I've been amazed at the wonderful stretch of weather we've been having in Arkport. Warm, breezy days (perfect for baseball) and cool nights. Even the odd patch of rain is a blessing. It's been great here, but the weather has not been so great around the world.
In the past weeks, tens of thousands of people have lost their lives in natural disasters in Myanmar (Burma), China and here in the US. More are homeless and in need of aid. How are we, as a people of faith, to make sense of this? A more difficult question may be: are we supposed to make sense of it? Is it fair to put the responsibility for every drop of rain on God's doorstep? It's too easy to say that God is in control of everything (and therefore responsible for everything), when we know this is not the case. In giving the gift of human freedom, God also gave over some control of the Way Things Are.
To complicate matters, while we may have once been able to put matters of weather and climate firmly in God's domain, human beings are coming to recognize the effect they (WE) have on creation, and the responsibility that comes with the power (literally) to change the world. What impact have our own choices had on recent events? What responsibility do we bear? Again, perhaps this is another Easy Answer, shifting the blame from God to ourselves. Perhaps no one is to blame.
Creation itself is still in the process of Becoming. The Apostle Paul says that creation itself "has been groaning in labor pains" (Rom 8:22). Rather than being "finished," it is still changing. This struggle, which seems to be built in to the very fabric of creation, can be violent. Real change, real transformation, is seldom easy. We inhabit a world that groans, bends, and occasionally breaks under the pressure of it's own Becoming. Perhaps we need to come to terms with a world in which terrible things happen and nobody is to blame.
What are we to do? Rather than pointing fingers (which accomplishes little), we should concentrate on our own response. Instead of crying, "How could God do this?" perhaps we need to ask, "What can I do?" Our first response must be to pray that the victims of these tragedies find relief from their suffering. Prayer, however, is not enough. Our next response is to act. We must learn to become the hands and feet of Christ in a world that desperately needs healing. We must become part of God's ongoing work of redeeming the world.
