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Join us for a lecture and Q&A with Calvin Seerveld on The Exciting Ordinary Task of Redemptive Artwork, followed by dinner and performances, featuring Sung Chung and Laurelle Froese in the songs of Jake Heggie, Charles Ives, and music from The Greatest Song, translated by Calvin Seerveld, music by Ina Lohr

Sunday, May 27th
2:30pm
41 Britain St ground floor sanctuary

Cost: $25/adults $15/students
(or $30/adults $20/students at the door)
Tickets: http://gca.eventbrite.com/

Calvin Seerveld (b. 1930 in New York) received a BA from Calvin College in 1952, an MA in English literature and classics from the University of Michigan in 1953. He then went on to study under D. H. Th. Vollenhoven at the Free University (VU) in Amsterdam, where his doctoral dissertation dealt with Croce’s aesthetics. It was supervised by Vollenhoven and Carlo Antoni. He then taught philosophy and German at Trinity Christian College, and went on to teach philosophical aesthetics at the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto. He is the author of several influential books, including Rainbows for the Fallen World.

by Nick Kaschuk

Part V: Conclusion

Job had a belief in God’s goodness. He also had a wealth of experience and evidence upon which to base his belief of God’s “goodness”. Then, there comes the point where all of that evidence is stripped away and replaced by overwhelming evidence of God’s absence, indifference, impotence, and/or cruelty.

In these moments, it is only natural to ask where God is and to question whether one’s former beliefs were based on an incomplete or an incorrect evaluation of the evidence. It is only natural, because it is natural for reason to conclude that the tide has now turned and what once was is now different or was never correct to begin with. What is super-natural is to continue with a faith that despite all of the present evidence to the contrary, one’s belief based on what was once known will still prove to be true.

In such moments, while the questions of “why?” and “where?” are being considered, one might also consider the separate question: “upon what is my faith feeding?” or “how is my faith being sustained?”

Those who have suffered will likely know that both hope and faith can be painful thorns with which one must contend. When all the evidence is weighed against one’s faith, to destroy that faith may seem to be the only reasonable way that one will be able to survive. Yet, for those who have been gifted with faith, once the thought of destroying that faith is contemplated, they often discover that this is harder to accomplish than first thought. Perhaps, more painfully, they discover that they are powerless against it.

Paradoxically and even painfully, the individual believes, based on the evidence, that their hope will never be realized. At the same time, their faith believes, despite the current evidence and their desire to be free from their faith, that their hope will be realized.

But what does the powerlessness of the person speak to if it does not speak to the power of the gift? And if the gift carries with it such power, then what can be said of the giver? If “faithlessness” or, perhaps more accurately “the fickleness and frailty of our beliefs” cannot divorce us from God then what does this say about God? Might this be evidence that we should not be afraid or discouraged because He does go before us, will be with us and never forsake us?

Nearing the end of his life, Ferenc Visky preached a sermon in which he referred to a passage in Matthew 7:

“Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!”

 

After reading this passage, Visky paused for a moment. He asked permission from his audience to, for a moment, stop being “Christian” and just be honest.

When I was taken from my home, taken from my family, taken from my congregation; when I was placed in prison and sentenced to 22 years by the Communists; when my captors mistreated me; was I not given a stone?

 

Visky, went on to say that it was only by looking to the giver and not just the gift that he was able to recognize how much more good the gift of a stone or a snake might be if it was being given from the hand of his heavenly Father.

Explanations for suffering abound. Some offer rational explanations for the continued existence of suffering. Other explanations offer meaning for the sufferer. More important than explanations is the knowledge that one has been seen or is being seen in all of their suffering.

Visky finished his thought, forgetting the audience for a moment, looking heavenward and shaking his head with utter dis-belief,

“ . . . it’s amazing . . .

. . . it’s amazing.”

 

Further reading:

 “The Foolishness of God” by Ferenc Visky

“With God in Solitary Confinement” by Richard Wurmbrand

“Vicorious Faith” by Richard Wurmbrand

“Suffering, Martyrdom, and Rewards in Heaven” by Josef Ton

Part 5 of 5

Read Parts 1, 2, 3, & 4.

We are stretched thin. Our jobs, our families, our volunteer work, our friends, even our leisure activities…  they require time and energy. So how do you rest?

Faith & Work invites you to consider what it means to rest. This event will build on our recent explorations of Calling and Ambition, and challenge us to discover what role rest has in God’s design for our lives.

Sunday, April 1
1:30-3:00pm
41 Britain Street

Our next FilmSpeak evening is Friday, March 16, 2012 featuring The Interrupters.

The Interrupters is a 2011 documentary film that tells the story of three violence interrupters who try to protect their Chicago communities from the violence they once employed. It examines a year in which Chicago drew national headlines for violence and murder that plagued the city.

The film features the work of CeaseFire, an initiative of the Chicago Project for Violence Prevention. Violence interrupters Ameena Matthews, Cobe Williams and Eddie Bocanegra look back on their past experiences with street violence to try and steer young men and women in the right direction.

Time: The screening is at 7:00pm, followed by a discussion.

Place: 41 Britain St

We’re often rewarded for staying later, performing better and trying harder at work. Is this what God wants for our lives?

Join us on Sunday, Jan. 22, 1-3 at 41 Britain St. as we continue to consider Faith & Work by looking at what it means to be an ambitious Christian.

For more information, contact Faith & Work.

by Nick Kaschuk

Part IV: Faith as distinct from belief

In this self-titled “age of science,” there are many who demand tangible proofs before they are willing to surrender to faith. They seek to see, in His hands, the imprint of the nails, put their finger into the place of the nails, and put their hand into His side. They are forever longing to see.

 Still, there are others (like Nathanael)[1] who long to be seen. 

God’s voice tells Job that he has been seen. Job’s faith tells him that if God has seen then He is working for the good. Job then leaves the question of how God is working as immaterial. 

For those who have faith, the question of suffering is transformed from the question of “Why?” (or “for what purpose?”). It is satisfied by an answer to the question of “Where are You?” (or “have You seen?”) For us, who are not presently experiencing God’s voice, what solace can we find? Was there anything else that we can find within the situation of Job? 

If faith is evidence of Satan’s powerlessness then “faithlessness” is evidence of God’s sovereignty.

In the modern mind, faith and belief are often mistakenly conflated (faith meaning precisely what one believes). The problem with this understanding is that it discounts the fact that the majority of our beliefs are merely a direct function of our experience. 

An individual begins to sit upon a chair with the “belief” that the chair will support their weight. This “belief” is based on years of experience and uncontradicted experimental evidence telling them what a chair looks like and in what manner a chair acts. 

Another individual makes plans for their future based upon their “belief” that the sun will set and rise again.

Each believes what their experience tells them it is safe to believe. Their “beliefs” are based entirely upon what their reason tells them. There is no inconsistency between what they believe and what their experience and reason tells them it is “right” to believe. 

But what will occur if all of the evidence on which one has based their “belief” is at once contradicted? Should their “beliefs” not continue to follow where the evidence is telling them to go? In other words, when there is no more reason to believe, when all of the evidence contradicts what one knows to be true, when one cannot believe in their beliefs any longer, what is one to do? 

Here, we begin to discover an even deeper mystery of faith.

Part 4 of 5

Read Parts 1, 2, and 3

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[1] John 1:49-51

A quirky theatrical examination of the definitive English translation of the Good Book on its 400th anniversary year. Created and performed by Ins Choi, Rebecca Davey, Kris Van Soellen, Arthur Wachnik and directed by Tom Carson.

Showtimes

November 18, 19, 20 @ 8:00 pm
Grace Toronto Church
41 Britain St.
Toronto, ON

Tickets

Pay with you can ($15 suggested)
Available at Eventbrite.
For more info call 416-937-6102.

Additional Showtimes

November 26 @ 6:45 pm, November 27 @ 8:45 pm
The Young Centre for the Performing Arts
as part of the WORD Festival.

For more information, check out:

The Arts Engine
The Young Centre for the Performing Arts

map

by Nick Kaschuk

Part III: The Response

The Christian is called to be completely honest and to persevere with patience, continuing to suffer under the possibility of meaninglessness until meaning is eventually revealed. 

If the Christian is to persevere in their suffering, then the question can be asked “is this suffering (the suffering that comes with not knowing the reason for one’s present misfortune) meaningless?”[1] If it is not, then where can one find meaning? 

If we consider the story of Job, we note immediately that it is not Satan who has provoked God, but God who has provoked Satan (“have you considered my servant Job?”) This simple but powerful statement gives us our first clue that there might be, in fact, a will and a meaning in what is about to transpire. Again, we must ask “what might this meaning be and can it be applied beyond the particular person of Job?” 

Job, being a man, shares with us all of the frailties of what it means to be human. He should therefore not be divorced from our experience as if his response is beyond our reach. Instead, let us think of him as us, and of us, as him. 

If we are to think of Job as us, how does this change our thoughts concerning God’s provocation? 

Job, having the same ancestors as I (his ancestors, like mine, having been formed from the dirt), has been chosen, unbeknownst to him, to do battle with the chief opponent of God. More than this, it seems as though the sum of God’s wager is that his “opponent,” in all of his “angelic power and glory” cannot cause Job to curse his maker. 

Is this not scandalous? Should God really trust His name and reputation to what was once just clay and dirt (the substance that all of earth’s creatures treads upon)? Should God trust him to be able to withstand all that this “great” archangel can table against him? 

Here, the mystery of suffering begins to take on meaning. For God to directly defeat an angel is predictable and expected but what of a lump of dirt? …and what of this “archangel,” who had once contrived to make his throne higher than the clouds over the earth and resemble God’s power on high? Is it not a great humiliation for this “angelic” being to have, demonstrated to all, that a mere human who has been gifted with only what is so utterly base and weak, can be infinitely more faithful than that “angelic” being who was gifted with so much? Is it any wonder why other angels long to look upon this spectacle? 

In the end, Job has many questions for God and God has many questions for Job, but neither seems to have their questions directly answered. Instead, Job’s questions are answered by God’s voice and God’s questions are answered by Job’s silence.

Part 3 of 5.

Read Parts 1 and 2

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[1] A similar suffering can be expressed when one might know the “reason” for one’s suffering but be in disagreement with its appropriateness.