At the age of 35, Kate Bowler was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. The doctors told her that she likely had only two years left to live. It was 2015, and Bowler was working at the time as a professor of Christianity at Duke University. She had a husband and baby son. And she was suddenly staring death in the face. Clichés she had long heard spoken in Christian circles, like “everything happens for a reason,” rang hollow. Where might she find comfort and hope in such a time?
In the wake of that terrifying prognosis, Bowler embarked on a spiritual journey. She looked for God not in well-worn cliches but in the messiness of the human condition. And she found God at work in powerful ways. Bowler saw God’s provision in family, friends, and a rich relational network to accompany her. She glimpsed a future where there was no more suffering or tears. She saw life itself as a profound and beautiful gift – and something incredibly difficult, too. And she saw a God who did not remain apart and aloof from the messy human condition. She found anew a savior who draws near to us in love and accompanies us even through the shadow of death.
Since that day in 2015, a clinical trial with an immunotherapy drug proved remarkably successful. Bowler’s life would extend far past the two-year predictions. She would go on to write two books about her life journey: Everything Happens for a Reason (and Other Lies I’ve Loved) and No Cure for Being Human (and Other Truths I Need to Hear). And she now hosts a podcast entitled Everything Happens. Her reflections on life and faith have inspired thousands, helping them to see God’s grace in the uncertainties, disappointments, and exhaustion of human existence.
Bowler has recently released a set of Advent resources entitled The Weary World Rejoices. They include a devotional, a small group discussion guide, and a worship planning guide. Starting December 1, I encourage you to use the devotional for your individual or family prayer times. If you regularly meet with a Knox small group, you might consider using the discussion guide for your gatherings as well. The worship services at Knox this Advent will feature themes, blessings, and reflections from Bowler’s worship planning resource. Thanks to grants from the Lilly and Duke endowments, The Weary World Rejoices is available free of charge at https://katebowler.com/seasonal_devotional/the-weary-world-rejoices/. Knox will also have printed copies of the devotionals available in our Narthex.
You may be approaching this December feeling tired and dispirited. You may be overwhelmed with the recognition, as the old hymns puts it, that “the wrong seems oft so strong.” The season of Advent invites us to acknowledge the tensions we live in: the tension between the messiness of the world and the goodness of God’s way, between the “already” and the “not yet.” I hope this Advent season will provide us with more than the temporary comfort of clichés and false promises. I pray we might glimpse once again the God-made-flesh that came to this broken world to save us. And may that savior lead us forward to a new day.
Wishing you and yours a grace-filled Advent season,
~Pastor Matt