There’s a Peanuts cartoon that shows Lucy and Linus watching out the window at a torrential downpour of rain. Lucy says, “Boy, look at that rain. What if it floods the whole world?” Linus responds, “It will never do that, Lucy. In the ninth chapter of Genesis, God promises never to send a flood to the whole world again. He even puts a rainbow in the sky as a sign of that promise.” Lucy looks at Linus approvingly, and then looks outside again. She says, “Linus, you’ve taken a great load off my mind.” Linus replies, “Lucy, sound theology has a way of doing that.” 

How sound is your theology around natural disasters? Some of those disasters came thick and fast last year. We had a whole bevy of hurricanes, one of which devastated and destroyed vast sections of the Gulf Coast. We had two major earthquake events, one causing a tsunami in Southeast Asia; the other causing widespread death and destruction in Iran. In early 2006 we have had multiple mine disasters in West Virginia. We almost feel like the bumper sticker that reads, “There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full.” 

You responded in 2005 with great compassion. We raised money, we brought supplies, we offered prayers. The response was probably the most gratifying one in all my years here at Christ Church. 

But how did you respond in your heart? How did you respond in your head? How did you feel about all of this when it was happening? Someone wrote recently,

The Asian tsunami and the hurricane that destroyed New Orleans were alike in their primeval force, their sheer devastation, and their painful, lingering after-effects. When the public began to realize the extent of the tsunami’s death and damage, an overwhelming question was raised: Why would God allow such a tragedy? The responses were many, though none totally satisfying. (Chicago Tribune, 9/25/05) 

Didn’t some of you honestly ask the question, “Why is this happening?” Didn’t you ask, “How could a loving God allow this to happen?” Ten days ago some tornadoes touched down on the Gulf Coast, right on the same spot that Katrina had struck. One woman was heard to say, “Don’t ever ask, ‘What else can happen?’’ 

How are you to face such events in your journey of faith?  

HOW NOT TO FACE THEM 

I know how not to face them. They are not some punishment from an angry God. I am amazed at how many voices raised that possibility. Someone said that the devastation along the Gulf Coast was judgment upon all the sins of New Orleans. (New Orleans is sometimes called “Sin City.”) Someone else suggested that the disasters came because of the disallowance of Intelligent Design to be taught in some of our public schools. Someone else—a public official—suggested that the hurricanes were brought by heavenly disapproval for America’s involvement in Iraq. 

There’s a cartoon somewhere that shows God watching the earth on a huge TV screen. He sits in front of a computer with his finger on the “delete” key. Nothing in me will accept this view of God. Bad things happen, but not everything that happens comes from God. A pastor in Tulsa, Oklahoma recently said,

God is a good God and doesn’t have or need to throw temper tantrums like a spoiled and undisciplined child, in order to get his way or because he appears not to have it. We should not attempt to reduce God to such mundane human variables.[i]

PAUL WRESTLES WITH SUCH EVENTS 

The apostle Paul wrestles with such events in one of his New Testament letters. At one point he writes, “For we know that up to the present time, all of creation groans with pain, like the pain of childbirth.” (Romans 8:22, TEV) 

The world as we know it is anything but a well oiled machine. The world groans in agony. Creation struggles. Paul comes as close as anyone to providing an answer believers can live with. At least that answer suffices until the next disaster. 

Paul says it has something to do with the theology of fallen creation. When I was in seminary I read a little book by Dietrich Bonhoeffer called Creation and Fall. The point is made that creation is flawed, cracked, imperfect and unfinished. This may help us, but we need more. We yearn to both believe in a good and loving God and to understand why such things happen. 

So how do you face into the storms? Here’s what I think on the matter. 

GOD SUFFERS WITH US 

First, God suffers with us and with those in pain. The question may be asked, “Where was God, or where is God in all of this?” And the answer is always the same: “Where God always is—in     the suffering, the pain, and the dying.” God loves this creation. God is creator and God loves every people in every land area. When life is damaged or snuffed out, God weeps. 

Someone once said that love complicates the life of God as it complicates every human life. Maybe that’s what’s meant by the offhand saying, “This was a disaster of ‘biblical proportions.’” 

DEATH IS NOT OUR ENEMY 

The second thing I believe is that death is not our enemy. There’s a story about a little boy in an upstairs bedroom. He calls down to his mom, “Mommy, I’m scared!” She replies, “It’s all right, son. God will take care of you.” To which the boy replies, “Well Mommy, you come up here and sleep with God. I want to come down and sleep with Daddy.” 

Few of us are anxious to go and be with God. But neither should we fear death. Sometimes in disasters the death tolls are staggering. The numbers are hard to assimilate. The closer the disasters come to us, the harder it is to cope. While death brings sadness and grief, death is not our enemy. 

This is true in major world disasters. It is also true in smaller, isolated ones. Remember the stories with the Sago mine tragedy in early January. At first there was great hope that all 12 miners had survived. We soon learned that all 12 had died. Obviously these miners and their families came from a very religious community of people. Evidence of this was found in the notes the miners left behind. They were featured on the front page of the Post-Gazette on Friday morning, January 26^th. One note said, “Tell all I’ll see them on the other side.” Another said, “It wasn’t bad. We just went to sleep.” The story said that their hands that wrote the notes were steady, but there wasn’t much energy left in them. 

What did we learn from that story? We learned that death brings sadness, loss, and sometimes economic hardship. But death is not our enemy.

 TRAGEDY BRINGS OUT COMPASSION 

The third thing I believe is that tragedy brings out compassion in the human heart. One pastor in Gulfport, Mississippi said recently, “Our church was completely destroyed, but we were having a great opportunity to minister.”[ii] 

God never wants or causes a natural disaster. God grieves with every loss of life. But then God works in individuals and schools and churches. I go back to my favorite teacher in my seminary days, and one of the things he said which I shall never forget: “God does not will everything that happens, but in everything that happens God wills good.” 

Those who have worked in the tsunami relief or in the hurricane relief or in the earthquake relief will often say, “It’s best not to ask where God was during natural disasters, but to search for God in the calm after the storm.” 

Surely that has happened here in Christ Church. Thousands of dollars and hundreds of in-kind contributions flowed from you. Over $50,000 was given for Katrina alone. It was compassionate giving poured out from a people of faith. God was working. 

Plus, you might be interested to know that there was at least one behind-the-scenes effort. We found out that some 90-100 United Methodist clergy in the affected area were without home or church or congregation. Western Pennsylvania clergy were challenged by our bishop. He said that congregations could not be asked to contribute again, but clergy might be willing to do so. Everything raised would go to help our brothers and sisters serving churches in that area. Over $100,000 was given to assist dislocated clergy in three states. The idea has spread through other annual conferences and it is now a growing effort across the United States. 

I believe God works overtime to make good things happen in us when disaster strikes. It seems to happen especially when the storms of this world strike a fierce blow. 

ADVOCATES FOR POLICY REFORM 

Fourthly, we can become advocates for policy priorities and policy reform. We can respond with compassion, but we can also respond with good public priorities. We can advocate priorities that give life a chance. God can be found in the making of good public policy. 

I freely admit this morning that there are plenty of scriptures that I do not understand. But one thing is very clear to me: the poor are God’s concern. And justice for the poor is God’s way. We cannot hide behind Jesus’ saying, “The poor will always be with us.” 

We may not be able to solve all the problems of poverty. But this world does have the resources to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and provide basic care. 

On the very day of the New Orleans flood, the Census Bureau reported a startling fact. The number of Americans living in poverty had risen for the fourth straight year 

Perhaps one of the sad lessons from Katrina is right here. The poor are hidden from our eyes in ways we don’t realize. When the levies began to give way in New Orleans, people in the city were ordered to evacuate. One fourth of those people had no way to evacuate, no way to get out. They were essentially abandoned. We did not know this until the whole episode was over. 

God is now in the details of good, caring public policy. I read an interesting statement about the Salvation Army this week. It said this:

“The Salvation Army differs from other denominations in only one key aspect: it believes that commitment to the poor in one’s community and in the world is not an option for the church.”

I would agree. 

I do not have any specific political policy solutions. But I do believe I know the spirit of such solutions. I believe I do know God’s intent here. One writer says, “I don’t look to God to explain why bad things happen. I look to God to help me know, when bad things happen, how to embody God’s care and compassion in the world.”[iii] 

God is now in the details of good, caring, sensitive public policy. 

WILL YOU CONTINUE TO STRUGGLE? 

Will you and I continue to struggle with these questions? Will we struggle with questions about nature’s fury and the pain it can cause? Of course we will. But I invite you this morning to believe some things with me. I invite you to believe that we live with a larger, higher view of what life is about. I invite you to believe that God suffers and struggles when we do. Believe that death is not the ultimate evil enemy. Believe that God can produce compassion in abundance through us. And believe that God enables us to advocate public policy for good. 

The Psalmist speaks to us today. He writes, “In you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge until the destroying storms pass by.” I would then add to what the Psalmist says. God calls you to a faithful, compassionate response, and to become faithful advocates of policies that bring hope to the “least of these.” 

Thanks be to God for the power to live on a higher plane when the storms do come!