Fresh Paths for Stauros

This reflection on and reexamination of the mission of Stauros has resulted in some exciting, intriguing and fresh insights. These have not changed the heart of our mission. The Board of Directors and staff of Stauros maintains their commitment to "investigating the challenge of human suffering;" "walking with those who suffer, standing with those who suffer," while bringing a new enthusiasm to this challenge.

We have frequently stated that Stauros embraces a theology of suffering. We continue to stress its importance, but we have come to appreciate how germane it is to say that Stauros also represents a spirituality of suffering.

Joann Wolski Conn says that "the term spirituality refers to both a lived experience and an academic discipline."1 This statement affirms our conviction that our exploration of a spirituality of suffering depends on the experiences and stories of persons who suffer. These stories help us pursue the mission of Stauros and provide the inspiration and motivation for its fulfillment.

The mission of Stauros is not to do away with suffering, nor to cure it, but rather, to provide an understanding of the redemptive nature of suffering, and thereby increase our appreciation of it. The publications and programs of Stauros must, in some manner, empower persons who suffer to walk into that suffering, to take hold of it, to find the face of Christ in it.

Stauros seeks to be faithful to both the theological and spiritual aspects. It addresses suffering from a scriptural and theological viewpoint, but it also provides strategic means for coping with suffering.

The Board of Directors affirmed the direction of this twofold goal and pledged to maintain the unity of Stauros' activities. Their plan continues the threefold dimension: Research, Resources and Proclamation. Research includes listening to and gathering the stories of those who suffer. Resources consist of classic and contemporary writings about suffering. Proclamation encompasses the Notebook, the Israel Program, the videotapes, as well as other Stauros programs.

In these ways we carry on the mission of Stauros and help it to become more clearly defined. Stauros is a unique ministry that cements our unwavering commitment to it, even though words have sometimes seemed almost too fragile to describe it. The Board of Directors envisions future Stauros programs continuing to follow this course of Research, Resource and Proclamation, which will provide a solid base for reflections on the experience of suffering.

The Notebook and programs such as the seminars on suffering fulfill the Proclamation aspect of the grid, and in the process they provide a means of implementing its Research and Resource facets. We propose to fully utilize the energies of Stauros by directing these towards one form of suffering. The Notebook articles, which have addressed a variety of forms of suffering, and the Stauros programs, which have concentrated on other forms of suffering, will both concentrate on one form of suffering over a defined period of time. The exception will be the Israel Bible Study Program for Persons with Disabilities. We plan to continue sponsoring this very unique program of travel and study in Israel every two or three years.

We will place our first focus on the suffering caused by the violence in our world. Finding the redemptive nature of this will not be an easy task. It is perhaps easier to find the face of God in suffering over which none of us has any control than in suffering that is brought about by other human beings, especially when it seems to be so totally senseless. The question is: Is there a message in this suffering? Can the love of God be demonstrated in this suffering?

1. The New Dictionary of Theology, s.v. "Spirituality," by Joann Wolski Conn, p 972.