Suffering brings up a myriad of questions and emotions. Rev. Richard Hogue of Liberty Grove UMC, articulates it well:

"I readily confess to being as bedeviled by the question of suffering as the next guy. Even when I’m able to explain some particular instance of suffering to some degree of satisfaction, I’m still left with the larger questions: Why is suffering so unevenly distributed? Why do Americans worry about computer bugs while Venezuelans worry about whole villages washed away by mud? Why is the magnitude of suffering so great? Why did war claim over 100 million lives in the 20th century, including 6 million non-combatant Jews in the holocaust? Why are some people made noble by suffering and others destroyed by it?"

When faced with suffering, either our own or others, what answers have your experiences given you?

[related to sermon "Suffering" 10:00am Sunday, January 11th @ Good Shepherd UMC, Westminster, CA by Pastor Lynn Munson]