The Mystery of God
Kate Bowler and N.T. Wright Group Discussion Guide
When our lives come undone or when we see our loved ones in pain, we are often quick to jump to justifications, reasons to make sense of it all. But answers to why things are happening are often not easy to determine, leaving us wondering––where is God in this? Theologian N.T. Wright offers a fresh interpretation of Paul’s letter to the Romans. Perhaps there is a new way to locate God in the undoing of our lives, and how we might respond to the pain of others.
Duke Professor Kate Bowler is an expert in the stories we tell about success and failure, suffering and happiness. She had stage IV cancer. Then, after many years of living scan to scan, she didn’t. And since then, all she wants to do is to talk to funny and wise people about how to live with the knowledge that, well, everything happens.
In this conversation, Kate sits down with N.T. Wright, one of the world’s leading New Testament scholars. He is an author, ordained pastor, a former Church of England Bishop, and professor. His brain is full of ideas and curiosity, and I am so glad he shared his wisdom and insight with us.
INTRODUCTION QUESTIONS
01
There are common phrases that are often said to people who are going through a difficult situation. We have all heard people say, “you’re in my thoughts and prayers” or “God works all things for the good of those who love him.” What type of responses have you heard (or said to friends) when bad things are happening?
02
When you are going through a difficult time, how does it make you feel when you hear these typical kinds of responses?
scripture — Romans 8:26-28
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Traditionally, when Christians read Romans 8:28, they use this verse as a way of saying “everything happens for a reason” because God is always working everything (even the tragedies of our lives) for our good. Listen as Kate and N.T. Wright discuss another way to read and understand this rich text.
WATCH (5 min) N.T. Wright on Romans 8:28
Traditionally, when Christians read Romans 8:28, they use this verse as a way of saying “everything happens for a reason” because God is always working everything (even the tragedies of our lives) for our good. Listen as Kate and N.T. Wright discuss another way to read and understand this rich text.
3. How does this translation (that “God works with us” instead of “God works for us”) influence your understanding of this passage?
4. How do you imagine God is working with you during a season of chaos or tough times? Think back to a time or season in your life that was very hard. Do you remember what your prayers were like during that time? How did you feel God responding to your prayers?
“We are called to be people who allow that agonized prayer to happen. It happens either way—when something has happened to us, or when something bad has happened to people that we love or people that we know about or people that we see on the news. We simply have to hold onto it with the lament and the presence of God. What Paul is saying is God is working with us because the Spirit is at work within us. So it’s a Trinitarian theology, both of suffering and of intercession.”
—N.T. WRIGHT
5. Throughout history, there have been Christians who have encouraged a type of stoicism when it comes to pain, often promoting the idea that we should endure pain and hardships without expressing strong emotions, especially “negative” ones like grief and frustration. How does this approach contrast with the intercessional work we read about the Holy Spirit doing in this passage? How might we alter our approaches to pain and suffering in order to join in on the work of the Holy Spirit in this manner?
6. Do you think it is hard for us to share our own deep grief, sorrow, or struggles with others? Do you find it hard to be present to those who are dealing with deep emotions of grief and sorrow? Why?
“There is no good Christian answer for [pain and suffering] except lament. The Bible gives us plenty of lament. We lose that because half the churches these days don’t sing the Psalms, and the Psalms give us the laments. And the point about lament is that we’re not telling God what he ought to be doing, and we’re not telling one another what God is doing. We’re saying, ‘Hey, what’s going on? This is not the way it should be. Do something!’”
—N.T. WRIGHT
7. As we think about our discussion today on Romans 8:26-28 and the practice of lament, let’s take a minute to think about how we can respond to pain and suffering in the world with more compassion, allowing space for lament. How can we bring the practice of lament back into the church? How might allowing people to express and experience the full range of human emotion be a way of working with God in times of pain and suffering?
A Blessing When You Don’t Know How to Pray
Teach us how to pray, God,
when our faith doesn’t feel like comfort. when there are not easy answers or tidy scripts. when there are no other words but lament.
Teach us how to pray, God,
when we see Christ in Gethsemane
at the center of it all.
Teach us how to pray, God,
when the Spirit groans alongside us,
speechless too, at the pain, at the inexplicable,
at the unfair.
Joining the chorus of others
in this agonized prayer.
Teach us how to pray, God,
May our words of lament turn toward acts of love, as we remake this beautiful,
terrible world,
together.
