Bishop Dr. Klaus Engelhardt, Chairperson of the Council of the Protestant Churches in Germany, Karlsruhe/Hanover
In: Why me?, WCC, Geneva, CH, 1988

... Erika Schuchardt’s book – a sting against shutting one’s eye – for ‘enduring the silence on God’s doorstep until he comes’ – these words of confidence impressed me …

Review: A Sting against Shutting One's Eyes - Enduring the Silence on God's Doorstep

The fact that several editions of this book have already been published and that it describes new causes of suffering in its revised version - should we be pleased about this or consider it a deplorable state of affairs? The amount of suffering among us knows no limits. This is not only a cause for consternation, but it frightens many of us. I am grateful that this book in particular continues to make its way. It is a necessary incentive against our habit of looking away. And even more importantly, it is a source of help for those who see people suffering in their immediate environment and realise that they can be of little assistance.

The reports of affected people's experiences included by the author make it very obvious to us that they are not looking for solutions and explanations in the first place. It seems easier for them to accept their suffering if they put it into words, unvarnished and uncensored, and share it with others. Grieving, aggression and rage often inflict solitude on those suffering. But we also learn that relationships become important to them - relationships with people who remain close to them. It is often difficult for us not to flee from the affected persons' anxiety. Whoever resists this temptation encounters their own fear, and that is a first step towards drawing close to suffering people.

And there is another important experience reported by the biographies portrayed. It is in suffering itself that we can experience God. This is a necessary lesson in a time in which we all have to learn to seek God in new ways. In one way, God is experienced as a stranger, as one who is silent and mysterious. But then, time and again, those suffering tell us of the mystery of their sensing that God will not let them go. They may lament or accuse him. It is a profound discovery in faith that we do not have to put up with God's silence. "...enduring the silence on God's doorstep until he comes" - these words of confidence impressed me.

When crying out to God, some people saw the image of Jesus Christ on the cross before their inner eyes. They gained a very new understanding of his powerlessness, his pain, his cry for God. "Why me...?" - that is also the question the suffering Christ asks on the cross. And because it is not the cross that appears on the final scene, but because cross and resurrection belong together in our faith, suffering people have been infected with hope time and time again.
This book helps us to enter into relationships with one another and to hold out in difficulties. It also helps us dare look for new ways in our relationship with God. I hope that the book will be read by many. We can discover thereby what the Church is: the communion of those who see - one another.