19th January 2025
"Though the earth give way" (Psalm 46)
The first couple of weeks of 2025 have been a forceful reminder of human fragility in the face of climate chaos and natural disasters. The UK has suffered both intense snow and serious flooding. There has been an earthquake in Tibet which has barely received news coverage due to the focus on the fires which have blazed around Los Angeles.
How do we respond to the terrible human suffering inflicted by natural disasters? How do we hold onto faith in God, whilst watching chaos and tragedy engulf human beings made in God's image? Are natural disasters part of God's plan for the world?
In the midst of the coverage of the LA fires last week, I heard a thought-provoking reflection from Rev. Jayne Manfredi, a Deacon and writer in the Church of England. She recalled the story of Elijah in 1 Kings 19. Following a dramatic showdown with the prophets of the idol Baal, Elijah, exhausted, runs away into the desert. There, God instructs him to go to a cave on Mount Horeb, so that the presence of the Lord can pass by. There came, the story recounts, an earthquake. But God was not in the earthquake. Then there came a rushing wind. But God was not in the wind. Then there came a fire. But God was not in the fire. Finally, the author says, there came a gentle whisper or, in a different translation, the sound of sheer silence. And, it was at the sound of the gentle whisper, the sheer silence, that Elijah covers his face and goes to the mouth of the cave to encounter the living God.
God, said Jayne Manfredi, is not in the earthquake, the wind, the fire. Disasters and tragedies happen - they are not sent by God, they are not God's punishment (even though they may be exacerbated by human sin, in this case our neglect and poor stewardship of God's creation). But God is nevertheless present in these disasters - in the gentle whisper of a neighbour checking on another neighbour, or the prayers of the saints, and even in the sheer silence as communities gather to bear witness to the devastation and grieve for all they have lost.
I am reminded of the words from Isaiah 43 (verses 1-7) that we heard last Sunday: "When you pass through the waters... when you pass through fire... I will be with you". God's promise is never that nothing bad will happen to us, nor is it that everything that happens can be explained or argued away. God promises us God's own presence, with us through earthquake and wind, flood and fire, and that, in the end, trouble and suffering will not overwhelm us.
We pray for God's gentle presence in places of suffering, disaster and grief this week.
