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for Novelty ShopI came across this exchange of letters several weeks ago. I decided to save them until the season of Lent, for they seem most appropriately read during this season. They appear to be written by various people, some Christian and some whose faith may be strong but not explicitly Christian. They are not enjoyable reading but I believe they can be helpful to us.
Dear God: I'm a newcomer to this room, relatively speaking. Not too sure how I wound up here, except for the rather obvious answer: I came home one afternoon and found my wife had moved out. Everything! Gone! Kids too!! I was in shock for a couple of days, until I got a letter from her lawyer. Another shock! But it got my attention real quick.
I won't boor You with the gory details. Suffice it to say that what had begun years ago with lots of hope and joy had become - and still remains - a source of anguish and guilt. She's become someone I don't recognize anymore. I guess I've become a stranger to her too.
But she isn't the one who's really making me stay in this room. I just can't get past the realization that someone I trusted so completely, someone I pledged my heart to, has betrayed me. When I think about it for long, I feel like someone is cutting me in half! Really!! Still. Even after nearly a year apart I still wonder how I could have misjudged her so completely.
I'm well enough in this room to look around a bit. Have You been down here recently? There's a multitude of people in this room. We all go about our daily lives on this earth, but it feels like we're already in Hell. We're like walking wounded, looking fine on the outside but shattered on the inside. Somehow each of us has found a dark corner. But let me tell You that there are some crevices in this room that just hearing about send me into a panic!
I've only met a very few people -
I can't even begin to describe the agony of people thrown into prison or worse for just being in the wrong country with the wrong religion or race!
I started out here just plain angry! Then, as I listened to others, I could see how they wound up here. They were losers! Then I realized each of them was thinking the same thing about me - "What a fool he is," they must be saying about me. Feeling betrayed, being betrayed, has crushed my confidence.
All of us here, in our own way, are pretty convinced You don't understand about this room. You certainly don't seem to care that we're here...and that others are arriving every minute. It is pretty clear that this betrayal stuff has been going on for a millennia or two! I'd fix whatever it is that's broken, that's causing this suffering, if I were in charge!
We are convinced of something else here, too. We don't think You'll answer this letter because doing so would mean You made a mistake. But just in case this gets to You, we all want to know: is there any hope when I'm betrayed and lonely?
Bitterly - Betrayed
Well! You can see why this letter has come to me! It isn't the sort of thing you want left lying around where just anyone can find it. But there was another letter attached to it.
Dear Betrayed,
I know you expect Me to say that I understand. I do. I truly do. When I created you and your kind, I was filled with hope and joy. Here was a truly universal opportunity for love to be freely, unconditionally exchanged.
Words hardly convey how profoundly shattering, how cosmically disturbing, your species' rebellion and betrayal was...and continues to be! Of course I knew of the possibility of such a betrayal. But like all lovers, I had eternal hope that your hearts would be faithful to Me and one another.
Of course our experience has been much different. Our relationship has been one long string of betrayals. Each time your species promises to do better. Barely do the words cross your lips before your hearts plot betrayal! Your record with one another is no less troubled.
Nevertheless, despite the abysmal record you have and the utter inability you exhibit to keep your word, betrayal still hurts. Betrayal wounds your soul and crushes your hope. You must understand that these devastating events are never My intention for any creature. But they do occur because I gave you the gift of freedom. So the ultimate responsibility for your aching heart is Mine. I am truly sorry this sadness, this sin, has come to you and to your partner.
Let Me remind you that I have truly wrestled with the limitations of human faithfulness. I came among you in your species' own form. Even more completely than My Spirit exists in each of you. I entered the history of your planet in a single life. I did so not only hoping to finally discover true faithfulness, but also with the recognition that your species would act in an utterly predictable way. I knew that you would betray My love. I knew that you would resent My healing. I knew that you would resist My guidance.
I came among you...I came to Thee...anyway. Like any other lover. Remember, I am Love! I know more completely than you can imagine how deeply connected love and suffering, hope and betrayal, love and the struggle for hope truly are.
Of course, you...each of you in that awful room...wonder how long you must stay there. Each of you say "I want relief!" Let Me tell you plainly that I am not the one keeping you there. Indeed few things would - and will - please Me more than your second step toward the door. Your letter to Me is the first step.
Please know that during the longest days of your helpless rage and ache I have not, and will not, abandon you. I will hold your soul in My hand. I will send you My guides to assist your steps. You will know them by their understanding spirit, their unflinching friendship and their patience with your aching heart. Like you, they will come with their own wounds and limitations. But like my Son, they will nourish your soul with words of hope. Listen for their footsteps when your path grows steep! Watch for their candles when your heart seems dark. Reach for their hand when your spirit longs again for the predictable room of your affliction.
And know of My love for You. Always.
Hopefully, Thy Friend
Well, there you have them. I believe this pair of letters speaks to us, personally and as a congregation. Here's my take on them.
Personal - Perhaps this exchange of letters speaks a portion of your condition. Like I said at the outset, this series of letters came to me. I am simply the custodian of these letters and have chosen to make them available at this time. Jesus' 'descent into Hell' was not something began at his death. His entire earthly ministry focused on relieving hellish suffering. Hell is not merely a place of eternal torment. We begin, here and now, creating our own pathway to rooms marked "Betrayed" and "Lonely." If you're at the doorway to the room without hope...if you're wondering if someone is able to help you escape...you've come to the right place, Friend.
Congregational - My friends, all of us have stood by a doorway to some room in Hell. If not these two rooms then some other doorway on another room. Our calling is to listen carefully for the footfalls of those coming near the door...to reach through and guide them if we can, snatch them if we must, into the sunlight. May it be so...now and always. Amen!
Donald D. Denton, Jr., D. Min., L. P. C
Stated Supply BrettReed Memorial Presbyterian Church
Coordinator of Assessment Services Virginia Institute of Pastoral
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(Editor's Note: this sermon was preached using a split chancel. One letter was "read" from the Reader's lecturn, God's letter was "read" from the main pulpit. If using a single pulpit, "read" the "Dear God" letter from the sanctuary. I'd like direct feedback on this:
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