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But God Was Not in the Earthquake

Pentecost 13, Proper 14, Year A
Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28 or 1 Kings 19:9-18
Psalm 105, 1-6, 16-22, 45b or Psalm 85:8-13
Romans 10:5-15
Matthew 14:22-33

Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence.
I Kings 19:

As if there had not been enough suffering in Sichuan province: this week, another earthquake. Thankfully, the devastation was nowhere near as great as in the disastrous quake that struck the area on May 18 of this year, but there were more than 200 injuries and one death. And there were millions of newly-terrified people, still reeling from the horror of the last one and now thrust back into the panic. Trauma is like that: every new one brings back all the old ones.

With the Amity Foundation, our local partner in China, Episcopal Relief and Development continues to provide support and services for those who must rebuild lives shattered by these cataclysmic events. Christian work in China originating from abroad must be done in such a way as to satisfy a powerful central political authority concerned about outside interference. The Amity Foundation is true to its name, providing a Chinese structure by which those who wish to offer help for human need can do so without triggering an unnecessary political response. Since 1985, it has been an important force for the upbuilding of Chinese Christianity in what can be a difficult setting.

Was God in the earthquake? Not in its planning -- God doesn't rain down natural disasters on human beings to make a point. We just build our houses and cities on the fault lines of history, and sometimes the earth quakes. But God is in the subtlety and courage with which we respond to what happens in our world. If we choose to do so, we show Christ forth in what we do as servants of one another as children of God, whether they are those we know and love or those we will never meet.