Genesis 32: 22-31
Psalm 17: 1-7, 15
Romans 9: 1-5
Matthew 14: 13-21

Several mice died and went to heaven. They were admitted and given free run of the place. The next day they approached St Peter and complained that heaven was full of crumbs and other tasty morsels and that was just great, but they had one problem. Heaven was way too big and their little legs too short; they were becoming tired of all the scurrying around they had to do. In a flash of inspiration, St. Peter agreed to fit them out with roller skates. Several days later a whole bunch of cats arrived at the pearly gates and were also admitted to the heavenly realm. A few days later St Peter came upon the cats and he asked them how they were liking it in heaven. “Oh, its just great”, said the oldest cat. “And we thought that the meals on wheels was an especially nice touch”.

Today we are looking at the familiar parable of the feeding of the thousands. It is almost so familiar that we can dismiss it by saying, “Oh, I know that story”. Yet, when we look at things in different ways, from a different perspective, we can see things we may never have seen before.

So lets call them lenses. As a quite amateur photographer I have just gotten into digital photography. I never thought I’d ever own a point and shoot, but I now do. However, for many years my only cameras were SLR’s. The good thing about SLR’s is that you can change the lens, which almost means that you have a new camera, and use the same film. You CAN buy digital SLR’s but I really don’t want to spend the money.

So FIRST I’ll look at the story in terms of the larger context. I’‘ use my regular 50mm lens and take a look and see what I can see? What just happened? Well, as Matthew tells it, Jesus has just heard that John the Baptizer has died. Not only is he a relative of Jesus, but he is also the one who prepared the way for Jesus ministry. John was a prophet and he was killed because he called people to account, he told people just how exactly they were not measuring up to God’s will for their lives, and he lost his head over it, literally.

However, we can forget that there is food involved in both stories as well. Herod was throwing a dinner party and he made a rash boast about giving his daughter anything she wanted. Manipulated by her mother, the daughter asked for the head of John on a platter. In order to save face Herod had to order that the execution be carried out! In the context of great plenty the prophet of God becomes the victim of scheming and revenge.

By contrast the dinner party hosted by Jesus on that day was quite different. In the context of the need of the people the compassion of Jesus stands out. At the risk of the authorities using this as one more reason to get rid of him, Jesus provides an abundant meal. Even though he is in desperate need of peace and quiet, Jesus acts in love and generosity. Taken in this larger context, the contrast with Herod and the power of vindictive ness is unmistakable.

Next, I’ll have to change to one of my zoom lenses and bring things closer to the camera. I find it interesting that the disciples were inclined, at first, to send the people away in order that they could find their own food but Jesus challenges them to provide for the crowds themselves. Remmeber, Jesus has been healing and teaching. Clearly, the disciples have a great deal to learn about this Jesus! The Rev. Dr. Charles Cousar Texts for Preaching, Westminster/John Knox Press, 1995 refers to Jesus’ compassion, ‘rubbing off on the disciples’ . While Jesus’ power is necessary for this story to reach its completion, the role of the disciples is crucial. They diagnose the need, they bring the people of Jesus, they procure the loaves and the fish, they distribute the food and they gather up the leftovers.

Next I’ll use my 28mm wide angle. I’ll be able to see a much broader range of things than with a normal lens. When I look through this lens I can see all the way from the story itself on the left to the sacrament of Holy Communion on the right. The people are arranged on the grass in an orderly fashion, there is prayer and blessing, there is a distribution to the people and there is more than enough left over. It seems to me that when I look through this lens I can see what Matthew’s early readers would also have seen; the upper room. Jesus’ care and compassion win out over self interest and meet the human need where it is the greatest; Jesus self-giving is life giving even in the context and shadow of death, either John’s or his own. Jesus is, in the end, the Lord of Life, not of death.

Now, at last I have to switch cameras and pull out the digital camera, for it has a special feature whereby I can take many pictures side by side and stitch them together.

How does this all come together for our lives as God’s people in 2005. What I hear in this story is not only that compassion compels us to action but also that through fait compassion turns a perceived scarcity into abundance.

I almost hesitate to tell this story in the midst of the hottest part of the summer, but I will. In 1998, a severe ice storm hit eastern Canada. The almost total failure of the power grid in certain parts of Quebec combined with a cold snap meant much suffering for many. People moved into shelters en masse and farmers had to scour the country from coast to coast to find generators to run vital equipment on farms. It was a major cirisis.

The country swung into action and canned goods and other non-perishable foodstuffs, batteries, disposable diapers, and all sorts of things began to head for the worst hit areas of Quebed.

The Church in Society Committee of Truro Presbytery arranged to have a truck ship a load of supplies to Quebec. A driver was found who needed a way to Quebec and agreed to drive for us. But we had nothing to go in the truck. The radio stations issued an appeal and the food started to come in. It became a community as well as a church effort. A local clothing manufacturer donated cartons of thermal underwear. A mother on welfare donated a bag of food. She called the coordinator and asked if she could drop the food off somewhere else because she didn’t have the money for the taxi to take her any further. That somewhere else was a car dealer who also opened their showroom to receive food and transported it to the church. The chairperson of the committee made sure the sign for the side of the truck was in the best of French (she had her son do the wording and make sure it didn’t end up saying something really odd). As Jean Hamilton, the chair of the committee said, “I want to make sure that the sign DOES NOT say, ‘We have come from Nova Scotia to make love to your sheep!’”

So a sign was put on the side of the truck which said something like, “To Quebec, with affection, From Nova Scotia!” The truck broke down and was delayed. The trucker knew that the truck was overweignt by Quebec standards and dreaded the first stop at a scales across the New Brunswick border. Sure enough, it was over 1000 pounds over the limit and the Highways Employee came out of his little building to talk to the driver. That’s when he saw the sign on the truck. He said, “Ummmm You are going to Montreal?

“Yes” said the driver.

“Have a good trip!”

Abundance.

The story becomes even more amazing. The United Church received a great deal of money from other parts of the country. Since there were sustained power outages and much damage to trees and power lines in the Maritimes, a portion of the money was designated for us and they could not find anyone to take it; they could not find anyone who really needed it. While we had suffered it was decided that others had suffered much more and that the money should go to them.

Abundance

Miracles of sharing.

A woman from Minnesota organized a medical mission trip to Vietnam and asked a drug company for some samples. A driver for UPS arrived at her office one day with this request. “I have a ton of drugs for you. Where shall I put them?”

Busy at the time the woman, rather absent mindedly said, “Oh just put the box on my desk”.

“No lady”, the man persisted, “I have a TON of drugs out in the truck.” It took her over a year to give away all the vitamins that had been donated.

Abundance

We often operate out of a idea of scarcity and indeed there are times when resources are more scarce than others, however, the gospel is about abundance. In God’s abundant love, Jesus came. This passage speaks of the abundance which came from a small offering.

I think we miss something of we focus solely on the miracle to which this passage alludes. We miss something when we treat it as mere history. We miss something unless we can see it as proclamation; as God’s word for today.

It’s not just how we see things. It’s not just what lenses we use through which we view things. It’s how we live out the gospel message. It’s how we react and interact with what we see; it’s how what we see changes who we are.

This is a Terry Fox Dollar, so it’s not a “loonie” ( regular issue Canadian dollar coins have a common loon on the ‘tails’ side ) at all. I am part of the terry Fox generation. I was in high school when he ran half way across the country and had to stop because his cancer had reoccurred. I had just graduated the summer he died. Terrence Stanley Fox was only a month short of his 23rd birthday when he died in 1981. During and after his run he said, “I believe in miracles, .......... I have to”. The fall of 1981 saw the first Terry Fox Run, and they have continued ever since. Terry Fox had his miracle, not in a cure for himself, but in a living legacy that has lasted for 24 years. I read recently that if Terry were diagnosed with the same cancer today, his chances of keeping his leg would be very high, and his chances of dying, very low. Because he believed in miracles, because he ran, people responded, and other people believed in miracles and because they believed, they have happened. I would venture a guess that the large majority of miracles don’t happen, ‘out of thin air’, but because people of faith, believe and act in trust.

The thing about miracles is that they are not stingy. They aren’t wasteful, but they are a sign of God’s great abundance. They are a call to us to open our eyes and to look at the world through the lens of faith. When we have looked we can do nothing less than respond in faith, sure and certain that the grace and power of god will supply all of our need and more.

Amen!

Exodus 3: 1-15
St Stephen’s Psalm 105: 1-6; 23-26, 45c
Romans 12: 9-21
Matthew 16: 21-28

George W. Bush was walking through an airport one day and he saw a elderly man with a long beard, wearing robes and sandals and carrying two tablets of stone. The American President ran up to the man and asked excitedly, “Mister, are you Moses?”

The man kept walking.

Bush shook his head and chased after the man. “Are you Moses?”

The man kept walking.

Again the President pursued the ancient figure, this time saying, “I don’t know if you are Moses or not, but if you are, you sure aren’t very friendly.”

This time the man stopped, and looked him in the eye and said, “Of course I’m Moses, but you and I both know that the last time I talked to a bush I spent 40 years wandering around in the wilderness.” (Pause)

“Moses”

“Moses”

“Over here Moses. It’s me, God. Yes, God. You know, the one who called Abraham to leave his homeland and go looking for a new place to go. Yes, Moses, that’s the one” Yes, the one who was with you in the bulrushes; the one your mother and father told you about while you were still in their home and who has been whispering to you in all of those silences while watching these silly sheep. “

“Moses, take off your shoes. This is holy ground”.

This is holy ground! It is here that we encounter the living God.

(pause)

Moses had led quite an interesting life up until then. Born during a time of great oppression his life was saved by the daring and faith-filled actions of his mother and sister who made sure that his floating bassinet was found by Pharaoh’s daughter. In the brief time he had lived with his biological mother he would have learned the stories of his people and their hopes for a land of their own. After being weaned, he was raised in the royal courts. Yet he was a man caught between two worlds; two vastly different and very incompatible worlds. In his heart played the ancient song of the children of Abraham and Sarah, yet, he had to enjoy the grandeur and the luxury of the palace with servants at his beck and call. Why had he acted so rashly? He knew that the Egyptians had put his Hebrew brothers and sisters to hard labour, giving them impossible tasks. They were slaves; they were a dime a dozen. When he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave his anger got the better of him and he killed the Egyptian and hid the body. Why did he do that? What good did it do in the end? The love of his adopted mother could protect him no longer and he fled for his life.

Arriving in Midian he married, settled down and tried to forget his past. Yet, the past always has a way of catching up with us; and Moses was no different. Perhaps all those long days and nights in the wilderness with his sheep allowed those ancient Hebrew songs to drift across his consciousness once again. Perhaps, as he held his son in his arms he thought of Abraham and Isaac and wondered if his son would inherit the promise. Perhaps?

This day, he went with his sheep, not only into the wilderness, but beyond it, to the place where he was to come face to face with the living God. This was the God who had called his ancestors; the God who was being and existence itself; the God who would not easily take no for an answer; the God who led his people beyond wilderness to unmistakable presence. This was the great and only I AM of life. This God called him to participate in the great dream that had prompted Abraham to start his journey of faith all those years ago.

In our United Church crest there is the symbol of a burning bush; a symbol which represents our Presbyterian roots. This story of Moses on the Mountain of God was never meant to remain only the account of God’s call to one man in one time and in one place; it is the story of our encounter with the Holy God.

Today, we stand on holy ground, or at least its possibility.

In some Christian churches the clergy preach only after removing their shoes; a symbolic action which shows that to preach the word is to stand on holy ground.

Did you notice when I read that Moses led his flock beyond the wilderness. What could be ‘beyond the wilderness’?. We often see the wilderness as that place beyond what is known and familiar and even civilized. To see beyond the wilderness is almost an oxymoron, or by definition, ludicrous. Yet this passage talks about the encounters with the Holy God which happen beyond those wilderness places where there was no holy, no hope.

I remember well a funeral I conducted early in my ministry. The deceased was a relatively young man; I had performed his oldest daughter’s wedding just the year before. When he died, it was very much a wilderness time for this man’s wife, his mother and for his children. Yet, a week or so after the funeral the daughter gave birth to a healthy baby and and the encounter with the holy was unmistakable.

We stand on holy ground.

In 1857, Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote in her poem, "Aurora Leigh:

"Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God:
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round it, and pluck blackberries”. 

The story of Moses has become a powerful metaphor for freedom for many oppressed people. The request Moses took to Pharaoh, “Let my people go”, became a chorus and set to music it has sung the hopes of many who could only dream of freedom.

Yet, freedom is more than just a ‘dream’; it is possible. When I was in theological college 20 years ago the non-whites of South Africa were treated as aliens in their own country and the people of Berlin were divided by a wall which also divided Europe. Many people felt that these things would never change. Yet, without a war and with relatively little bloodshed the wall has come down and the people of South Africa marching to freedom on a steady, sure path, with a black man as a long retired president.

What are God’s people oppressed by today? What Pharaohs are we called to challenge today?

There is the oppression of family violence.

There is the oppression of discrimination because of factors which make one group different from the norm, or the people with the power.

There is the oppression which still sees women paid less than men;

There is the slavery which still sees many people in Africa dying of preventable diseases because the world does not care.

There is the oppression of poverty in a wealthy country; a country which can spend millions on entertaining visiting heads of state but one where many, many children go to school without a proper breakfast; where people live on the streets and where many others must decide whether to pay the rent or buy food this month.

Then there are all those personal oppressions of the soul and heart, known only to us and to God: despair, aching loneliness, unresolved anger and grief and that never ending treadmill of working at demeaning jobs just to put food on the table and a roof over the head.

What will it take for change to occur?

Well for the Hebrews it took one man who heard God’s fire of freedom and took upon himself the call to wrestle with Pharaoh. It took one man who believed that, by God’s grace, he could accomplish great tasks.

Taking up our cross is the metaphor used by Jesus of Nazareth, but we must always remember that the blood of Moses’ people coursed through his veins too; Jesus was a child of Abraham as surely as each one of those who had left Egypt. In a way, you could say that Jesus too encountered that same burning bush. Jesus knew about holy ground and how his call was to help the oppressed go free; to challenge the Pharaoh’s of his day.

We may be resistant to change.

Or we may believe that it is impossible.

Or we may have made friends with our misery; like we learn to live with chronic pain or the limitations of injury or old age.

We aren’t talking about miracles here, if by miracles we mean ‘magic and hocus pocos’. These changes don’t fall from the sky. We are talking about the change brought about by the Holy Spirit of God who can change the hardest of hearts; and free the oppressed, often one person at a time, one day at a time.

We are talking about the God who wants to love us into true freedom and then guide us to lead and love others into the freedom and the fullness of life that we were created to enjoy.

We are called to recognize that setting the slaves free was a costly venture for Pharaoh, but we are called to realize that, in the end the joy of freedom far outweighs its cost.

Who are we that we are to go to Pharaoh and say, “Let my people go?” Who are we to stand up and say, “God calls us to a better life and a better world.” But, like Moses found out, it’s not about us, it’s about the God of life who goes with us. It’s about the story that has captivated God’s people for generations; It’s about the fulfilment of creation itself. It’s about seeing those flames and hearing our name called.

Can you hear that voice?

Can you hear it calling your name?

Can your hear the promise?

Can you hear the summons?

Can you catch the vision?

Do you still believe?

Can you repeat it, ast first in your heart;

then, in a whisper;

then, in a shout, that captivates a nation and a world: “Let my people go. God wills for all of humanity, life abundant. Let the shackles of oppression be cast aside and let the cry of freedom be heard by all people everywhere.”

The bush is calling your name. If you heave ears to hear, listen.

Amen.

Exodus 12: 1-14

Psalm 149

Romans 13: 8-14

Matthew 18: 15-20

Community : A Call to Love

Since the middle of last week the eyes of North America, if not the eyes of the world, have been focussed on Louisiana, Mississippi and the Florida pan handle. The devastating flooding brought about by Hurricane Katrina has caused an as yet unknown loss of life and billions of dollars of damage. It was just 9 months ago that the eyes of the world focussed on Indonesia and the devastating tsunami that hit that area of the world. While it is doubtful that the disasters can be compared on an objective level, for those who are personally affected the similarities are all too real. We are told that, for the most part, those who were caught in the worst of the flooding were the poor without the means to leave or a place to go when they got there! As well, there were those who wanted to stay at home and protect their property and those who simply didn’t believe that it could be ‘that bad’. After all, the weather forecasts had cried ‘wolf’ all too often.

The images of destroyed communities filled our tv screens on Wednesday night and we wondered what it would be like to boat between rooftops in our communities. We see the pictures of the looters running around in stores carrying away anything they could and while we may feel compassion for those who went looking for food and clean clothes we wonder what justified stealing expensive electronic items when the electricity will be out for weeks if not months and many have no homes left to put them in. The rescue workers are being shot at the polluted water threatens to spread diseases usually unknown in the United States. Senior citizens were ushered to busses under armed guard on Friday to ensure that these busses were not hijacked on the way out of town. We may criticize such insane behaviour, but I wonder if, on the whole, we would be any different.

We have an immediate response to help, yet we know that this is not some poor developing country; it is the United States. Indeed, before he thought better of it, President Bush asserted that they didn’t need or want any help from other countries. They could handle things on their own, thank you very much. Yet offers of help continued to pour in.

Maybe though, we are suffering from compassion overload. Perhaps this is just one more disaster in a place far away. Perhaps we had better conserve our resources for the disaster that is sure to strike some other place that will be far less equipped to handle it. What about the next disaster to hit us, whenever that may be.

We know that this disaster has already affected our daily life, as gas prices have gone through the roof and soon heating oil will follow. We wonder where it will stop because we have never seen it climb so fast.

So, on the one had we have great compassion for those who are suffering, but on the other hand we are reluctant to send all we can because we might not have enough for ourselves.

Yet, we gather here to reflect on life through the lens of our Christian faith. What does the love of Christ in our lives call us to do in this situation. What ARE we called to do?

Of course, we must also maintain our daily lives: look after the infirm elderly, send children to school, support our own church and community projects. We know that our World Development educational focus this year is on AIDS on the African continent and we know the poverty in Africa is killing thousands each and every day. We only have so much to give. Or do we?

As I reflect on the disasters that have just befallen our American neighbours and the others that have come to our global neighbours it seems to me that we need to find another alternative to what I might call the gospel of competition.

I caught the tail end of an episode of Touched by An Angel last week and in it a disabled boy was competing in some sort of “special olympics”. He had finally figured out how to leap out of the starting blocks at the right time and he was clearly winning the race. We were all cheering for him, until another boy tripped and fell on the track, obviously hurt. The boy who was the focus of this episode turned around, helped the other boy to his feet and limping along they crossed the finish line together. They were last, but they were together.

The television and the internet have made our world a true global village; in years gone by we could ignore the fuzzy newspaper pictures of disasters in far off places we could not pronounce, but now we can’t. Baton Rough seems like next door, and so do the various places in Africa where the people are dying by the thousands.

I think that today’s scripture passages do have something to say about the situation in which we find ourselves. In the careful instructions about the Passover it was very clear that no one was to be left out, if a family did not have their own lamb or could not afford to buy one or could not possibly eat it all in one sitting they were to be included in the celebration of anotehr family. Nothing was to be wasted.

The passage from the letter to the church in Rome speaks about love. To love is to at least balance our needs and wants with the needs of others. Families seem to be able to make great ‘sacrifices’ for one another; maybe we just need to expand the definition of family.

We are called to see the other with the eyes of Christ, not as a means to our own ends. I was talking to someone just the other day who had spent some time in an impoverished country. She found our just how some of the people lived who relied on working for major clothing manufacturers, earning just pennies for clothes costing us a small fortune. We are called to put our love into action by advocating for a more equitable distribution of resources. We are called to respond in a time of need with open and generous hearts.

We need to take a long hard look at the competitive ways in which we have become enmeshed. It seems to me that competition run rampant is the opposite to the love spoken of in the teachings of Christ.

The apostle Paul in speaking to the church community in Rome, called the faithful to recognize that the time was short; that the time of salvation was now. I think that we need to see this plea for urgency as an opportunity rather than a threat. This is not a ‘help today cause you could be dead tomorrow and then God will ask you why you didn’t do anything’. It’s about recognizing both the opportunity to serve and the resources to help, in the here and now. Sure, when we have saved more money, we will be in a better position to help. Sure, when we have a couple of the kids in school we will have more time to give to this cause or that cause? Sure, another time may promise more resources, but that is another time. We are called now to do what we can now with what we have. When that other day comes we will have a new call and other resources with which to respond.

So this flood is an opportunity for us to respond. The beginning of Sunday School, is an opportunity for us to respond. The start up of various community organizations is an opportunity. Our children starting a new year in school is an opportunity for us to respond.

All of these and many more call us to look at our ever expanding world with the eyes of faith.

We are all in this together. In the eyes of faith there is no ‘us or them’; there is just ‘all of us together’.

Let us respond in love to the God who surrounds our lives with love and makes them possible.

Amen.

Joel 2: 21-27
Psalm 126
Revelation 21: 1-6
Luke 17: 11-10

On Boxing Day of last year an unforseen and unpredictable tsunami caused unspeakable devastation in Sri Lanka and Indonesia. Our hearts went out to these folks who had lost so much.

Last week Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the gulf coast of the United States and has left major portions of Louisiana, Mississippi and the Florida pan handle in utter devastation. The pictures and stories that come to us on Canadian and American television stations seem to grow worse by the day. Apparently the city of New Orleans is to be completely evacuated. The authority has been given to emergency personnel to forcibly remove those who don’t want to leave voluntarily. Fires, fed by ruptured gas lines and much debris, burn out of control despite the water on the ground. Abandoned pets are running wild, if they can find enough ground to run on, and people have been taken as fas as Massachusetts. How long they will have to stay miles from home, no one knows.

We see and hear the ‘human interest stories’ of families reunited and of those who discover for certain that they will never see some loved ones again.

Questions are flying about disaster preparedness,

about the condition of the dikes and levees

and about the reasons that so many of the city’s poor were unable to leave, even if they had wanted to go. We are told that a disproportionate number of the worst affected were poor people of colour and allegations of racism and class-ism abound.

I heard an interview with some workers at the 911 call centre who told of the calls from desperate citizens that came in during the storm, calls to which they were unable to respond, calls from people who did not survive.

Our hearts go out to all those affected even as we are overwhelmed by the enormity of the disaster.

This weekend also marks the anniversary of the Marathon of Hope. 25 years ago this country was united by the daily reports of a young man whose goal was to raise $1 for every Canadian. His method of fundraising was to run from St. John’s to Victoria. He had lost a leg to cancer and his hop skip gait became the signature of the Marathon. His personal run ended just outside of Thunder Bay when it was discovered that the cancer had come back and spread to his lungs. He died in June of 1981. But his Marathon continues and has raised more money than he could ever have imagined. This year one of the runs will take place on the Confederation Bridge. This one legged runner has captivated the hearts of an entire generation of Canadians who weren’t even born when he was running his Marathon of Hope.

I am told that were he to contract the same type of cancer today he might not lose his leg and would not likely die from it.

The young man whose wind-burned ace and curly hair was known from coast to coast believed in miracles, because, as he said, “he had to”. His sacrifice and determination inspired a nation and together the nation has continued the dream.

Maybe the “Marathon of Hope” can be a metaphor, or model for sustained response to the world’s problems and disasters. We tend to forget all too soon the latest tragedy; they come and go so quickly. Yet, if we keep these needs on our minds, not as a way of raising feelings of ‘pity’ but rather as a way of mobilizing the concrete actions that can make a difference, then miracles do happen.

We could easily become discouraged. We know that no matter how much money we raise, the suffering will not be eradicated. We know that all of the planning in the world cannot prevent disasters. We know that all of the political action in the world will not compel all uncaring governments to look after their most vulnerable citizens. As Christians we are called, again and again, to the scriptures which form and inform our identity as God’s people. You see the answer provided in the scripture, in prophets and psalms and gospels is that ultimately the God of life has the last word. The answer given to us is that death, destruction, defeat, disaster are not finally victorious!

During the time period covered by the biblical story the people of Israel endured slavery, war, exile, occupation and much suffering as well as brief periods of victory and freedom. The prophet Joel was one of the many who proclaimed that, in the midst of what seemed to them like utter devastation (and it was devastation at least as bad as if not worse than Katrina) - God wills life and heath and wholeness.

I think that this disaster seems far worse because it has happened so close to home, relatively speaking. While there are many cultural differences between the Southern US and the Maritimes, the connection with Cajun culture and the geographic proximity to places where we have been is frightening. We wonder what we would do if it was New Brunswick that was hit with a category 4 hurricane.

Often in these disasters we ask the question about the will of God. Sometimes we assume that it is God’s will that this happened. “It must be their time”. I cannot counter this emphatically enough. Disasters such as this are NOT the will of God. God’s will is life and health and well being, not fear, homelessness and devastation. It may well be that human action or inaction caused or made worse some of the destruction from this so called “natural disaster” but we must not blame God. As a people of faith we are called to proclaim that we serve a God of life. Throughout the scriptures the prophets and later Jesus of nazareth called people to live in such a way that honoured and served this God with all that we have and are. May we all rise to that prophetic challenge and to the call of Jesus of Nazareth to give thanks for the gift of life.Amen.