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Exploring, “The Shack”-4- The Great Sadness
By Dan | August 28, 2008
This is a chapter that communicates a lot in a very true way about grief. You can feel the emotion on the pages as Mack experiences the fear and loss associated with the abduction and murder of his daughter. And as he’s walking through it, part of the reason I think it feels so real is that there’s a spectrum to his reactions. I didn’t try to find all seven, but you can even see some of the stages of grief.
There’s denial and bargaining. Think about what he says on p. 46 where he’s praying to God, making promises, whatever you want God, just bring me Missy back. There’s a few quotes about prayer, about others praying for them, about him praying to God his one last prayer, just take care of her God because I can’t (p.60). This is something I’m sure all of us are familiar with, trying to bargain with God when something bad is happening. And as we look back on it, it seems strange, but in the moment, we do it. We set up strange little deals in our heads, imagining that if we go back to church more regularly, give up a little sin, or do something for God, then maybe we can change his mind. Sure prayer is powerful and God does enter into our world and change things, but prayer isn’t a bargaining chip or a manipulative tool. I still can’t tell you how it works, but when we start to treat it like this we feel something false about it, and that’s called idolatry. That’s what we’re sensing.
The chapter also discusses Mack’s move through the Great Sadness. I like how it acknowledges that this touches everyone, but that there is some forward movement. He realizes he can’t let this hurt take him away from his family. He even starts to let laughter back in his life, though this is touched by guilt (p.65). You see the cycle of grief moving toward acceptance, but also how you can get to this “final stage” and then go right back into the other stages. Grief is truly a process.
Finally, we see anger make an appearance as well. It’s hard to tell (as is the case with many things in this book) if Mack’s anger toward God and some of his facets is primarily Mack’s anger at this stage in his development or also an accusation of the author. We hear Mack speak derisively of Scripture, God’s words “reduced to paper”. It makes revelation, God’s Word sound dead. We hear about cloistered spirituality, churches as being social clubs that make no difference.
Now is there truth to these accusations? Sure, sometimes people do try to contain God with his words. They try to twist them to hold God, rather than realizing as a live and active God he continues to mold us to his Word, not the other way around. Also churches can become dead institutions. People have been burned by this and do have a right to feel pain and even anger.
But we have to be careful of these impressions becoming the truth. Is Scripture really dead words on paper meant to bind people? No, Scripture is a living tale of how God deals with his people and how he continues to shape them according to his design (Heb. 4:12). Is the Church a dead institution? No, the Church is wherever God’s people are gathered together, saved by him and working to bring others into the fellowship.
I’d like to hear your reactions to some of these items as well. Any thoughts on Mack’s grief or his statements?
Topics: Exploring The Shack, Uncategorized |
August 28th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
The emotions expressed were so moving to me, so “real” that I couldn’t continue reading the book.The picture that he was able to give you, through his words alone, were very honest I thought.For three weeks this book sat on my night-stand unopened while I tried to decide if I could read any more of it.I’m sure glad I picked it back up!