UPFRONT April 7, 2008 Issue

Time to throw off the sackcloth

INGRID PESCHKE, MANAGING EDITOR

In Bible times, people often wore sackcloth during periods of mourning or as a symbol of repentance. Sackcloth was often made of coarse, black goat's hair, and since it was worn next to the skin, it was likely scratchy and uncomfortable—meant to be a constant painful reminder to its wearer. Fortunately, it wasn't forever and it was removable.

Chronic pain, on the other hand, can feel like sackcloth that never comes off. Finding relief at any cost may be all someone suffering can understandably think about. Take, for instance, this week's contributor Phoebe Lawson who wrote the article "Under God's umbrella." As a mother with young children suffering from debilitating migraines, she takes countless medications and even undergoes an operation before she eventually finds her solution through prayer.

What a cause for celebration! But what if you've tried everything—perhaps even prayed and prayed—and you're still waiting for healing? Writer Arno Preller uses the analogy of the Berlin Wall, which could be viewed as a wall of cold, hard, impenetrable pain. Yet, in one historic moment, that wall came down. It wasn't permanent after all. He writes, "We accept many things as inevitable, as law really, when there's no law behind them at all."

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