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Then the LORD said, "How great is the outcry against Sodom and
Gomorrah and how very grave their sin! I must go down and see whether
they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me;
and if not, I will know."
So the men turned from there, and went toward Sodom, while Abraham remained
standing before the LORD. Then Abraham came near and said, "Will
you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are
fifty righteous within the city; will you then sweep away the place and
not forgive it for the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from you
to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the
righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge
of all the earth do what is just?" And the LORD said, "If I
find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will forgive the whole place
for their sake." Abraham answered, "Let me take it upon myself
to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. Suppose five of the
fifty righteous are lacking? Will you destroy the whole city for lack
of five?" And he said, "I will not destroy it if I find forty-five
there." Again he spoke to him, "Suppose forty are found there."
He answered, "For the sake of forty I will not do it." Then
he said, "Oh do not let the Lord be angry if I speak. Suppose thirty
are found there." He answered, "I will not do it, if I find
thirty there." He said, "Let me take it upon myself to speak
to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there." He answered, "For
the sake of twenty I will not destroy it." Then he said, "Oh
do not let the Lord be angry if I speak just once more. Suppose ten are
found there." He answered, "For the sake of ten I will not destroy
it."
Jesus was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished,
one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John
taught his disciples." He said to them, "When you pray, say:
Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.
And do not bring us to the time of trial."
Perseverance in Prayer
And Jesus said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and you
go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of
bread; for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before
him.' And he answers from within, 'Do not bother me; the door has already
been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give
you anything.' I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him
anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence
he will get up and give him whatever he needs.
"So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you
will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who
asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks,
the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child
asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? Or if the child
asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know
how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly
Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"
HISTORICAL TURBULENCE OF ENGLISH WEATHER.
One of my clergy colleagues told me the other day that King George 2nd
said "Ten fine days and a thunderstorm, that's what the English call
summer." Well, King George might say that because he came from Germany.
Except, he probably didn't say it. There is an old English proverb that
runs "Two fine days and a thunderstorm" and it was probably
originally a comment on life, drawn from British summers no doubt. Life
is like that. Things go beautifully for a while, and then a thunderstorm
comes.
Then there is another saying "Three fine days and a thunderstorm,
that's what the English call Summer. That has also been attributed to
King George 2nd , and to Charles 2nd, and to George 4th , and would you
believe, even to King Henry 8th,
There is a lot of confusion about where a quotes comes from, indeed what
the quote actually was. But as anyone who does any reading in history
knows, confusion and argument about sources and origins is normal.
NOT A PROOF OF CLIMATE CHANGE
There has been a lot of talk lately about the floods being evidence of
climate change. They probably are not, in themselves. English weather
has historically been notoriously turbulent. If you go back through English
history you find it coming up time and time again where some terrible
flood, some terrible rainstorm has devastated a part of the country. There
seems to be a lot of confusion in people's minds about the difference
between weather and climate.
Bad weather is a part of life. It doesn't prove or disprove climate change.
Proof of climate change is found in other places, in other measures, and
we have to rely on people with more extensive means of measuring, and
more scientific methods
Even the Australian droughts are and always have been a part of the Australian
climate. There are places in Australia that are desert now and there used
to be rain forests and oceans in those places. The Antarctic used to be
rain forest. As Christians, we need to keep a very clear head about what
bad weather does and doesn't signify.
NOT ABOUT GOD'S JUDGEMENT
We also need to be very clear about the difference between God's judgement
and weather. I don't think anyone is helped when people who hold authority
in the church come out with daft statements about floods being God's punishment
for a society's less judgemental approach to homosexuals.
That's a Confusion between weather and God.
God doesn't cause the weather. God doesn't sit in heaven and say, "Now
where shall I send a bolt of disaster today? Which town has been bad.
Which church hasn't shaped up. I'll zap their tower. That'll fix them."
That was a very ancient attitude that was common back in the pre-history
of legends, back in Abraham's time. If a city was wicked, and it was destroyed
in an earthquake, then God was seen to punish the city.
But for this to make sense, there would have to be a logical counterpart.
No good cities ever have an earthquake. No good towns ever get flooded.
No good person ever has a terrible accident. It simply doesn't work. It
may have been appropriate at that time of human development of thought,
but it isn't now. Nor is conquest, slavery and subjugation a sign of God's
judgement as the early Hebrews thought it was. Bad people win wars and
kill millions. What we so often miss is that the exploitation most frequently
occurs at cost to the exploited, and it is the exploiters who most frequently
write the histories. We need to be very critical of an easy view that
says the losers are the less moral and judged by God. Jesus challenged
this dramatically with his statement, blessed are the poor, blessed are
the downtrodden, blessed are those who grieve.
So often there is confusion of God and accident of life. The oppressed,
the defeated, the devastated are not all bad people. There isn't a place
in Christian theology for a blame mentality. "You must have done
something wrong or God wouldn't have done it to you." It doesn't
work like that.
The God we learn about through Jesus Christ does not use weather to punish
people, and certainly doesn't use other people's violence as an arm of
God.
NOT ALWAYS BLAMELESS.
We need to be very careful about this confusion of accident of life and
the judgement of God. There are, without doubt, times when our actions
are contrary to the will of God, and we suffer as a consequence. Our understanding
in the Christian faith, is that knowledge of God's ways, God's laws if
you like, are given as a gift, a blessing, to make life fair, just, kind
and caring. Look at what Jesus said, it's all there. And sometimes humans
do things that cause problems. Humans exploit what shouldn't be exploited,
and not only humans, but all creation suffers. Sometimes we do things
that cause a lot of heartache.
Unfaithfulness to God and to each other leads to enormous human pain.
Lack of compassion creates terrible long term problems. Seeing others
as objects and not God's sacred creation, rebounds upon us for centuries.
Look at the trouble the human race is still having as a result of the
slave trade and colonisation 200 years ago, and the current slave trade
will have its own kickbacks on future generations. We humans create quite
a bit of judgement on ourselves, and it isn't always the bad decision
makers who suffer.
God doesn't make us build on flood plains or cause us to overcrowd the
earth so that water can't find a natural place to run..
We need to be very clear to avoid confusion between real causes, and our
natural tendency to blame when we need a reason for something going wrong.
We do this because we are frightened, and we want to find a security that
life simply hasn't offered. We want some control over that which is uncontrollable
and precarious.
So we blame, we locate the cause somewhere convenient, usually somewhere
fairly defenceless.
The Luke reading is about Jesus' understanding of God. God's intent is
to give good gifts. God's intent is to bless. God's intent is to hear
the call of the neighbour in need. So when a disaster occurs, we have
one clear direction from Christ. Go to the aid. Go to the help. Look for
ways of blessing, not scapegoats.
Scapegoating was an Old Testament practice, to appease an angry God, and
it was done away with in Christ.
In the Symbol of the Cross, Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us, took upon himself
the pain, the sin of us all. And we who follow Him: our Christian energies,
are to be directed in a Christ-like type of engagement, to bear the pain,
to bind up the wounded, to reach out and share the pain. We are to be
easers of people's pain, not contributors to it - so in Christian faith
we eschew the blame culture. We embrace the support and care. I hope everyone
of us contributes to the disaster relief because I know where Christ would
have our energies directed. Gifts for flood relief may be left at the
Communion Table during the week. The Church will be open all morning and
gifts of food, clothes and bedding are welcomed.
A PRAYER:
How do we discern your word, maker of heaven and earth, in the jumble
of conflicting ideals. How do we find your way, light of the world, when
on one hand ancient seers perceive in natural disasters your judgement,
and on the other, Christ in compassion calls us to follow you, who give
good gifts to your children.
How do we discern wisdom, when so often the judging are the powerful,
who know so little of the pain of the oppressed, the anguish of the powerless,
the hopelessness of depression and dispossession, the isolation of the
bereft.
In the gaps between the years of Abraham and Christ, we are given the
space to reflect on what we have learned of you, our God.
In the light of your Son, we see a different landscape, and are called
to choose which is our country and which is an alien land.
May we who find our hearts at rest in you, search out your way, so that
our hearts be at one with you, our bodies be given to your great quest,
our spirits be in tune with you.
In the myriad possibilities of living, help us Lord to find clarity of
understanding, so that your pathway, and ours, can be as one.
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