Does God Care (about Christchurch)?

27 FEBRUARY 2011: EIGHTH AFTER THE EPIPHANY

SCRIPTURE: Psalm 131; Isaiah 49:8–16; 1 Corinthians 4:1–5; Matthew 6:24–34

CHRISTCHURCH
I spoke with my son in Christchurch yesterday.  Many of you have family and friends over there.  We were all so fortunate that they survived the earthquake on Tuesday.  The suddenness and horror of it all stopped our hearts for a while. D spent most of yesterday distributing food and water to some folk who didn’t have access to any, and digging silt out of blocked drains and doorways. 

Durham Methodist Church, where D and M were married was badly damaged in the September quake and its aftershocks; now it’s been reduced to rubble.  The tragedy is that three folk who had started rescuing the pipe organ last week, were trapped and killed when this earthquake struck. 

D’s current church building is fine.  But this morning they met in the parking lot of their local library.  People are a bit skittish about gathering together indoors with the ongoing aftershocks.  Walls and roofs aren’t very safe anymore.

Christchurch is obviously the tragedy that’s closest to my heart at the moment.  But there’s Egypt, and Libya, and Bahrain; Ivory Coast and Zimbabwe.  Closer home, there’s HIV/Aids and cancer, there’s loneliness and depression, and a whole host of intensely personal struggles that we perhaps face alone.

Can we cope?  Will we get through?  Will our children or grandchildren know peace?