Sermon: Lent 4 - Year B

I have uber-sensitive teeth. Despite all my brushing and flossing, hot coffee and cold water become my own personal torture chambers.

So, my quarterly trip to the dentist feels like a date with the Russian mob, to whom I owe a month’s salary. I don’t know what’s worse, the digging into my gums with a sharp metal hook, or the needle the size of pruning shears they jab into my jaw to freeze it - to stop the pain.

And when I’m done, the dental assistant looks just as traumatized as I feel.

While dental work has its own unique discomforts, at least we know what to expect, and we know it’ll all be over and done with by the length of a Simpsons’ episode, life itself doesn’t promise an end when pain and suffering intrude in our lives.

But the question for me is, Can pain, somehow, be redemptive? Can it have meaning beyond the present torment or heartache?

“For God...(whole thing here)