Our gathering was titled The Scandal of God, an exploration of the mystery of “God with us” in the hardest places. St. Louis was our meeting place– fifteen students from Wheaton College’s Global Urban Perspectives (GUP) ministry team, plus Greg Fuchs and I from Mile High Ministries. GUP is small community within Wheaton committed to urban mission all over the U.S. and abroad. They also lead their college in various urban mission conferences on campus. Greg and I were invited to share insights from the CTM Intensive Courses for urban ministry at their team retreat over a weekend.

We had a powerful experience with these students, venturing both into new theological territory and also into urban communities characterized by chronic pain. As we drove through East St. Louis, which almost resembled a war-torn, abandoned city, our hearts mourned for those left to sift through the rubble of their neighborhoods.

Though we know there is beauty present among people who live on the margins of our societies, we wrestled with the language of lament. Too often, our language of faith makes little room for loss. Loss of economy, of leaders, of security, of opportunity, of aesthetic beauty, of loved ones, and much more. We lack the ability and permission to lament a world that hurts. We are encouraged only to celebrate success and victory over adversity—as such, we lack a faith language for pain.

Instead of finding strategies to escape and minimize suffering, is there a time to enter and share in the sufferings of the world as Christ did? In chronically crushed communities across our globe, escaping and overcoming pain can be elusive. Too often, people in pain seek fleeting escape through unhealthy means. Could it be that wholeness for people in these hard places must involve a profound sense of the presence of a suffering God among us?

The apostle Paul writes of his experience in a new city: “When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 1 Corinthians 2:1-2” We ended our first visit to East St. Louis “knowing nothing except Christ crucified.” Maybe that was enough.

Maybe there are times when we must dare to set aside, even for a moment, everything we know about Christ beyond his suffering example. This was such a time. We left with the invitation to make more than just a little room for such reflection in our society, especially in communities that are chronically crushed.

Sam Trujillo
Explores what "good news" is to the poor
Has a hard time entering into pain
Sees life as a blend of the beautiful and the ugly.