“EARTHQUAKE”
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Readings:
1
Kings 19:1-15, Mark 6:45-56 |
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“God was
not in the earthquake”
(1 Kings 19:11)
Firstly, our thanks to Graham and
his team for
their contributions to this service and
for bringing the dogs to meet the children in Young Church.
So –
where is God in the earthquake or the tsunami?
Why does God not intervene to avert
natural disasters?
Has he gone to sleep??
Why doesn’t he adjust the pressures on the tectonic plates here,
divert lava flows there, send clouds over this drought
stricken land
whilst rerouting the hurricane away from populated areas
and
so on and so on….?
Come to
that, why doesn’t God stop the war in
the Lebanon?
Why doesn’t he send a squadron of angels
to catch the Israeli bombs and the Hezbollah rockets
before they can cause any harm??
Of course he could do that –
and at first glance that might seem an obviously good thing.
But think what the result would be.
The whole of our actions and environment
would have to be permanently monitored, supervised and adjusted by God
in order to make sure that no damage should befall anyone.
Is that a good thing??
The question is what would be left of our humanity
in this brave new world?
We would be powerless to control our own destiny.
We certainly couldn’t use the laws of physics to plan our lives –
as they would be constantly changing
to avert a shooting, a drowning or a car crash.
And you have to ask what happens to good and evil and moral choice
in a world where there is no possibility of suffering being allowed.
Before we knew where we were
we wouldn’t be human beings any more at all –
we’d be more like Stepford Wives.
We’d be living in a sort of cotton wool padded dream world,
where it didn’t make the slightest difference what we did or didn’t do –
God would make all the decisions
and fit us into his synthetic danger-free world.
We might avoid suffering, but only at the cost of our humanity.
All of
which (I happen to believe) is – as far as it goes -
a tolerably good philosophical explanation
of why God might allow suffering in this life..
The problem is that when you meet
someone
in the midst of a disaster zone or a military crisis,
they don’t tend to be interested much in philosophy.
When the boat is sinking or the walls are caving in around you,
this is not the time to discuss free will –
it is a time to cry out
“My God my God why hast thou forsaken
me?
Out of the depths I cry to thee.
Master do you not care that we are drowning? ”
And of course there are many kinds
of tsunami and earthquake.
Unlike Graham, many of us may never have dug in the rubble for survivors.
But I guess we all have known those points in life
when we
or those close to us have our world rocked to its foundations,
times when we have felt overwhelmed
by the flood tide of guilt, remorse or grief.
So what do we say to people whose
world
(literally or metaphorically) collapsed in rubble around them?
As so often we come right back to
the Cross –
the Cross which simply says that
where sin, suffering and despair are at their strongest,
there is God alongside us.
For Elijah the earthquake’s roar drowned
out the voice of God –
as far as Elijah was concerned God was absent –
but the still small voice was just waiting to speak….
For our generation also
we may miss the voice of God amidst the thunder -
But
Christ is there
in the earthquake and the wind and the fire and the flood -
In many ways if we can but see and hear him.
I think we have already heard this
morning
of one very particular and practical way
in which God is there in the disaster.
God works through those who pull the injured from the wreckage,
who tend the sick and who house the homeless.
Where
were you, God, when I needed you?.
He may answer I am waiting to serve my people –
but it is your tents and equipment,
it is your arms and muscles,
it is your love and compassion,
through which I come.
Ten years ago a major earthquake
hit Kobe
in Japan.
In one
particularly poor area of the city all the houses were destroyed,
as was the local Christian Church
The local
priest
(who had to sleep in his car because his house was gone)
initially said that he would not rebuild the Church
until everyone in the neighbourhood was re-housed.
But in this largely non-Christian community,
the Church became so important for the neighbourhood
that everyone wanted the Church re-built.
In the end he agreed that the Church building be replaced,
provided that it be for the needs of the local
community
as it recovered from the quake.
[The Tablet, 20 Jan 1996 p.71]
Let me say this as we continue
to wrestle with our building plans here in this place -
Church buildings
can be very important –
and we should work for the best outcome we can –
but at the end of the day what really counts
is not whether we live in a tent or a palace,
but whether as a Church we are a community
where God is known and his love is shared.
Here is a
prayer from Christian Aid about earthquake and building
When the earthquake
has come and gone
help me to see that it leaves behind
not ruined buildings but ruined lives,
not ruined schools but ruined education,
not ruined water supplies but ruined health.
When the earthquake has come and gone, O God,
show me also the unshaken foundations
of hope and courage and determination
and on them rebuild. Amen
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So
let us thank God this day for Rapid UK
(and let’s show our thankfulness by giving generously
of our encouragement and our money after the service).
·
Let
us thank God that (though often we do not know it)
he is closest to us in our darkest moments –
the still small voice remains
when earthquake wind and fire have done their worst..
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And
let us as God’s people not rest
until we have rebuilt every broken life on God’s foundation,
and his voice is heard and his love is shared by all his children.