(Sources listed below)
SLIDE 1
WELCOME, ATTENDANCE, PRAYER
Hear us Lord as we lift dark circumstances
into your holy and perfecting light:
(Lift up local concerns and thanksgivings)
For all victims of natural disaster,
especially those who lives were swept away in the Tsunami in the Indian Ocean.
Gather them to yourself in love . . .
Lord, in your mercy: Hear our prayer.
For the family of nations: that our response to this crisis will be sacrificial and generous . . .
Lord, in your mercy: Hear our prayer.
For the church: that all relief agencies will be gracious channels of your love and mercy
and that all Christians will recognize the poor and devastated on distant shores . . .
Lord, in your mercy: Hear our prayer.
For the human family as we grapple with the as-yet-senseless sufferings of our own lives and that of our fellow human beings . . .
Lord, in your mercy: Hear our prayer.
(This prayer through the words "holy and perfecting light" is copyright © 1991, 1998 The Order of Saint Luke. From The Daily Office: A Book of Hours for Daily Prayer (Volume One: Advent through Season after Epiphany), page 169. Used with permission. The remainder of the prayer is copyright © 2004 The General Board of Discipleship.)
As we gather in worship today we have to remember before God the mounting numbers of dead, the children, parents and relatives that have died by the thousands as the raging tidal waves swept them away. The scenes we have all witnessed on newscasts or read in the papers do not begin to describe the anguish being felt by survivors. The earthquake and resulting tsunami waves are of such epic proportion that it is possible we , though far away, may know people who were there or had loved ones there. Many people throughout the world will be in sorrow; and it will be years, if ever, before some have their lives restored.
SLIDE 2
8.30 am Even as you watch this amatuer video that someone captured of the big wave coming in you can barely imagine what the experience was like:
VIDEO MPEG—Need audio
SLIDE 3
This morning I want to share, first of all…
A. PERSONAL REFLECTIONS ABOUT THE TSUNAMI TRAGEDY
[Adapted from a sermon by Nathan Nettleton, 2 January 2005 on LaughingBird.net]
On Christmas Eve we gathered here to sing and celebrate
We told stories about a baby
A baby who would save the world
A baby whose birth was greeted by angels
A baby whose birth meant tidings of joy for all people everywhere
We spoke of God-made-flesh
Cute chubby baby flesh
We sang familiar songs
We enjoyed familiar company
God was in heaven and all was well with the world
Or so it seemed
But all was not well with the world
A pressure was building up deep beneath the surface
Two unyielding forces were pushing against each other
And we sang on, oblivious
And others partied on
And holidayed on
Walked along moonlit beaches hand in hand
Wrapped final presents as the kids fell asleep
But underneath, the pressure grew and grew
“All is calm, all is bright” we sang
“Sleep in heavenly peace”
we sang
“While mortals sleep, the angels keep their watch of wondering love”
“We will live forever more, because of Christmas Day”, we sang
But the pressure grew and grew
knowing nothing of the bliss of our songs
or the angels’ watch
Nothing gave way that night, or the next
But the pressure went right on building
And the next morning all hell broke loose
It was a simple thing really
Those two great forces pushing against one another
One slipped a bit
The earth shuddered
The pressure was released
All quite simple
The sudden movement caused a wave
Quite explainable
But as the churches went on singing that Sunday morning
Singing songs about that lovely baby again
That wave was tearing babies out of people’s arms
Sucking beds out through hotel windows with people still in them
Dumping sharks in swimming pools
Turning idyllic beachside villages into churning soups
of angry water and broken glass and car parts and blood
and corrugated iron and dying children
and splintered wood
It was all over in minutes
The water ran back into the sea
taking with it whatever it wished
whatever it hadn’t impaled or trapped or buried
We’ve all seen pictures of what it left behind
Haunting horrible pictures
Mud and ruins and corpses
Tens of thousands of corpses
Old, young, men, women
The life sucked out of them
Dead children strewn everywhere
Hundreds and hundreds of dead babies
What child is this who laid to rest on Mary’s lap is sleeping?
What child is this who laid to rest
in the mud and devastation of Aceh? (Ah-chay)
And what child is this?
And this?
And this?
Who knows?
Corpses everywhere
Battered lifeless unnamed corpses
Every now and then there is a scream
and one of the living gives a name to one of the dead
and grieves
and thousands more lay waste in the sun
some perhaps with no one left alive who knew their name
What can we say?
Who wants to sing of cute babies now?
Who wants to stand up and talk of the Word made flesh?
What do those songs we were singing mean now?
Do the angels’ tidings of great joy mean anything in the face of this?
Can we stand in the mud and debris of Banda Aceh (Ah-chay) or Phuket (pOO´kit) or Galle (gäl)
and speak of the one who is called Emmanuel
God with us?
Or would it sound obscene?
But that’s the challenge isn’t it?
Because if the Christmas gospel has nothing meaningful to say
in Tamil Nadu (tăm’ul nä’dOO) or the Maldives (măl’dēvz ) or Meuloboh
then it doesn’t really have anything meaningful to say at all.
Someone once said
that any theology that can’t be preached
in the presence of parents grieving over their slaughtered children
isn’t worth preaching anywhere else either
But in the midst of the carnage and shock and horror
what can we say?
There are no words
The lovely lines of peace on earth and goodwill to all
sound impossibly trite and hollow
And worse still
we are afraid to even speak the name of God
aren’t we?
For inside there is a horrible question
that we dare not face
that we don’t know what to do with
It is not just that our faith seems to lack adequate words of comfort
It is that our faith is not sure that God is not to blame.
What do our words of sacred scripture say?
SLIDE 4
He sends his orders to the world—
how swiftly his word flies!
He sends the snow like white wool;
he scatters frost upon the ground like ashes.
SLIDE 5
He hurls the hail like stones.
Who can stand against his freezing cold?
Then, at his command, it all melts.
He sends his winds, and the ice thaws.
(Psalm 147:15-18 NLT)
SLIDE 6
Did you hear that?
God sends the snow and frost and hail
God speaks, the ice melts
God breathes, the waters flow
That’s what it said
And if we believe that
If we believe that that is not just poetic hyperbole
but fundamental doctrine
If we believe that God directs the weather
that God speaks and the earth shudders
that God can calm the waves with a word
then can we escape the awful conclusion
that the tsunami is God’s doing?
SLIDE 7
And what did John say in the Bible?
In the beginning the Word already existed. He was with God, and he was God. He was in the beginning with God. He created everything there is. Nothing exists that he didn’t make.
(John 1:1-3 NLT)
SLIDE 8
All things came into being through him
and without him, not one thing came into being
The tsunami?
Through him?
Those who shake their fists at heaven
and say that either there is no God
or that God is a callous tyrant
got irrefutable evidence on their side that week
Perhaps every week
Even if God didn’t directly make the tsunami
doesn’t God have to accept responsibility
for creating the things that create tsunami?
Or is God somehow exempt from manufacturer’s liability questions?
Let us not speak too hastily in defense of God
lest we be guilty of simply trying to prop up our own shaky faith
and silence the doubts and fears that lurk within all of us
Let us allow God to speak for himself
SLIDE 9
As I researched preaching discussion groups on the internet
One preacher said
he needed to know that he wasn’t the only one
with a head full of horror
wondering how to preach the gospel in light of this event
It’s lonely, he said,
being the one who has to find words to say
Impossibly daunting too
bearing the responsibility of preaching the gospel
in a week when the news of the world
seems to make a mockery of it
It struck me, the preacher went on to say, that we preachers should probably feel like that every week--
charged with the responsibility to speak the word of God
to a desperate people
in a world that seems always capable
of proving our every word a lie
So many preachers and I are stuck
As much as we might want to flee the wave of fear and uncertainty
that threatens to uproot us
and suck the life out of our faith
we have been called to preach the faith of the Church
in season and out of season
and preach it we must
So I cannot hide behind my own advice
to let God speak for himself
because when God speaks for himself
I am one of the ones God has called
to interpret to you the word God speaks
And at times like this
such a responsibility can feel a bit like some of those awful pictures
I can feel a bit like the man wading through the chaos
with his beloved child cradled in his arms
limp and lifeless
Here is the gospel , the good news,
the faith of the Church
Is there life in it yet?
Or has it drowned in the angry wave of awful reality?
I’m not sure
but dead or alive I still love this child
I can’t speak to you as one who has the answers
Like you I am looking for signs of life
amidst the chaos and devastation
But I can and must speak as one called by God
to interpret what God says in the face of all this
So what does God have to say?
What word am I to interpret?
SLIDE 10
B. WHAT IS THE GOOD NEWS IN THE FACE OF THIS TRAGEDY?
In the face of monumental devastation and suffering,
SLIDE 11
1. God speaks a word, and the word becomes flesh.
SLIDE 12
And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.
(John 1:14 NRSV)
There is a Word from God
And the Word became flesh
The Word became flesh and cast in his lot with us
SLIDE 13
Why do we call Jesus “the Word”?
We call him the Word because he is what God has to say
What God has to say is made flesh in the Word
All that God has to say is made flesh in the Word
What God has to say in the face of unspeakable suffering
is made flesh in the Word
There are all too many other words spoken about God
Everyone has an opinion
Some will say that God is absent, dead or doesn’t care
Some will say that God is all-powerful
that nothing happens except at God’s say-so
and that yes, tsunamis only happen if God wills them to
Some will say that the tsunami is God’s judgment
words words words!!!!
there are no end of words about God
SLIDE 14
WHAT IS THE GOOD NEWS IN THE FACE OF THIS TRAGEDY?
2. But what does God have to say?:
Jesus
God, are you all-powerful?
Jesus
God, do you care?
The Word becomes flesh
God, did you make the tsunami?
The Word becomes flesh
God, where are you?
The Word becomes flesh
SLIDE 15
Of course there is always a temptation
to try to repackage the Word
to make it say what we wish it would say
We want a messiah who will protect us from every danger
and we can find words about God that will say that
We want a messiah who can calm the waves before they get us
and we can find a story of Jesus doing that
We want a messiah who will ride in triumphant
like the cavalry at the last minute
and vanquish all that would harm us
and bring us singing and weeping tears of joy
to the victory banquet
But if we make the words say whatever we want
we may miss the Word that God speaks altogether
the Word that takes flesh
Because God has spoken a Word
and it hasn’t charged in like the cavalry
God has spoken a Word and it did make the world shudder
The Word became flesh
and the world shuddered
and a great wave of hostility and selfishness and bitterness rose up
and flung itself against the Word
devastating all in its path
killing even children in its rage
snarling, surging, seething, smashing
a great wave of darkness
furiously seeking to annihilate the light
And where was God as the wave hit?
Wasn’t God right there bearing the brunt of it
Wasn’t God there clinging to his beloved child
only to be overwhelmed by the wave
and have the child ripped from his arms
and torn away on that surging flood of hatred
and battered and smashed and pierced
and tossed limp and lifeless to the earth
As a grandfather whose granddaughter turned one year old just yesterday
I’ve been tormented by those images this week
SLIDE 16
It took three days of news footage before it really got to me
It finally broke me when I saw footage
of a family members reunited—
they thought each other had been lost--
and they were now safe
and they wept tears of joy and relief
and it struck me
that everyone of those hundred thousand corpses
represented a real person
over whom there would be no such tears of joy and relief.
I grieved alone
And had a nightmare about the death of my own baby
Memories of the child we lost in late pregnancy several years ago.
SLIDE 17
Do I have any idea what it would really feel like to be in the midst of that disaster?
I doubt it
It was bad enough just imagining it
I don’t know how I’d cope if it was real
I certainly wouldn’t want to be hearing any comfortable clichés
like all things working together for good
or they’ve gone to a better place
I doubt whether I have any idea what it would really feel like
but I reckon God does
because when we cried out for answers
for explanations
for deliverance
God spoke a Word
and the Word became flesh
as a beloved child
and the child was torn from the Father’s arms
by a ruthless wave
and the waters of death closed over him
and spat him out as just another
of the hundreds and thousands and millions
of unnamed innocent victims
down through the ages
SLIDE 18
I reckon God knows
And I reckon that as hard as we might find it
to talk about flesh
while the nameless flesh of countless corpses
are necessarily treated as little more
than a threat to public health
and piled into mass graves
God is still not afraid to be identified as flesh
fragile flesh
brutalized flesh
limp and lifeless flesh
Because the promise of Christmas
is not just that the Word became cute and chubby baby flesh
but that the Word became flesh
and cast in his lot with us
hunted flesh
despised flesh
tortured flesh
dead and buried flesh
three days dead flesh stinking and a threat to public health
And although our story of the Word made flesh
does not stop with dead and buried
we will not really understand the rest of the story
if we think of resurrection as just some kind of miracle cure
which means that death is no longer part of Christ’s reality
In the book of Revelation we see the vision
of the risen one on the throne
who still looks like one mortally wounded
The risen one is still the crucified one
The rising one is still the being-crucified one
The people who say all crosses must now be empty are wrong
because the risen Christ is still
the suffering and dying Christ
The risen Christ who promised we would meet him
in the least of these desperate and vulnerable ones
can be seen lying dead in the mud in Khao Lak (one of the areas of Thailand hardest hit by the tsunamis) and Meuloboh
The Word became flesh
If you want to see what God has to say in the face of this
go walk among the ruins of Banda Aceh (aw-shay)
or just turn on your TV
for God is speaking
and the Word has become flesh
Perhaps as we begin to see what God is saying
we will begin to comprehend how blasphemous
so much of what we blithely say about God really is
and how chillingly we treat powerful and dangerous realities
and casual and comfortable little things
SLIDE 19
Perhaps when we remember the water of our baptism
that memory will remind us of our identity
as those who have been buried
in the deep waters of death with Christ
Perhaps next time when we hold out our empty hands
to receive the piece of bread like what we were offered last Sunday
we will recognize something of our solidarity
with desperate hungry people
holding out empty hands
for the food aid the world is trying to muster
And perhaps we will see in those images
of the Father holding the limp body of his dead child
the image of the Father who spoke the Word that becomes flesh
and whose grief and suffering take flesh still
in body and blood
offered for the life of the world
and placed into our empty hands
that we might live
even in the face of death
And perhaps when we have heard that Christmas story
the story of God speaking a Word
which becomes human flesh
and falls victim to the full force
of the waves of horror that assail the earth and its inhabitants,
a Word which continues to take flesh
in all the suffering and grief and desperation---
perhaps then we will be capable
of hearing the story of resurrection
seen in its contexts of unspeakable fear, death and anguish
The Word of God speaks this week
and calls us to follow
into the places that terrify and horrify us
the places where we will know what it means
to cry out for salvation
the places,
perhaps the only places,
where we are capable of knowing
the Word of resurrection
the Word made flesh
the Christ born of Mary
SLIDE 20
I want to close with these thoughts to the following question this morning:
C. HOW CAN GOD’S PEOPLE RESPOND TO THIS TRAGEDY?
While there are natural disasters that often trouble us, it is particularly sad when they occur at a time like Christmas. The Alaskan earthquake of 1964 happened on Good Friday. What are we to do when we are confronted by such disasters? What are we to say about God in the wake of these horrible things?
SLIDE 21
1. Remember that God always promises us an abiding presence with us but never promises we will be protected from harm.
SLIDE 22
Jesus said:
“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."
John 16:33 (NKJV)
SLIDE 23
I believe in the sun even when it is not shining. I believe in love even when feeling it not. I believe in God even when he is silent.--Composed by a Holocaust victim
SLIDE 24
2. Remember that the people of the Indian Ocean basin are no more or less under God’s abiding love than we are.
SLIDE 25
For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and on the unjust, too. (Matthew 5:45 NLT)
In fact, I believe God cares about all creation and seeks to redeem it. It is all-precious to God. While we struggle to comprehend the thousands of dead, God mourns the loss of them all.
So, our first response is appropriately one of sorrow and grief.
SLIDE 26
3. Offer prayers for the bereaved families.
A prayer from the Burial Office of the Book of Common Prayer says it well:
Help us, we pray, in the midst of things we cannot understand, to believe and trust in the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, and the resurrection to life everlasting (BCP, p. 481).
There is a role, an indispensable one, for prayer—prayer that glimpses the law and love of a caring Creator; prayer that affirms that that tender, ministering love of the Almighty to be on hand even before aid workers arrive, and to remain long after those workers eventually depart.
So often we have been taught to pray to change things, to make a difference to stop a tragedy. But when the tragedy has already come, how do we pray? Perhaps "conventional wisdom" about prayer must be laid aside in light of this tragedy.
SLIDE 27
Hear the words of Jesus, who said:
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows. (Matthew 10:29-31)
In the aftermath of one of the most terrible tragedies that any of us can remember, we are comforted by the knowledge that the same God who knows when a sparrow falls to the ground knew and loved each of those who died.
SLIDE 28
On this day, the prayer is one of remembrance:
We remember that those who perished in the tsunamis are
More than numbers,
More than statistics,
More valuable than sparrows;
Each was a person of sacred worth created in the image of God.
SLIDE 29
The Psalmist, as if foreseeing the need of today, once wrote,
"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear...Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.... There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved" Ps. 46:1-5
SLIDE 30
4. Provide relief to those who have lost everything and have to rebuild from nothing.
is another way we can respond. The early church recognized the need to provide for the welfare of others in distress, and we can do no less.
SLIDE 31
For you see, the believers in Greece have eagerly taken up an offering for the Christians in Jerusalem, who are going through such hard times. (Romans 15:26 NLT).
While there are numerous ways to respond, the UMCOR has direct contacts in all the stricken areas and can make sure that aid goes to those most in need. UMCOR agrees with other humanitarian agencies that cash donations are the best way to show compassion in the wake of an international tragedy. Although many people share the impulse to give "things," giving money is often the most efficient and expedient means to help.
Offerings will be taken every Sunday here for the next few weeks at Bethany, and this is a time when our generosity is much needed.
SLIDE 32
Here’s how you can show your love to these people who have been affected:
· $12 will provide a health kit to a child.
· $100 will underwrite relief items such as cooking utensils, sleeping mats, blankets and tarps for families
· $1000 will invest in long-term reconstruction—buy roofing shingles, and other building materials to restore a family’s house.
I invite you to join in prayer for the people and nations affected by recent earthquakes and tsunamis in the Indian Ocean:
SLIDE 33
PRAYER
Over the chaos of the waters Lord you spoke and there was light.
God of creation, you acted to bring about this world; we ask you to continue to act to bring about a new creation and new hope from the darkness of these disastrous sea waves.
Jesus, who grieved over lost ones, be with those who grieve even now for their lost loved ones, Come to them in their pain and loss with your healing and mercy.
Holy Spirit, giver of good gifts and consolation, direct and be with those involved in ongoing aid and recovery. Through their efforts, may your light be seen in the darkness.
Heavenly Father, bless the many endeavors happening across nations, peoples, and faiths: for the sake of the poor and the lost.
We ask this in Jesus name. AMEN.
BULLETIN OUTLINE
WHAT DOES GOD HAVE TO SAY
ABOUT THE TSUNAMI DISASTER?
Bethany Church – Pastor Don Hawks
January 9, 2005
A. PERSONAL REFLECTIONS ABOUT THE TSUNAMI TRAGEDY
He sends his orders to the world—
how swiftly his word flies!
He sends the snow like white wool;
he scatters frost upon the ground like ashes.
He hurls the hail like stones.
Who can stand against his freezing cold?
Then, at his command, it all melts.
He sends his winds, and the ice thaws.
(Psalm 147:15-18 NLT)
In the beginning the Word already existed. He was with God, and he was God. He was in the beginning with God. He created everything there is. Nothing exists that he didn’t make. (John 1:1-3 NLT)
B. WHAT GOOD NEWS IS THERE IN THE FACE OF THIS TRAGEDY?
1. God speaks a word, and the word becomes _____________.
And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.
(John 1:14 NRSV)
2. But what does God have to say?:__________________.
C. HOW CAN GOD’S PEOPLE RESPOND TO THIS TRAGEDY?
1. Remember that God always promises us an abiding ____________ with us but never promises we will be protected from _____________.
I believe in the sun even when it is not shining. I believe in love even when feeling it not. I believe in God even when he is silent.--Composed by a Holocaust victim
2. Remember that the people of the Indian Ocean basin are under God’s abiding _____________.
For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and on the unjust, too. (Matthew 5:45 NLT)
3. Offer ____________ for the bereaved families.
Help us, we pray, in the midst of things we cannot understand, to believe and trust in the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, and the resurrection to life everlasting (BCP, p. 481).
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows. (Matthew 10:29-31)
"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear...Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.... There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved" (Ps. 46:1-5)
4. Provide ____________ to those who have lost everything and have to rebuild from nothing.
For you see, the believers in Greece have eagerly taken up an offering for the Christians in Jerusalem, who are going through such hard times. (Romans 15:26 NLT).
Additional Resources for Prayer
Lord Jesus,
from your birth, you are martyr-master.*
We thank you for your love poured into our hearts,
even when we do not comprehend the dark side of your blessing.
In this time of Christmas joy,
we are grateful that
when darkness of the world comes
with senseless wasting of lives,
you make victims your dearest prize
and enable us to see "sweet heaven astrew in them."*
.
For All Sorts and Conditions of Men
O God, the creator and preserver of all mankind, we humbly beseech thee for all sorts and conditions of men; that thou wouldest be pleased to make they ways known unto them, thy saving health unto all nations. More especially we pray for thy holy Church universal; that it may be so guided and governed by thy good Spirit, that all who profess and call themselves Christians may be led into the way of truth, and hold the faith in unity of spirit, in the bond of peace, and in righteousness of life. Finally, we commend to thy fatherly goodness all those who are in any ways afflicted or distressed, in mind, body, or estate; [especially those for whom our prayers are desired]; that it may please thee to comfort and relieve them according to their several necessities, giving them patience under their sufferings, and a happy issue out of all their afflictions. And this we beg for Jesus Christ’s sake. Amen.
From the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. Public Domain.
For the Human Family
O God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us through Jesus your Son: Look with compassion on the whole human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us; unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in your good time, all nations and races may serve you in harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
From the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. Public Domain.
http://www.beliefnet.com
http://www.gbod.org/worship
http://www.textweek.com/response/tsunami.htm
http://www.ecusa.anglican.org
http://www.spirituality.com
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://library.thinkquest.org/C0115522/images/illustrations/34.2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://library.thinkquest.org/C0115522/article.php%3Fqs_article_id%3D34%26qs_language%3DDE%26qs_section%3DNA&h=561&w=840&sz=50&tbnid=D2P5JUE3f6kJ:&tbnh=95&tbnw=142&start=4&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dtsunami%2B%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DN
http://www.digitalglobe.com/tsunami_gallery.html
http://www.pbase.com/issels/phuket_tsunami
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/tsunami/
http://www.davesdaily.com/mediaclips.htm
http://www.imb.org/core/photopopup.asp?storyID=2276
