Earlier this week the Whig ran a transcript of an email exchange from Bill Hauser from Haiti. It talked a lot about the devastation, need and prayer. Someone posted a comment that raised the question of God and suffering. It’s not an unfair question. However, the assumption that was clearly evident was, “If there is a God, there would be no human tragedy.”
In other words, if there was a God we would live in Utopia. We did. It was called Eden. And we blew it. Mankind couldn’t quite be satisfied with his/her lot in life and so they chose to “be like god.” That act of self-elevation (which we’ve come to call “the Fall”), brought brokenness into our world. Mankind was not only separated from God, men and women were separated from each other, and, we were separated from creation.
Every time there is a tragedy (flood, hurricane, earthquake, etc) we have the opportunity to demonstrate whether or not we are going to react to the tragedy with anger, skepticism, bitterness or some other response or if we will respond to the situation with a desire to bring healing and reconciliation.
Mankind’s penchant seems to be foster alienation. Our invitation is to bring healing and reconciliation. Read the news and it appears we tend toward bullying and teasing, separation and divorce, abuse and rape and murder. However, when you look closely you’ll see that some seek to bring healing.
Christian’s are certainly not immune to the suffering. The question is, do they lead the way in the reconciliation. We’ve done better in the spiritual realm than in other arenas. We’re pretty good at helping people reconnect with God. In the social realm we’re a little less successful. Certainly we try to bring marriages together, prevent abuse, bring healing to broken people and families. We’re probably least successful in the realm of creation, though some do recycle and conserve.
My invitation to you is to watch the Haiti situation. See what the media celebrates. Most likely it will be celebrity response. But look beneath the story and see what also happens. Thousands of people, many poor themselves, will give, not from their abundance, but from their lack. Missionaries will do a great job making sure supplies get to the needy. They won’t ask for nor receive publicity. But, in the midst of meeting the current physical and social needs, they’ll introduce spiritual healing and reconciliation.
We see it already–right here. We’re not receiving huge gifts from celebrity donors. We’re getting lots and lots of small bags of food from widows and others. We’re getting calls from parents about their children contributing. In some small way, what we will see is a strong attempt at reconciliation to counteract the alienation.
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I would have never imagined the community response to our Haiti Relief effort. We initially planned to fill a half dozen suitcases to send in some emergency medical supplies. Once the word got out we ended up with people from all around the community and eventually the region providing resources. Just a moment ago I looked out and saw someone carrying in more supplies.
