This devotion is just as good as yesterdays.
Good morning. Welcome to Tuesday, June 17th.
“At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. He asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.” Luke 13:1-5
It is so very human of us, when something horrible happens, to assess blame. Maybe that is the reason why the first question we always ask is “why?” We want to know who to blame.
Once we pick out someone or something to blame, then we can start pointing our finger. We love to do that! (Usually forgetting Stuart Smalley’s wisdom that when we point one finger at someone, four are pointing back to us.)
The natural disasters that have been happening in the world this spring make it very difficult for us to play the blame game. We can get angry because a despotic government confiscates aid supplies but we can’t blame them for a cyclone. We can react with confusion because of the densely crowded urbans areas of China but those conditions don’t cause earthquakes or floods. And we can argue all day about the balance between corn for fuel and corn for food but none of that creates tornadoes or floods.
Which leaves us no one to blame but God.
When we ultimately arrive there I always remember that incredible scene from Elie Wiesel’s book, “Night”, where the rabbis in the concentration camp put God on trial. After it becomes clear that the verdict will be “guilty”, the rabbis can do nothing but turn and walk away from one another toward their barracks. Pronouncing God “guilty” only makes the pain and the isolation worse. It doesn’t help.
If anything, these disasters teach us about our common humanity. A life in Iowa is worth as much as a life in China or the Sudan. A home in West Des Moines is worth as much as an apartment in Sansui – not because of the cost of the building materials but because of the value provided to the family that lives there. The natural world draws no human distinctions or boundaries or borders. We are ALL in this together.
So what do we do? What do those of us sitting on the sidelines do?
We help as we are able. Maybe we write a check to Lutheran World Relief (www.lwr.org) or the Red Cross (www.redcross.org) because we want to help. Maybe we add those affected and those trying to help to our daily prayers. Maybe we remain informed, as hard as it is to hear and read, because we understand that we are ALL in this together.
Let us pray: Dear Lord, we pray for those who are hurting today, those terrified children and grief-stricken adults, those international leaders struggling toward the best response to the tragedies which have struck across the world. Bless those seeking to make a positive impact and strengthen those working hard now to bring relief. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
________________
Pastor Kerry Nelson
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Monday, June 16, 2008
Flood Waters & Earth Quakes
This devotional came to my in box today and it spoke to me. I share it with that Spirit.
Good morning. Welcome to Monday, June 16th.
“But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel:Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, &; and the flame shall not consume you.”
Isaiah 43:1-2
For the past several months the earth has been slipping out from under the lives of millions of people. A tremendous cyclone tears through Myanmar taking the lives of tens of thousands. Then an earthquake hits in China and tens of thousands again perish. Then the floods and tornadoes come to the Midwestern United States and still another flood in China forces a million people to flee.
To go where?
Where can we go to be absolutely safe? Such a place doesn’t exist.
I have never been through any natural disaster that comes anywhere close to what these people have experienced. Hurricane Katrina was devastating but Houston came away from the experience untouched. I was just north of Mount St. Helens when it erupted, the sound of the eruption woke us all up, but we didn’t even get any ash until two weeks later when it had circled the earth. I’ve never even been touched by a flood. So I hesitate to even know what to say other thank thinking out loud from my point of view.
Such disasters certainly put our lives into perspective. They tear down the illusory wall of control behind which we live our lives. They teach us about the utter fragility of life. They destroy any sense that we are in charge of much of anything.
Homes and businesses and schools and buildings topple like sandcastles at the close of the day. Flood waters scour the signs of civilization and replace it with the scars of nature gone wild.
And we are reminded of what really matters to us. Life matters to us! Things go away and it hurts for a moment. People go away and life is diminished forever.
The people of ancient Israel experienced such devastation. Sometimes at the hands of invading armies seeking profit and exploitation. Sometimes at the shocking eruption of volcanoes and the raging waters of flooding rivers. They had no tools to measure these events, no real signs that they were coming. They only had one answer – God must be punishing us.
So it is a remarkable sign of faith that the prophets turn the tables from destruction to encouragement with the reminder that God can’t be blown away by a crumbling mountain or swept away by the waters of a flood. Rather, God can be and is with them through it all.
Not an impersonal timepiece maker God but a personal God, one who has created us, who knows us, who has called us by name. To know such God is with us means the world when the world disappears under our feet.
Let us pray: Gracious Lord, we watch with horror and wonder as the reports come to us about the untold suffering that millions have been experiencing. You have heard the prayers, we pray that you come now out of hiding to bring comfort to those who are hurting, who are grieving, who are forced now to rebuild lives out of what now remains. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
______________
Pastor Kerry Nelson
Good morning. Welcome to Monday, June 16th.
“But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel:Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, &; and the flame shall not consume you.”
Isaiah 43:1-2
For the past several months the earth has been slipping out from under the lives of millions of people. A tremendous cyclone tears through Myanmar taking the lives of tens of thousands. Then an earthquake hits in China and tens of thousands again perish. Then the floods and tornadoes come to the Midwestern United States and still another flood in China forces a million people to flee.
To go where?
Where can we go to be absolutely safe? Such a place doesn’t exist.
I have never been through any natural disaster that comes anywhere close to what these people have experienced. Hurricane Katrina was devastating but Houston came away from the experience untouched. I was just north of Mount St. Helens when it erupted, the sound of the eruption woke us all up, but we didn’t even get any ash until two weeks later when it had circled the earth. I’ve never even been touched by a flood. So I hesitate to even know what to say other thank thinking out loud from my point of view.
Such disasters certainly put our lives into perspective. They tear down the illusory wall of control behind which we live our lives. They teach us about the utter fragility of life. They destroy any sense that we are in charge of much of anything.
Homes and businesses and schools and buildings topple like sandcastles at the close of the day. Flood waters scour the signs of civilization and replace it with the scars of nature gone wild.
And we are reminded of what really matters to us. Life matters to us! Things go away and it hurts for a moment. People go away and life is diminished forever.
The people of ancient Israel experienced such devastation. Sometimes at the hands of invading armies seeking profit and exploitation. Sometimes at the shocking eruption of volcanoes and the raging waters of flooding rivers. They had no tools to measure these events, no real signs that they were coming. They only had one answer – God must be punishing us.
So it is a remarkable sign of faith that the prophets turn the tables from destruction to encouragement with the reminder that God can’t be blown away by a crumbling mountain or swept away by the waters of a flood. Rather, God can be and is with them through it all.
Not an impersonal timepiece maker God but a personal God, one who has created us, who knows us, who has called us by name. To know such God is with us means the world when the world disappears under our feet.
Let us pray: Gracious Lord, we watch with horror and wonder as the reports come to us about the untold suffering that millions have been experiencing. You have heard the prayers, we pray that you come now out of hiding to bring comfort to those who are hurting, who are grieving, who are forced now to rebuild lives out of what now remains. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
______________
Pastor Kerry Nelson
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