Katrina and Christianity

When I was young, there was an earthquake in the central California valley, and in the wake of the earthquake came the stories, filtering through the same Jesus grapevine that told us about the hitchhikers who, once they got in your car, would say, “Jesus is coming soon!” and then disappear. The stories were about the homes of Christians that were spared while the pagan house next door was leveled. From living in Los Angeles I’m familiar with many such stories firsthand. But the stories that don’t make it on to the Christian gossip highway are the ones about Christians losing everything in the earthquake or the storm, while the ‘wicked’ are, whether miraculously or arbitrarily, spared. We’d rather not face such problems; better to keep telling ourselves that as long as the blood of Christ is on our doors we’ll fare better than others in the storms of this fallen world.

We’re kidding ourselves. Bullets don’t care who they hit. Avalanches don’t have feelings. Drunk drivers don’t check your doctrine before running a red light. And Katrina turns a corner….why? Yes, God intervenes and spares miraculously…sometimes – but not always. So when your house is hit by storm or unemployment or crime or cancer and your neighbor’s is spared, is God good? An important question in an beautiful, uncertain world. This is what I’m wrestling with in Psalm 73 as I prepare for Sunday. But I’ll tell you what I’ve learned so far: The Bible is brutally honest! It asks the tough questions, and deals with the unpleasant realities that we evangelicals don’t often hear about in our ‘family safe’ environments with ‘feel good’ music. We need to lean into the questions; wrestle with them. For it is there that we’ll find, not easy answers, but the face of God.

Last thing: We’ll be taking a special offering this Sunday for Hurricane relief, and those interested in going to Louisiana to help will be provided with details on how to do so.