snow day

It is currently around eight thirty this morning. My clinic experience was once again canceled due to the weather. And once again instead of doing actual work I am blogging. And once again I will probably follow that up by watching the Today Show and Sports Center. Wonderful.

Anyway…

I started to read the late William C. Placher’s work Narratives of a Vulnerable God. I got this book through ILL after it was suggested to me by the oh-so-wise and future Geneva chapel speaker Michael Sider-Rose. As of late this issue of being vulnerable and open to suffering has been on my heart. I have read a couple of works that suggest God’s vulnerability and suffering (Now and Then – Buechner, Lament for a Son – Wolterstorff, The Four Loves – Lewis), but this is the first work I have encountered that entirely focuses on this theme.

So far Placher has argued that only a God weak in power but mighty in love can be strong enough to take on the entire world’s pain and die on the cross. What an interesting concept. Today’s society it is all about power. Power over ourselves, each other, and situations beyond our control. Christians especially tend to create themselves in the image of a God that is all powerful rather than a God moved by grace.

Placher suggests that while God is powerful, he is also suffering and vulnerable. That constantly God is enduring the pain, falleness, and lovelessness of humanity and is vulnerable in his continuous love towards a sinful, rejecting, rebellious people.

Personally, I hate being vulnerable. I find it is easy to close myself off and barricade my fears and failures from others. Often we inwardly hide that which we are suffering, but in order to achieve the beauty that is rooted in God’s grace we have to become open. We have to share our selves and our burdens. C.S. Lewis wrote that “to love at all is to be vulnerable.” To love is to reveal our true selves and risk exposing our true nature.

So far the book has captivated my interests. I will let you know more as I do.

Also I forgot to mention the most glorious bit of news I have had in weeks - my grad apps are finally done! Woot woot!