Seventh Sunday After Pentecost - Rev. William H. Lamar IV

This week Rev. William H. Lamar IV continues to explore the themes of suffering, resilience, and the nature of God through the lens of the biblical figure Job. He emphasizes the importance of questioning God and using imagination and creativity as a means to process pain and rage. The sermon highlights the need for a new understanding of, and a new name for, God - one that acknowledges human suffering and encourages action in the midst of despair. Rev. Lamar calls for a shift from passive acceptance of suffering to active engagement using new metaphors to create new realities.

This weeks biblical text - Job 9:1-12:
Then Job answered:2 “Indeed, I know that this is so,
    but how can a mortal be just before God?
3 If one wished to contend with him,
    one could not answer him once in a thousand.
4 He is wise in heart and mighty in strength;
    who has resisted him and succeeded?
5 He removes mountains, and they do not know it
    when he overturns them in his anger;
6 he shakes the earth out of its place,
    and its pillars tremble;
7 he commands the sun, and it does not rise;
    he seals up the stars;
8 he alone stretched out the heavens
    and trampled the waves of the Sea;
9 he made the Bear and Orion,
    the Pleiades and the chambers of the south;
10 he does great things beyond understanding
    and marvelous things without number.
11 Look, he passes by me, and I do not see him;
    he moves on, but I do not perceive him.
12 He snatches away; who can stop him?
    Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’

Chapters
00:00 The Power of Jesus' Name
00:01 Job's Struggles and Questions
02:35 Affliction and Perseverance
06:55 The Reality of Suffering
11:03 Job's Journey from Despair to Action
15:29 Rejecting Hopelessness
18:35 Creativity as Resistance
21:58 Metaphors and New Realities
27:21 Job's Challenge to God
30:53 Transformation Through Rage and Creativity