A challenge to faith and to love
Ordinary Sunday 1: 9th January, 2005
Fr John Davis, Vicar of St Peter's, Eastern Hill
What can we do at a time like this?
There have been more leading articles in the newspapers on questions of faith (or the loss of it, or the challenge to it) in this last week than at any time that I can remember. Can there be anyone in this church today who has not themselves had discussions about the extent of the catastrophe to our north and the appalling loss of life, and human need. Most of us have asked ourselves – as people of faith – how do we put all this together? We may have been asked the question 'why does God allow such a thing' – or worse; 'why did God do such a thing'. It is a very hard time and these are difficult and confronting issues.
For a start, we certainly do need another expression from the insurance assessors other than 'act of God', when dealing with natural disasters. This may be a helpful shorthand for them, but it is very offensive to many of us. Then we do need to reflect on some of the presuppositions we might have about our idea of God. For instance, if we attempt to stay with the idea of a God who knows and desires and determines everything that happens everywhere, we may find that simply too much to ask. That fixed presupposition could lead to the loss of faith altogether. We need to reflect on how we might pray, and for what. The petitions 'Save us from the time of trial. And deliver us from evil' would be a good start.
But the absolute key to all this for Christians is God in Jesus Christ. Jesus on the cross meets all the issues of pain and suffering and death and evil. God in Jesus Christ is anything but distant and uninvolved. Jesus lived, suffered, died and rose again. Here is not a God who is indifferent or vengeful, but one who is our way and our hope. We are met where we are, with the outstretched damaged hands of love. 'This is my Son, the beloved, in whom I am well-pleased. Listen to him' – from today's gospel.
In this catastrophe we have not heard much from those who would want to see the judgment of God in these events. We can be thankful for that. They are sometimes not far from the surface. I find it helpful to remember in that context the gospel story when the Lord spoke of a contemporary building accident in Jerusalem (the tower of Siloam: Lk 13:4-5) – a bit like the Westgate Bridge collapse – when people were suggesting that those 18 workers must have done something bad to deserve such a fate. But of course they had not. They were no better and no worse than anyone else. That accident just happened, as they do. But it certainly reminded everyone that death could come suddenly and without preparation. There is always the spiritual task for every person of faith, to be ready to meet their maker. But as for the disaster itself? Do not try to find the work or the will of God in such a thing.
So it is in the current time: earthquakes and great waves can happen, and they do. There can be appalling collateral suffering. But none of these things mean that this is the direct will and intention of a micro-managing God. We certainly are not asked to believe such a terrible thing.
This was the great debate that raged in the mid 18th century in Europe after the great Lisbon earthquake in 1755, in which the then huge figure of 30,000 people died. How could such a thing have happened? Why did such a thing happen? Where was God in such an event? These are similar issues to some we face today. Many of the great thinkers of that time after Lisbon could only find resolution in an idea of God that was totally non-interventionist – the 'great clock-winder of the universe' understanding – because the alternative proposition of a God who either with indifference or with purpose, allowed or desired such misery and destruction was quite unacceptable. But even today we hear those who simply seek not to understand but to submit, and say that whatever happens is the will of God, the all-powerful. This is humbling and deeply moving, but I have to say that I cannot myself take that position. Across the major faiths though, that remains one way of responding to the sort of events that we have been confronted by; a way that certainly our forebears through the centuries would have readily recognised.
As I said when I preached on New Years' Eve at the ecumenical service for the city churches at Trinity Lutheran church across the road in Parliament Place, I personally have been helped in this issue by a reflection from Karl Barth, the great German Reformed theologian of the mid 20th century. He was asked where God was to be found in all the evil and destruction unleashed in central Europe at that time. His advice was that there was no purpose in trying to make sense of evil –don't even try; there was no sense to be found in it. To attempt to understand is in this case to be heading down a pointless path. But evil (or great natural disaster) can certainly be named and recognised and responded to or fought.
I have found that advice helpful over these last two weeks. So far as understanding is concerned, I can indeed try to understand how earthquakes vary in size and effect. I can to a degree understand the fragile nature of this earth, particularly around to so-called 'rim of fire' in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. And I can accept that such things as the slippage of tectonic plates do happen. But I do not seek to find God in that; and even less so in the suffering that follows. I would much prefer to locate the presence of God in the hearts and hands of the untold millions who are responding with love and compassion and skill and material goods to this immense worldwide tragedy. That is where we are to find God in all this.
The pain and the anger and the helplessness that comes from the wicked acts of other human beings – such as for instance with the 9/11 attacks, still leaves us with an easy focus. Some people have chosen to act in this way, with terrible consequences. When 1500 kilometres of land under a shallow sea with sudden violence shifts 20 metres to the west and 2 metres upwards, we are dealing with something else altogether. In an instant, all our other concerns and endeavours – our continuing international wars, our attitudes to the last Federal election, or our own aching knee or difficult individual relationship, say with a boss at work – all or any of these are suddenly now to be seen in a completely different context. And by the way, we are also reminded that in Africa right now a similar number of people to the 150,000 victims of the present catastrophe are dying each week through a deadly combination of war, pandemic disease and famine. It is all quite overwhelming.
We can perhaps ask the question: is this a real time when across the world people are reconsidering priorities in a big way? There are some signs that this is so. What about the overall use of the resources that we have. Would that every war now being fought could stop at once and all the resources being used be at once transferred with compassion and care to all those who need it, anywhere. There has been a very major wake up call. The question that remains is this: will this Boxing Day event make for lasting change internationally, or, as the fresh horror of the experiences fades from our memories, will all of us slip back to simpler, easier concerns and once again to more self-centred priorities?
Meanwhile though, credit where credit is due. Is there anyone here who does not feel proud that our nation – at the government and the private and corporate levels – is responding with such remarkable generosity? The commitment in particular to long-term co-operative development in Indonesia is of huge significance to Australia in the context of our often-difficult relations with our huge neighbour.
But at every level our hearts go out to these neighbours of ours around the Indian Ocean. This of course includes many fellow Christians. Anglicord is the overseas aid arm of our Church. Every parish in the diocese has been encouraged to give generously so that aid can be sent fully and directly, in this case to our fellow Anglicans who have suffered greatly, particularly in Sri Lanka. There are photos in the Parish Hall of the parish church in the beautiful centre of Galle – well known also for its famous cricket ground – on the south coast of Sri Lanka. Some 4,000 people from that town died on Boxing Day. Some of the Anglicord funding will certainly be going there. Our second special appeal collection will be taken up during the final hymn to add to what was given in the retiring collection last week. We all wish to do what we can. In our own small way, we too will make a contribution, as we support those bringing aid and care and comfort to those who are suffering. Next Sunday, at 11.59 am, the time the Sumatran earthquake initially struck, we will stop the High Mass wherever we are and join with our whole nation in silent remembrance and prayer. Please plan to join us then.
Thank you for opening your hearts in this way.
The Lord be with you.
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