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'Christ and Calamity,' with Dr. Harold Senkbeil

August 4th, 2020 | 2 min read

By Caleb Wait

Dr. Harold Senkbeil—Adjunct Professor at Concordia Theological Seminary and Executive Director with DOXOLOGY: The Lutheran Center for Spiritual Care and Counsel—joins Derek and Alastair to discuss his latest book, Christ and Calamity: Grace and Gratitude in the Darkest Valley. Listen in to hear them discuss why mere ideas are not sufficient to help those who are suffering, why calamity is its own category of suffering, how to endure tragedy without immediately trying to fix it, the suffering uniquely caused by the Coronavirus pandemic, and more.

Timestamps:

Calamity and the Christian Life [0:00 - 6:15]

Has the church failed to prepare people for calamity? [6:15 - 9:27]

The difficulty of looking for Christ amidst calamity [9:27 - 14:05]

How to disrupt the isolation caused by pain [14:05 - 18:05]

Enduring tragedy without immediately trying to fix it [18:05 - 21:02]

How to be a faithful companion [21:02 - 27:20]

Using the psalms in our suffering [27:20 - 31:10]

Is it ever alright to try and zone out from what is ailing us [31:10 - 34:30]

How we can prepare for suffering before we experience it [34:30 - 38:16]

How God speaks into our situation beyond mere ideas [38:16 - 44:59]

Resources:

Excerpt of 'Christ and Calamity': "When You Bear Your Cross, Christ is Your King," by Harold Senkbeil

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Finally, as always, follow DerekAndrew, and Alastair for more tweet-sized brilliance. Thanks to Timothy Motte for his sound editing work. And thanks to The Joy Eternal for lending us their music, which everybody should download out of gratitude for their kindness.

Caleb Wait

Caleb Wait (MATS, Westminster Seminary California) is a writer and the producer of Mere Fidelity. He and his wife Kristin have two children and live in Northern California. You can follow him on Twitter @calebwait and he invites you to email him at ciwait93@gmail.com.