But there is also reason for hope, and the church has nothing of value to offer without a durable message of hope grounded in its experience of the living Christ. The self-satisfied agnosticism of some churches is a betrayal of the gospel and a disservice to those who seek our help.
Finally, we need to build our capacity for soul care. I know of a wealthy church of over five thousand members that once turned away a family whose child who had cerebral palsy. The rationalization offered was, "We don't have the necessary facilities and his condition upsets the other children."
Nothing could better illustrate the willful choice of comfort over honesty, the effort to care, and the responsibility to speak a word of hope to people in hard places. People who look to the church should be able to say, "When life sucks, God is there." That is more than therapy can promise.
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