{"id":550,"date":"2011-03-04T09:02:57","date_gmt":"2011-03-04T09:02:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/thinplaces\/2011\/03\/shaken-faith-where-is-god-when-the-world-is-falling-apart.html"},"modified":"2011-03-04T09:02:57","modified_gmt":"2011-03-04T09:02:57","slug":"shaken-faith-where-is-god-when-the-world-is-falling-apart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2011\/03\/shaken-faith-where-is-god-when-the-world-is-falling-apart.html","title":{"rendered":"Shaken Faith: Where is God When the World is Falling Apart?"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n\"aftershock.jpg\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

I remember a time when I was in college and my mom called to
\ntell me of two teenagers who were killed in a car accident. It was broad
\ndaylight and they had been walking (or maybe it was skateboarding?) on the side
\nof the road. And I remember Mom saying that she wasn’t sure her faith could
\nhandle a loss like that. A senseless loss. An
\nif-only-you’d-been-there-five-minutes-later loss. And, more than that, the loss
\nof a child, a child filled with all the possibility of decades that ought to
\nhave been.<\/p>\n

Now that I have children of my own, I resonate more with my
\nmother’s comment, but at the time, I thought, “Bad things happen every day.
\nSomeone out there loses a child, a spouse, a friend, every day. Your faith
\nshouldn’t be shaken only if bad things happen to you. It is either firm no
\nmatter your personal situation, or it is falling apart.” I suppose I was right
\non some level. Any honest faith in God should contend with the reality of
\ndevastating brokenness in our world, whether or not that brokenness hits home personally.
\nAnd yet I know that those questions of God’s goodness in the face of human
\nsuffering weren’t real to me until my friend ran his car into a tree and died,
\nuntil my mother-in-law was diagnosed with terminal cancer, until pain became
\npersonal. <\/p>\n

Kent Annan’s new book, After Shock: Searching for Honest
\nFaith when your World is Shaken<\/a>, addresses the questions he has for God in the
\nwake of the earthquake in Haiti. Annan had lived in Haiti for two years and had
\nworked with Haitian people for nearly a decade prior to the earthquake (he
\nwrites about this experience in Following Jesus Through the Eye of the Needle<\/a>,
\nwhich I reviewed for Books and Culture<\/a> last year). He witnessed the devastation
\nfirsthand, and After Shock recounts his anger and despair as he walks with his
\nfriends through their broken city, their broken land.<\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Annan raises the same questions that have always been raised in the face of tragedy, and yet because he is personally connected to the people impacted by the quake, these questions come across not as theological diatribes but as earnest and necessary dialogue with God. Towards the end of this slim volume, Annan explains why he wrote it: “I’ve been writing this book because my faith might die. I don’t want it to. But I don’t want a sentimental faith. I didn’t know where this search would lead, whether I would be able to claw my way to gratitude as at the end of Psalm 13. I do want any part of my faith that isn’t true to die…” After Shock is an account of faith in crisis, a faith that has been shaken forever and yet remains.<\/p>\n

After my friend died in that car accident years ago, I set aside an afternoon to talk with God about what had happened. I went to a beach where my friend and I had spent time together. I brought a journal, some pictures, my Bible, and a copy of C.S. Lewis’ A Grief Observed<\/a>. I read the whole book in one sitting, and Lewis’ account of how he handled his wife’s death was a gift. He guided me through my own grief.<\/p>\n

After Shock reminds me of A Grief Observed because it too could guide anyone whose faith has been shaken and is on the verge of being shattered. It too offers raw questions and refuses trite Christian answers. And it too holds out hope that the God manifested in Jesus Christ is still God, still loving, still giving, still good. Annan describes taking Communion amidst the rubble of Port-au-Prince: “The rubble seems like evidence of God’s absence or abandonment, and yet here I sit, taking and eating the rubbled body of Christ. Here, week after week, people come to find Jesus. The rubble may make him harder to find, but maybe, like the wafers in the center of this leveled church, he never left and never will.”<\/p>\n

I recommend this book for anyone who has honest questions for God in the face of suffering, for anyone who yearns to believe in God’s goodness amidst the rubble. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I remember a time when I was in college and my mom called to tell me of two teenagers who were killed in a car accident. It was broad daylight and they had been walking (or maybe it was skateboarding?) on the side of the road. And I remember Mom saying that she wasn’t sure…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-faith","category-what-im-reading"],"yoast_head":"\nShaken Faith: Where is God When the World is Falling Apart? - Thin Places<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2011\/03\/shaken-faith-where-is-god-when-the-world-is-falling-apart.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Shaken Faith: Where is God When the World is Falling Apart? - Thin Places\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I remember a time when I was in college and my mom called to tell me of two teenagers who were killed in a car accident. It was broad daylight and they had been walking (or maybe it was skateboarding?) on the side of the road. And I remember Mom saying that she wasn’t sure…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2011\/03\/shaken-faith-where-is-god-when-the-world-is-falling-apart.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Thin Places\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-03-04T09:02:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/thinplaces\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2011\/01\/aftershock-thumb-200x300-20759.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"amyjuliabecker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Shaken Faith: Where is God When the World is Falling Apart? - Thin Places","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2011\/03\/shaken-faith-where-is-god-when-the-world-is-falling-apart.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Shaken Faith: Where is God When the World is Falling Apart? - Thin Places","og_description":"I remember a time when I was in college and my mom called to tell me of two teenagers who were killed in a car accident. It was broad daylight and they had been walking (or maybe it was skateboarding?) on the side of the road. And I remember Mom saying that she wasn’t sure…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2011\/03\/shaken-faith-where-is-god-when-the-world-is-falling-apart.html","og_site_name":"Thin Places","article_published_time":"2011-03-04T09:02:57+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/thinplaces\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2011\/01\/aftershock-thumb-200x300-20759.jpg"}],"author":"amyjuliabecker","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2011\/03\/shaken-faith-where-is-god-when-the-world-is-falling-apart.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2011\/03\/shaken-faith-where-is-god-when-the-world-is-falling-apart.html","name":"Shaken Faith: Where is God When the World is Falling Apart? - Thin Places","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2011\/03\/shaken-faith-where-is-god-when-the-world-is-falling-apart.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2011\/03\/shaken-faith-where-is-god-when-the-world-is-falling-apart.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/thinplaces\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2011\/01\/aftershock-thumb-200x300-20759.jpg","datePublished":"2011-03-04T09:02:57+00:00","dateModified":"2011-03-04T09:02:57+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/#\/schema\/person\/4dde10eee38770361dc9b46a9413776b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2011\/03\/shaken-faith-where-is-god-when-the-world-is-falling-apart.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2011\/03\/shaken-faith-where-is-god-when-the-world-is-falling-apart.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2011\/03\/shaken-faith-where-is-god-when-the-world-is-falling-apart.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/thinplaces\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2011\/01\/aftershock-thumb-200x300-20759.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/thinplaces\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2011\/01\/aftershock-thumb-200x300-20759.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2011\/03\/shaken-faith-where-is-god-when-the-world-is-falling-apart.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Shaken Faith: Where is God When the World is Falling Apart?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/","name":"Thin Places","description":"Amy Julia Becker on Faith, Family, and Disability","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/#\/schema\/person\/4dde10eee38770361dc9b46a9413776b","name":"amyjuliabecker","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/222\/2222023dcae76abe6e896a3cf80e9836x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/222\/2222023dcae76abe6e896a3cf80e9836x96.jpg","caption":"amyjuliabecker"},"description":"Amy Julia Becker writes about theology, disability, family, and culture. Two major life experiences have shaped her writing and her faith\u00e2\u20ac\u201dcaring for her mother-in-law as she battled cancer and welcoming her daughter Penny into the world after she was diagnosed at birth with Down syndrome. Both experiences expanded and enriched her understanding of what it means to be human and to receive each and every person as a gift.\u00c2\u00a0 A graduate of Princeton University and Princeton Theological Seminary, she is the author of Penelope Ayers: A Memoir, and the forthcoming A Good and Perfect Gift (Bethany House). Her essays have appeared in First Things, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Christian Century, ChristianityToday.com, and Bloom, among other online venues.","sameAs":["http:\/\/amyjuliabecker.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/author\/amyjuliabecker"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}