Matthew 5:4

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

From Background Notes [BN] for November 3^rd  & 4^th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

 

In Isaiah 61, a passage we considered last week, God’s Messiah promised to bring “comfort to all who mourn (61:2).” Israel, God’s ancient people, knew a great deal about loss through slavery, deportation, and exile.

Perhaps the most common pattern we find in texts like the Psalms involves Orientation, Disorientation, and New Orientation.  Calvin referred to these remarkable poems as “a window to the soul.” Contemporary writers like Morris Inch have written about Psychology and the Psalms.  In an excellent chapter, “Crucible of Pain,” he comments on Psalm 22 where he notes:

There is likely no more pressing subject than the meaning of pain. Man cannot escape suffering, but the attitude which he takers toward it may be altered. His response makes the difference between emotional health and illness and may demonstrate, if not an insight into the purpose of pain, at least an ability to handle it constructively. 

Wrapped into this discussion are 1) the reality of pain; 2) the quest of faith; 3) the confidence in a moral universe. Mourning reveals the substance of the human plight, with its pain, and its purpose.   [BN, 1-2]

Join us this week in Study, Worship, Praise and Celebration at Chicago First Church of the Nazarene:

* Saturday 6:00pm
* Sunday 8:30am & 11:00am