c. 1998 Religion News Service

(Dale Hanson Bourke is publisher of RNS.)

UNDATED _ If there is one principle that Americans agree about, one theme that pervades our advertising and public policy and even our education system, it is this: No one should have to suffer.

Americans hate the notion of suffering so much that we now use this word to describe the most minor inconvenience.

Aided by advertisers, we have come to believe that we suffer from the common cold, fine lines and wrinkles, and static cling. We fear the suffering of a headache, indigestion or constipation so much that we buy bottles and bottles of pills to have on hand on the off chance that we might feel a slight twinge.

We pass this attitude on to our children who believe the word sums up how they feel if they do not have the very newest video game or if we make them go to bed on time. And how they suffer if we restrict their television or computer time!

The fact is, most Americans don’t know squat about suffering.

A remarkably small minority of us live in true poverty, few of us experience pain that cannot be quickly alleviated by drugs, and even fewer of us have seen firsthand the horrors of war.

We should be both thankful and amazed.

And we should be ever mindful that much of the world views us as spoiled, naive children who do not yet understand what life is all about.

I was struck by this fact when a visitor spoke in my church last week.

A Chinese Christian, the man calmly explained how he had been imprisoned for 10 years because he publicly expressed his beliefs. Then he told how his wife had been in prison for 20 years for the same offense and for not being willing to testify against him or her father.

The congregation gasped as he told their story of true suffering. He talked about the conditions in the jails, the illness and death of many prisoners, the pain of being separated from family and friends for years and years.

Most of us in the congregation had no idea what he meant. Many of us probably skipped church if we had a runny nose or had been out too late the night before.

But then the man began to talk excitedly about how many prisoners had come to believe in God and how the time in prison became a time of incredible spiritual growth. He said he actually missed being in jail, which seemed to most of us to be putting an amazingly positive spin on such a horrible experience.

The pastor who was interviewing this man asked kindly how we should pray for the Christians in China, suggesting we should start by praying that the government stop persecuting Christians. The man looked at him in shock.”Oh no, don’t pray for the end of persecution,”he protested.”Suffering has made us strong. It is what has built our faith and caused the underground church to flourish.” And that’s when I realized how little we Americans understand about suffering.

Even those of us who read the Bible, who have memorized the verse that says,”… we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope”_ even we don’t have any idea what that really means.

We may be Christians, but we are character-flabby Americans, just as wimpy as our atheist neighbors, just as prone to fight off the slightest discomfort with pills or purchases. The idea of choosing to suffer to build faith is beyond our comprehension.

As we enter this season of thanksgiving, most of us are grateful for how little we have suffered. And maybe that’s a mistake.

Maybe we should make a thanksgiving resolution to learn a little more about suffering and sacrifice. Perhaps we should spend the next year moving out of our comfort zones, giving until it hurts a little, sacrificing some of our cushy life for someone who is not so fortunate.

I’m not suggesting that we all forgo an aspirin the next time a headache strikes. What I am saying is that perhaps we should open our minds to the message of our visitor from China. Maybe we will discover that our ancestors who came to this country didn’t do so with the goal of giving us pain-free lives.

Perhaps we will discover that suffering really does build perseverance and perseverance, character and character, hope. And perhaps we will even discover that there is something more important than living pain-free.

DEA END BOURKE