When They Ask You,“Why?”: Pastoral Engagement with Sufferers Seeking Reconciliation

Abstract

When life imposes itself in cruel ways, sufferers invariably find themselves asking, “Why?” Frequently individuals are caught in an experience where the faith they had been living with does not speak meaningfully to their pain and disappointments. In these times the pastoral practitioner must own the initiative to move toward the sufferer to engage that individual in the soulful work of reconciling beliefs with the experience of life. Without this reconciliation, grief, hope, and faith itself can be jeopardized. This article makes the case for taking and maintaining pastoral initiative with these sufferers and provides eight principles of engagement.