God Among the Ruins

Trust and transformation in difficult times

Mags Duggan

• Publisher: BRF
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781800391147
• Topic: Théologie et religion
• Subtopic: Religion

Where do we turn when our world is falling apart?It takes courage to hope; to stand in our confusion and grief and still to believe that 'God is not helpless among the ruins'. Guided by Habakkuk and his prophetic landmarks, we are drawn on a reflective journey through the tangled landscape of bewildered faith, through places of wrestling and waiting, and on into the growth space of deepened trust and transformation. As you read, discover for yourself the value and practice of honest prayer, of surrender, of silence and listening, and of irrepressible hoping.

The Bible Reading Fellowship

15 The Chambers, Vineyard

Abingdon OX14 3FE

brf.org.uk

The Bible Reading Fellowship (BRF) is a Registered Charity (233280)

ISBN (ePub) 978 0 85746 747 8

ISBN (Mobi) 978 0 85746 576 4

First published 2018

All rights reserved

Text © Mags Duggan 2018

This edition © The Bible Reading Fellowship 2018

Cover image © Thinkstock

The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

Acknowledgements

Unless otherwise acknowledged, scripture quotations from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. • Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version (Anglicised edition) copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton Publishers, a Hachette UK company. All rights reserved. ‘NIV’ is a registered trademark of Biblica. UK trademark number 1448790. • Scripture quotations taken from the American Standard Version of the Bible (public domain). • Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. • Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified® Bible. Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org) • Scripture quotations from The New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Anglicised edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. • Scripture quotations from the Contemporary English Version. New Testament © American Bible Society 1991, 1992, 1995. Old Testament © American Bible Society 1995. Anglicisations © British & Foreign Bible Society 1996. Used by permission. • The New Testament in Modern English, Revised Edition, translated by J.B. Phillips, published by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. Copyright © 1958, 1960, 1972 by J.B. Phillips. • Poem in Chapter 2 taken from When Life Takes What Matters © 1993 by Susan Lenzkes. Used by permission of Discovery House Publishers, Box 3566, Grand Rapids MI 4950l. All rights reserved.

Every effort has been made to trace and contact copyright owners for material used in this resource. We apologise for any inadvertent omissions or errors, and would ask those concerned to contact us so that full acknowledgement can be made in the future.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Contents

Foreword

Introduction

Reflection: Even though… even here… Emmanuel

1 It’s a long and winding road

Reflection: On the journey

2 Wounded ragings

Practice: Write your own prayer of lament

3 It wasn’t meant to be like this

Practice: Steps into the prayer of relinquishment

4 Don’t just do something, sit there!

Practice: Reading with our hearts

Practice: The practice of stopping

5 Of plastic bottles, empty tin cans and trust

Practice: The prayer of attentiveness

6 From the back door to the barn door – and beyond

Practice: Mapping your spiritual journey

7 What’s in a name?

Practice: Brief prayer affirmations

8 Walking with the wounded

Postscript

Notes

Acknowledgements

About the author

Foreword

Mags Duggan is a close friend for whom I have the upmost regard. Warm-hearted and humorous, Mags is a gifted speaker but also a wise listener. She has had a lifetime of serving God as a missionary with the Navigators and, most recently, as a lecturer, teaching spirituality at Redcliffe College here in England. We met because of our shared passion for spiritual formation, and I have benefited so much from our conversations about the nature of the Christian life and how to live it. Many of these deep exchanges happened over coffee at motorway service stations (we live at opposite ends of the country), and it was at one such meeting that the idea for this book was conceived.

God among the Ruins deals with the ever-present dilemma of why bad things happen to good people, but from a personal perspective rather than a detached, theoretical standpoint. At some point in life, many of us will know what it is to have the bottom fall out of our world, when circumstances shake our faith to the core. For Mags, the shaking began with the news that her beloved niece Jenny was diagnosed with a serious and rare form of cancer. Throughout the awfulness of Jenny’s treatment, Mags was forced to wrestle with some of the most fundamental questions of faith: where is God in this? Why does he allow such things to happen? Why doesn’t he answer our prayers? And then, when Jenny passed away, other questions rose to the surface. Would she ever be able to make sense of what had happened? Would her relationship with God ever be the same again?

This is an intensely personal book in which Mags shares with us her journey during that difficult time and beyond. She speaks openly and honestly about her fears, her doubts and her questions. She invites us into her world, into her mind and her heart, so that we can share the journey with her. We feel her pain, sense her bewilderment, but also follow her path to recovery – the rebuilding of her trust in God and the emergence of hope following her despair.

It was my privilege, along with some others, to be a small part of this journey and to watch from a distance the resilience of her faith as she processed what had happened with courage and integrity. After a couple of years had passed and I sensed she was ready, I asked Mags if she would write a short chapter about her experience for my book, Deep Calls to Deep (BRF, 2015), since the topic was about spiritual formation in the hard places of life. With a little coaxing she agreed, and I have to say I think her chapter is the best part of the book! I realised then that she has a gift for writing and that there was a much fuller story to be told. Here it is!

What I love about God among the Ruins is that it is so biblical in its approach. In the Bible, Mags found a surprising companion for her journey in the obscure Old Testament prophet called Habakkuk. His faith struggle gave Mags a framework for her own wrestling with God, and here she invites us to share her interaction with this ancient prophet. I read her text with my Bible in hand, and it made the book of Habakkuk come alive for me.

There is so much hope here, for this is a story of spiritual formation and the transformation that happens when we allow God to work in us during our times of pain, disorientation and loss. Ruins can be rebuilt with time, and recovery is possible. We are changed, and will never be the same again, but we can emerge from our times of darkness stronger than we were before. This is the testimony that Mags shares with us, not in a triumphalist way, but in humility and with candour. Her story will bring hope and healing to many.

Mags has written a very practical book, designed to help us reflect on our lives and enable us to process our pain. She has the mind of a teacher and the heart of a counsellor. After each chapter, there are helpful exercises to apply the teaching. Those who take the time to work through them will benefit enormously.

This is not a book to read as quickly as you can. Take your time and allow the book to read you. That way you will reap great rewards, both now and in the future, for yourself and for those for whom you care.

Tony Horsfall

Introduction

I’d slept deeply but woke suddenly, fully awake, aware of five words pulsing gently and insistently in my mind.

‘Even though… even here… Emmanuel. Even though… even here… Emmanuel.’

As I burrowed more deeply into the warmth of the duvet, my mind began to drift over scriptures I knew which contained those words. David’s words in Psalm 23 came to mind, ‘Even though I walk through the darkest valley… you are with me’ (v. 4, NIV). Job’s agonised declaration that, ‘Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him’ (Job 13:15, NIV). The psalmist’s discovery, recorded for us in Psalm 139, that whether the circumstances of his life took him to great depths or to great heights, whether his life was expansive or narrow, in darkness as in light – even here God was present, Emmanuel, God with us, was present (v. 10).

And then familiar words from the end of the book of Habakkuk: Even though the fig tree does not blossom, even though there is no fruit on the vine… yet I will rejoice (Habakkuk 3:17–18).

As I began to reflect on these ‘even though’s, I realised that each one was a declaration of trust and hope and confidence in distressing or devastating circumstances. This last scripture particularly stirred something deep within me. I remembered so little about the book of Habakkuk, but there was something about his defiant ‘even though’s in the face of such obvious loss that drew me out of bed that dawning morning. A full pot of coffee, my favourite throw, a comfy sofa, my Bible and a pen later, and I was ready to walk with Habakkuk.

I turned to those last verses again and I could almost hear Habakkuk’s voice asserting,

Even though the fig trees have no blossoms,

and there are no grapes on the vines;

even though the olive crop fails,

and the fields lie empty and barren;

even though the flocks die in the fields,

and the cattle barns are empty,

yet I will rejoice in the Lord!

I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!

The Sovereign Lord is m...

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