July Newsletter: The Shack

Dear Friends,
Below is my column for the July 2009 Monroe City/Mt. Vernon United Methodist Churches newsletter. In the column I offer some thoughts about William P. Young's bestselling book The Shack. There is much more I could say about The Shack than what I've written below. But space limitations in the church newsletter require me to be--as one of my college professors would say--"precise and concise."

I look forward to hearing your comments.
Clayton Peak

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From Your Pastor
I must admit that I’m not an avid reader of novels. It’s not that I don’t like novels. But after reading the newspaper, magazines, devotionals, the Bible, as well as “assigned” books on pastoral leadership, I hardly have time for anything else. My wife Rebecca can attest to my track record in reading novels. I’ll pick one up and read a few chapters. Something more pressing comes along and so I set the book down. Then somehow I misplace the book and can’t find it for a while. A few months later I find the book and read another chapter or two. Once again the book gets lost. Sometime later the book magically reappears, and then the process starts all over again.

About a year ago I first heard about The Shack written by William P. Young. Soon it seemed like everyone was reading it and recommending it. I thought to myself, “don’t have time for it.” Then this spring my wife read The Shack, and she wanted me to read it also so that we could discuss it. I was still hesitant—too many other books on my reading list. But then after a Walk to Emmaus preparation weekend, I finally picked up The Shack and read it through without ever misplacing the book!

The Shack is a fascinating book. It’s a novel, a work of fiction, yet it tells a story of faith that contains profound truth. The main character of the book is Mackenzie Allen Phillips or “Mack”. Mack has a wife and five children. One weekend on a family vacation his youngest daughter Missy is kidnapped and killed. Although the body is never found, Missy’s blood soaked dress is found in an old, abandoned shack.

About four years later, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to the shack. Although he has many doubts, Mack decides to go. When he arrives at the shack Mack encounters God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—but not as he imagined any of them to be. Over the course of a weekend, Mack has the opportunity to talk out his feelings with God. Mack realizes that he has been blaming God for the death of Missy. Mack has a tough time believing that God is loving and good, since there is so much evil in the world.

As Mack wrestles with why God allows bad things to happen, God says:

“Mack, just because I work incredible good out of unspeakable tragedies doesn’t mean I orchestrate the tragedies. Don’t ever assume that my using something means I caused it or that I need it to accomplish my purposes…Grace doesn’t depend on suffering to exist, but where there is suffering you will find grace in many facets and colors” (pg. 185).

I have read many scholarly books on the “problem of evil.” And in all I’ve read, I think I have finally found the most levelheaded explanation here in The Shack. God may use suffering and tragedies to accomplish divine purposes, but that doesn’t mean that God causes the tragedies in the first place. Grace doesn’t require suffering to exist, but where there is suffering grace will certainly be there also.

What a refreshing perspective on the problem of evil. Perhaps instead of trying to figure out why bad things happen—and wondering if it is all part of some divine plan—we should simply trust God’s grace to see us through. As finite human beings, our grasp of God is limited. Maybe we should accept the fact that there are some things we will never understand in this lifetime. What matters most, then, is not having all of the answers, but rather having a loving relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

If you haven’t read The Shack yet, I invite you to give it a try. And for those who have read it, let’s talk about it. We may find that this story helps us better understand the mysteries of God, and inspires us to seek a deeper relationship with the One who is absolute love.
Grace and Peace,
Clayton