God speaks to us words of great significance.” Frederick Buechner-Secrets in the Dark

Buechner, now almost 95, was a remarkable, renowned writer in his early twenties, who, Christ Found in a church in Manhattan. His life was dramatically changed in a moment of epiphany during the sermon of an excellent preacher, George Buttrick.

To that point, he had borne as best he could the deep, senseless pain of his brief life. That included the heart-rending death of his father by suicide.

As to life’s ups and downs I am reminded of Dicken’s words in The Tale of Two Cities, “… it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair…” Buechner, this wonderful writer, began to be touched by the hand of God and was inspired to write some of the most eloquent, meaningful theological memoirs, I think, ever penned.

Buechner has looked at much of the pain of life head on. It certainly lurks around unforeseeable corners. He has conveyed how Christ eased those unexpected blows with the difficulties of his anorexic daughter.

How remarkable was Christ’s life upon which we base our calendar two millennia after his death? He was tortured to death for you and me. In a sense, He redeemed the most horrible torture, perhaps ever devised.  That cruelty was well beyond nonsense. That was pure evil.

Christ underwent that agony to save our souls. That’s Love.