Why is my pain unending
and my wound grievous and incurable?
You are to me like a deceptive brook,
like a spring that fails. Jeremiah 15:18
The title of this particular post is a bit startling, and perhaps overstated - at least coming from an old preacher. I have never sniffed glue and probably should not even pretend to know anything about a base topic like that. I present it, however, because I must. This topic came up - disturbingly clear - in the morning devotional which my wife and I read several days ago. Both of us were a bit taken aback to read the following:
When walking downtown in Honduras's capital city, I used to see them everywhere - stick thin children clutching plastic baggies smeared with a thick brownish paste. They were addicted to huffing industrial strength glue, which calms hunger pangs for a few hours, even as it eats away at one's brain. After a few years of addiction to glue-sniffing, children lose cognitive function and motor control and begin to stagger as they walk and squint when they speak, unable to shake themselves out of a perpetual fogginess. Katerina Parsons (Rejoice! Vol 55, No.4), p.96.
This was unnerving, just slightly beyond our familiar way of talking about many things! My mind races to news reports occasionally heard of first nations communities facing an epidemic of suicide attempts by children and young people! Apparently glue sniffing is a contributor in those places also. I shudder at the damage. I shudder at the lack of parenting or accountability or self-respect that would allow this kind of a thing to happen. There is a force at work which causes me to consider the demonic.
Disturbing thoughts straight from the holy corner of our living room. Our prayer ritual includes a candle and Bible and devotional reading material. We believe we are enriched by thoughtful conversation and also sharing of concerns about children and grandchildren, family and friends etc. etc. and prayer time. Although we are both Mennonite we grew up in very different homes - she, where commitment to Jesus was a considered necessity to avoid the fires of hell, me, in an Old Colony home with memorized prayers and ... a lot of farm chores and softball and hockey games! Both of us are very conversant by now about different accesses to faith, not only as learned in our families of origin, but as presented in the Bible. Two examples, the apostle Paul was literally thrown off his horse at his conversion (Acts 9:4), while another apostle, Timothy, found his faith at his mother's knee (2 Tim 1:5).
Seems to me our glue sniffing story faces us with a third ingredient; how about faith for one with damaged brain or oppression or some form of birth anomaly? In my pastoring years I encountered a number of situations that in retrospect still give me pause. Fetal alcohol syndrome or shaken baby or, most recently, variations on the autism spectrum, all present extra life issues. These cannot quite be satisfactorily addressed in a neurotypical fashion.
This third ingredient I am thinking of may be a bit of surprise to those of us who like to think cognitively, neurotypicals of the Type A personalities who view challenges and problems as requiring quick solutions. Seems to me on many occasions we short change ourselves by looking only for answers that make sense to our way of thinking. There is, however, a further vantage, a larger perspective also referenced in the Bible, nothing new for Jesus.
Jesus has already 'faced this done that'. Endlessly there were occasions of teaching, especially about traditions and lots of Q and A. To this day it seems we have already spent an eternity of church history discussing (debating) about correct interpretations and of course theological implications of Jesus' life and teachings, then turned into doctrines and resultant church and denominational understandings. And yet, Jesus was on site well before all of us! Reminder: It is the time after Jesus (A.D.) that has included the 20 plus centuries of councils, of edicts, of wars and even crusades to clarify which is the correct understanding and 'disciplining' those who disagreed! A fascinating read on this The Story of Christianity by David Bentley Hart (New York: Quercus, 2015).
Main point here: Right alongside this anxious interpretive hermeneutic stuff, right alongside people of the Type A (perhaps like you and me) trying to make sense of who he was, Jesus was healing the sick and confronting evil spirits. Jesus was the incarnate Presence beyond the understanding of anybody around him. Mark chapters 4 & 5 illustrates this well. Here Jesus moves from parable teaching, to stilling a storm tossed sea, to healing a demon possessed man, to restoring a synagogue leader's daughter to life, to unconsciously healing a woman of her life sapping hemorrhages. Jesus is so much more than your answer man. Jesus is God among us!
Implications for glue sniffing kids, for alcoholism that passes generation to generation, for children born with AIDS, for children damaged because of physical sexual or verbal abuse, for PTSD because they have seen parents killed or raped in genocidal countries? Implications? I cannot even begin to imagine the hell that awaits little ones born into circumstance like this. Implications? Even as I say he is more than a mere answer man, I see also the very answer we are looking for - more than we know how to ask or think (Eph 3:20). Jesus wastes no time analyzing the source of the Gerasene demoniac's crazy behavior. He bothers not with why the gale winds hit them mid-lake, nor why the young girl died. Instead Jesus addresses the immediate issue at hand and does what needs doing. In one of the later epistles we have instructions very consistent with this demonstrated approach. In James 5 we read, 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. Jesus does that which needs doing with the very power availed to him. 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well.
I am not inclined to simplistic answers. But also I am not inclined to denying new thoughts, new learnings coming from old scriptures in new circumstances. Confession, forgiveness, relationship are at center of present day life whether in sickness or in health, whether that faith community is made up of intellectuals, of feely groupies, of alcoholics or addicts, of "red, yellow, black, or white" as per the children's song. The gospel of Jesus Christ is available for all. This makes up full-scale pastoral care agenda in faith communities. Churches need to extend their prayer service (calling elders of the church as per :14 above) perhaps even to position themselves right beside safe drug houses, injection sites, etc. People at those sites may not be thinking clearly but may readily accept someone who is available to pray over them! As a church community it is our privilege (and responsibility) not necessarily to fix, but to come alongside in prayer with and for one another. That would be at least as good as the tax dollars spent on some considerably lame social services. That is the way to nurture a life giving faith in Jesus, and it is the way of a healthy church.
These days, especially from among and within our societal sins and addictions, our faith will die if the wonder working power of God is not invited. Our modern inclination to analyze and then pray needs to be replaced with pray and then analyze.
One final thought. Families praying together might also be a good preventative to glue sniffing.
