suffering and grace
April 29, 2009
This Friday, we’re headed to Paul’s house from 7-9pm for a ritual reflection on sickness, suffering, and grace. Dan is the leading the ritual and he says:
The theme I wanted to touch on this week was that of happiness within suffering.¬† As I’ve been sick this week, I’ve at the same time been reading very humorous e-mails from someone else who was sick, a friend of mine in DC.¬† And it struck me that she seems to have a much better attitude about sickness than I:
I tend to get very downcast and gloom n’ doomy when I get ill.¬† How is it that certain people are able to handle illness and other kinds of suffering with grace, while others find only anger and sadness? I invite people to bring in a story of what got them through one of the sickest times in their lives, and the memory of something that got them through it.¬† Any personal items (a book you read while you were sick, a poem, a song you wrote, etc.) that remind you of how you stayed above the suffering would also be helpful.¬† I’ll also bring in some philosophical and Gospel wisdom on the subject.
Email for directions. Hope to see you there!