A Thought from William Sloan Coffin

As people everywhere (or at least, here in NYC) are thinking about and mourning the death of William Sloan Coffin, a friend of mine (who lost her young nephew) recounted the story how she was comforted by a meditation he wrote following the death of his son, who was found in his car at the bottom of a lake. This was her paraphrase of what he said,

"God did not "take him" or "call him home." It is not God's will that young people die. But when the waters closed over my son, I know God was the first to mourn. And God was there with him."

It is amazing to me how our life realities often change our early perspectives on life and death, on God's will and human folly, on what we know and what we cannot know. My perspectives have changed pretty dramatically over the last 10 years or so, and I am guessing they'll continue to change as I grow older. Coffin's meditation represents to me all the new ways that I have been looking at and to God. I am discovering a faith perspective that doesn't look for answers to assuage my frustrations; rather it looks to God in a way that answers do not.

Admittedly, I might find comfort in thinking that all things that happen are "God's will" and find a way to take comfort in that--and yet, as I grow older, I find it more offensive to look at life that way. Instead I am learning to accept the things I cannot change. I wonder if this is what the Serendipity Prayer meant when it asked,

Lord, grant me the courage to change the things I cannot accept; patience to accept the things I cannot change; and wisdom to know the difference.