It can be uncomfortable to watch someone get truly angry with God. And to go into a church specifically to express that anger can seem shocking, perhaps offensive - we might even feel tempted to call it blasphemous. And yet the personal crisis it depicts is a situation which has accompanied our faith - probably every faith - for as long as that faith has existed. Because, even though the circumstances may have been very different from today's film clip, we have probably all asked the question: "Why did God allow that to happen? Why was she killed? Why was his life wrecked by some random action, illness or disaster? Why me, especially when I have obeyed all the rules and been a faithful follower?"

This is the question which is at the heart of the book of Job and from which our reading came.

The story is a myth: it's a reworking of a generic theme which can be found in various forms across many cultures in the ancient world; but it was put down in this form, and absorbed as wisdom literature by the Jewish peoples, around 700 BC. The Jewish version is a wonderful piece of writing, beautifully constructed, full of profound argument and questioning, - but it's theme of 'Why has God turned away from us' is as old as faith itself.

And to this day we cannot claim to have a complete answer to that question. There have been many attempts at an explanation:

Any theology textbook will explore all these theories for you - and will offer you many more - but they don't really help when the only thing you can bring yourself to say to God is 'Where were you when I needed you?'

And this is the point that President Bartlett has reached in today's clip. His devout faith has been repeatedly hammered by a series of events which culminate in the act of criminal negligence by a drunken driver which causes the death of one of his closest friends - the secretary whom he has known since his teenage years and who has been a source of motherly support on many occasions. He feels helpless, he feels angry because he is helpless, and he is physically overwhelmed by the grief which the human body experiences when a loved one dies.

And so he releases that tornado of emotions in an angry tirade against God. Except we know, as the tirade continues and more and more events get thrown into the mixture, that Bartlett is having the conversation as much with himself as he is with God, and is addressing his own feelings of guilt just as much as he is challenging God to accept the guilt for what has been happening.

The debate with himself becomes really personal when we see him back in his office, speaking to the imaginary presence of his secretary who has just died in the car crash, and slowly beginning to address the true facts around his crisis of faith. He allows her to tell him that God doesn't cause car crashes - when what he really wants to do is ascribe blame; he allows her to tell him some deeply-held truths about his relationship with his father - which he normally seeks to avoid at a more conscious level.

The tornado of emotions is subsiding, the crisis is receding. He will eventually re-connect with his faith and reach a new understanding about God and the world in which we experience God. We are left to conclude that the crisis has been part of a healing and growing experience.

We need to be able to say the same.

Many of us, probably most of us, will have faced a crisis of faith where anger, grief, injustice, abuse, isolation, or physical illness may have left us disconnected from God - perhaps even in conflict with God. Usually there will also be some deep-seated guilt about ourselves in there as well.

Often we don't have a choice about avoiding the crisis - by the time we're aware of it, it's upon us. Our only choice is whether we will break away and stay broken, or whether we will see the opportunities for healing of our emotional pain, resolution of our guilt, and the chances for new direction and new growth when the emotion of the crisis has subsided and life comes back into some kind of focus.

Anger can be healthy and positive - God can handle it! Challenging God can be part of our discipleship - God can handle it!. Experiencing times of disconnectedness from God - when we ask 'Why me?', 'Why them?', 'Where were you when we needed you?' is part of our journey of faith and are questions we will continue to debate in our own minds, perhaps haunted by the ghosts of past events, until we reach a rational way forward. They are indelible parts of that spiritual dimension which is programmed into the minds of human beings.

From the centuries before the story of Job was first embraced into the scripture of the Jews, those questions have travelled with God's people, and still do. We continue to grapple with them. Sometimes we reach a crisis point because of them. We revisit them regularly in our folk tales and our dramatic entertainments because they speak so clearly to our human yearnings and because they represent a mystery which we have never fully solved - and probably never will.

But the evidence shows that our journey of faith continues beyond them. Some of that evidence is here today, and I give thanks to God for those people who are here because they came through the crisis, resolved their feelings of guilt, underwent profound change, and have reconnected with their faith on their journey with us.

Amen.

(Philip Jones)

This sermon was first preached in the Metropolitan Community Church of Manchester. Click here for further information.