Suffering, Christ, you, me and the world

How does the struggle and pain and loss and suffering of our day to day lives intersect with our spiritual lives?  Does our spiritual life support us in those times?  Give us some framework of meaning?  Is our spiritual life a source of strength.....and if so, how?

Of the many questions that come to me as a pastor, questions about suffering - the pain that comes from physical hurts, or relationship betrayals or social rejection...are the most challenging for both the one who is asking and for me.  They are the questions and answers that count in the final analysis.

Yes, some folks get all exercised over whether Noah was a real person living at some time long ago.  Some folks draw the line at Jesus walking on water or 7 days of creation.  But the real kicker, the one that really counts is suffering.  Why?  Why me?  Where is God?  When someone cannot find a their way through the haze that suffering creates; when the anger and fear overwhelm them, their grasp of God and God's good will slips away.

One might say that at the cross - the cross that we will all encounter in our lives - our faith is tested almost beyond bearing.  At our cross, the simple almost glib explanations of faith fall away; the discussions about female clergy or gay bishops becomes inconsequential; the Sunday School stories of Abraham or Peter or King David look too much like fairy tales.  

So what do we reach down and cling to when everything else has been stripped away?  
That's the question.  What has worked for you?  What message or practice or image or ritual was the source of strength for you?

For it is in suffering that we are truly challenged to walk with one another.  Perhaps our experience can help us strengthen the spiritual lives of others for that moment when there cross comes into their lives.