JOB'S FRIENDS
The story of Job is in the Old Testament:
Job was a good man who even God honored.
Satan (the adversarial aspect of God), spoke to Him one day,
remarking that Job was such a good man
precisely because God had honored and rewarded him.
Satan bet God that if he was allowed to persecute Job
and to create terrible suffering in his life,
then Job would turn against God and curse him.
God took Satan's bet and allowed Satan to have his way.
In a quick series of events, Satan took away Job's wealth,
killed his family and then afflicted him with painful boils.
I have a friend, Vera.
She has sparkling beautiful blue eyes and a lovely face.
She is suffering from Lou Gehrigs disease.
It is a disease which progressively paralyzes the body.
For some time now, she has not been able to move her limbs at all.
Now she is losing her ability to speak.
It was her request to me, to provide her with stories, poems and songs
from the religious traditions of the world.
It was her wish that occasioned our gathering here tonight.
This is a unique and a special moment
which I would like to consider a little more.
Why have we come here tonight?
Most of you know Elaine and I as friends
and have honored our request to come here
and that is very beautiful.
But, you have also come for Vera.
You have come because the travail or suffering of any person,
is the travail of each of us
and Vera’s life is a rare and terrible thing
that calls us to consider the mystery of our own.
Her suffering makes us ask,
'Why' and 'How' did this come to happen
In a very real way, we are here for ourselves.
Because Vera has been touched with unique bodily affliction,
our being here likens us to the gathering of Job's friends in biblical times.
They gathered around him in his terrible suffering.
They offered up their reasons and comforting feelings,
each giving his own vision of God, Truth, Meaning and Purpose
And, that is certainly what we will do here tonight.
Each of us is touched and moved and in our sharing,
We too will offer our vision of life
according to our different understandings
Some of us feel that we should dance and laugh
For we are all dying
Some feel that we must be serious
For we are all dying
Others will lift their voice and sing
For we are all dying
And all of us will wonder if what we have done is right
For we all are dying
Certainly, we have brought here tonight
Our own pain
Our happiness
Our understanding
Our Love
All of this we will throw into the sacrificial fire of this gathering
And all of us will also take back the unspeakable Prasad of common ashes
I am reminded of a poem by Rumi.
In which he says,
"Even though we may have failed
Even though we may not of done the right thing,
Even though we may not of said the proper words or done the good act
Even though we have 'broken our vow a thousand times'
Even then we should come again to God"
Come, Come whoever you are
Wanderer, worshipper
Lover of leaving
Ours is not a caravan of despair
Come, come again, Come
Even if you have broken your vow a thousand times
Come
Come again
Come