An honest ministry update

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.

8 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again.

2 Corinthians 1:3-10

The first chapter of 2nd Corinthians reads somewhat like a ministry update letter from St. Paul. He is reporting back to the church in Corinth about his experience planting churches in Asia; an effort the Corinthians likely were supporting financially and spiritually.

Paul’s letter differs from our modern-day ministry update in its complete lack of impressive statistics, encouraging stories, or uplifting language. He is shockingly vulnerable about the state of the ministry and even his own mental health (“we despaired of life itself”). He feels no need to impress his supporters, spin negative events, or comfort them with trite positivity. In ministry, we are often habitual people pleasers and silver-lining chasers. We would likely add, “but we’re feeling better everyday and we’re going to be doing some cool events soon” or “God makes everything work together for good!”

Although this passage might be scant with optimism, it paradoxically seems to be oozing with hope! The “comfort” of Christ is mentioned nine times in five verses. Paul even goes as far as to say that the negative events and the despair that they felt happened that they would, “not rely on themselves but on God.” He is convinced that a God who could raise Jesus from the dead is worth trusting even in the most hopeless of circumstances. He is set firm on the ultimate deliverance of God, even in the confusion and depression he is experiencing.

This chapter of 2nd Corinthians resonates with us at the Christ Center.  We (employees, board members, and volunteers) are a group of people who are still very much in a state of grief and shock over the loss of one of our founders, Andrew Marais. Just last week, we had a board meeting that ended in tears as a powerful prayer unexpectedly opened our communal wounds. These are fresh wounds for which trite sayings and cheap optimism just won’t do. Everything’s not going to be ok. There is no silver lining. Andrew is gone and there is a hole forever in our hearts and our ministry.

We have zero hope in our own ability to bring good out of tragedy. But Christ is trustworthy, good, and the ultimate comforter. He will hold us and he is holding the work that we do. We do not want you to be uninformed about the troubles we have experienced since the loss of Andrew…but we’re praying that we might learn to rely not on ourselves but on God, who has raised the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. Amen.