Eclipse and Earthquake
First it was the eclipse. Those who were at
some of the best vantage points describe it as an amazing experience. Members
of the Irish Astronomical Association who travelled to Bulgaria and experienced
2 minutes 23 seconds of 'totality' - the total eclipse of the sun - reckoned
it was well worth the journey.
Those in Cornwall didn't get to see much
but from my own back garden in Belfast I was able to watch the strange greying
of the daylight and the partial eclipse of the sun.
It's strange how an event like this, so precisely predictable by the astronomer's calculations, can have such a profound effect upon us. The fact that most of us will only have one chance in a lifetime to witness such an event probably makes it all the more special. We find ourselves in awe of nature even when we know exactly what it's going to do and why.
Then it was the earthquake. Another natural phenomenon, the shifting of the earth's surface along its fault lines, but one that can't be predicted with the accuracy of an eclipse. We can tell where they are likely to happen but the time and the place is never certain. When the earth shakes we are terrified and as we watch our TV screens we are horrified. 40,000 people wiped out within a few minutes. Families and communities obliterated within seconds. Workmen clearing destroyed buildings, knowing full well that they shovel the remains of their neighbours along with the crumbled concrete that once formed their homes.
The eclipse is good PR for God. The wonders of the heavens, the perfect timing and orbits of the planets all speak of a majestic creation beautifully designed and spectacular to observe.
The earthquake on the other hand seems to be a PR disaster for God. How could God let all those people die like that? Why doesn't God prevent terrible things like this happening? If there is a God and if he's supposed to be good why are tens of thousands of bodies rotting in the ruins of their homes in the heat of a Turkish summer?
Both the eclipse and the earthquake give us an opportunity to think again about some of the basic truths that the Bible spells out for us. The book of Genesis tells us that when God created everything he declared that it was "excellent in every way". Then it tells us that what destroyed the goodness of God's creation was not a fault in God's design but human rebellion against God (what we refer to as sin). That's why the skies fascinate and inspire us, we never got to muck them up. The earth terrifies and even destroys us because our human sinfulness has it corrupted.
So where is God in it all? Distant, remote,
minding his own business in some other corner of the universe? No. The Bible
tells us he is to be found in the most unexpected of places, at a place
of dreadful suffering and disgrace. God is to be seen in the beaten up body
of a man hanging on a cross in the heat of the day. One songwriter describes
the coming of God among us as the coming of the 'servant king':
"Come see his hands and his feet,
the scars that speak of sacrifice,
hands that flung stars into space
to cruel nails surrendered.
This is our God, the servant king!"
There is no shortage of understanding or compassion with God. There is nothing that he does not see and understand about human suffering. There is nothing about your life and mine beyond his concern but there is also the issue of our responsibility. We have to come to terms with what we are before we go complaining about God. We have to address the problems of greed and negligence which built so many Turkish homes on the cheap consigning people to live in concrete coffins for fast profit before we blame God for the mess. We have to take responsibility for what we have contributed to the creation that God declared to be "excellent in every way". When we do then we will begin to see, not just nature, but God more clearly.