17th August 1997 Tathra/Bega UCA
SCRIPTURE: Romans5:1-8
SUBJECT: Making sense out of suffering
INTRODUCTION:
I will never forget the scene ….
I had just entered the Thredo Alpine Hotel which had been transformed into the Disaster Welfare Centre.
I was not really that sure of what my role as a chaplain over the next day and a half would be, and I was feeling somewhat uneasy.
It was then I noticed this lady, tears rolling down her cheeks - a bundle of newspapers in her arms – she was kissing the front page of the Sydney Morning Herald.
As I came alongside her, I was to discover that she was kissing the photograph of her missing son – an employee of the very hotel we were standing in.
It was a very emotional chapel service later that evening, with a number of relatives in attendance. Relatives were still tossed between hope and despair waiting for news of their loved ones – conscious that one miracle had taken place just an hour or so earlier.
They were hoping and praying that it might be repeated.
The emergency helicopter took off right next to the chapel at the very time the Anglican minister was in prayer giving thanks for the safe recovery of Stuart Diver.
I returned home from Thredbo, emotionally and physically tired, aware of a my need to prepare for the funeral of an old man on the next Tuesday.
But I was also conscious that another local family known to me was trying to come to terms with the tragic death of their daughter in a road accident (only 23 years old) a few days earlier.
It was a sobering week, observing and being alongside people in the extremity of their grief.
Question
How do we begin to make sense out of tragedy & suffering?
Suffering raises many questions
– I don’t claim to know too many answers…..
But I think that some truths have come home to me from my recent experiences.
1. Life is temporary and fragile – we should treat it with care
To the extent to which we are able, we should be careful of our own lives that God has given us.
Life is only short whether we live for 1 year or 100 years.
The choice is ours.
We can choose to live our years to the full by doing what pleases God, or we can squander our lives and become a burden to God, ourselves and the society.
Yes life is fragile - we should also treat each other with care.
God gives us the gift of relationships – tragically it is only when we lose someone, that we realise that we had been taking them for granted, or worse still there was unfinished business.
When we ourselves leave this life, it will be a bit late to give a hug, to say we love someone or apologise for our selfish behaviour.
When I came home from Thredbo, I felt very strongly that I wanted to draw my family close to me and acknowledge how grateful I was for them.
Isn’t it true that other peoples’ tragedies help us appreciate each other a little more?
Life is fragile, relationships are fragile.
We do well to take care.
2. We need firm foundations
It has become painfully obvious that although those buildings at Thredbo were well constructed, the ground on which they stood was anything but stable. Those buildings were not standing on firm foundations.
But what became obvious to me – it might have to you too – was that the Thredbo tragedy left many people asking some pretty fundamental questions about what really mattered in life.
For a week or so, God made the headlines.
There was reference to prayer, miracles, and all 4 TV channels televised the church service on the Monday. For just a little while the church was given some credibility as having relevance in our modern world. As chaplains we were sought after by the press to get inside information about the victims and their families.
But we were also recognised as having some role in the process of trying to make sense of it all.
As I looked at the scene of devastation, I couldn’t help but wonder how I would be reacting if it was my loved ones buried under all that rubble.
The question needs to be faced……..
What do we do when the bottom drops out of our lives?
We can ….
* Question or doubt God
I am sure there have been plenty of questions
thrown heavenward over those sad weeks folllowing
the disaster weeks.
* Blame or reject God.
Some people will no doubt have done that.
* Turn back to God
For sure there were no doubt many who turned to
God in prayer during the emergency for whom God
was only relevant for the immediate need.
But I don’t want to remain cynical about how some people only come to God in an emergency.
There are some people who have turned back to God as a result of this tragedy.
They have faced up to their mortality.
For some people the acts of bravery and the amazing rescue of Stuart Diver have raised important questions.
When all is said and done, when everything else is stripped away, even the difficult questions that seem to have no answers, we are still left with God and His actions of love and mercy.
A life founded on those truths is going to hold together when everything else drops away.
As I wandered around Thredbo on the Saturday, I spoke with a number of staff who were hanging on every bit of information about the progress of Stuart’s rescue.
They were aware of how risky it was to get him out,
how powerless Stuart was to rescue himself,
the incredible cost in time, peoplepower, expertise and equipment focused on one human being.
The bitter sweet reality was also there – Stuart survived, but his wife and 18 other people perished.
3 God’s rescue mission
As I reflect on the effort that went into rescue of
Stuart Diver I couldn’t help be reminded of an
infinitely greater rescue effort that took place
2000 years ago.
READ Romans 5:6-8
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.
7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.
8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this:
While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
2000 years ago, God’s rescue plan for the human race came to a culmination.
One thing that the whole human race suffers from is the consequence of a world gone mad, out of touch with its Creator.
The Bible teaches that every aspect of our existance is marred by the effect of this rebellion against God.
When Paul the apostle wrote to the people at Rome, he pointed out that the whole of God’s creation has been groaning in bondage to decay and pain because of this rejection of God’s rule.
Jesus’ death on the cross was God’s amazing rescue plan, and our way of escape.
Our failure to live up to God’s perfect standards is like a crushing weight trapping us in darkness away from God’s presence.
Christ’s death on the cross made it posssible for that weight of to be lifted from us.
As we turn back to Him in faith, we don’t have to remain trapped by guilt and shame. Jesus rescues us once and for all.
As the rescue efforts for Stuart Diver unfolded, two things became very clear.
There were 3 slabs of concrete each weighing almost 60 tonne, which between him and freedom, not counting all the dirt and rubble.
There was no way he could possibly rescue himself.. He was totally dependent upon someone coming to his aid.
Someone had to be willing and as well as able to release him.
Neither can we do anything to rescue ourselves from the consequences of breaking God’s laws.
But out of His infinite love and mercy, He took the initiative – while we were powerless, we read in todays reading.
The other thing is to do with cost.
One thing was also very clear from watching the Thredbo rescue unfold, was the enormity of the cost in people power, time, resources and money.
Over 2500 people were involved at the site itself, as it turned out -–for only one life to be saved.
But no-one dared question whether that was justified. Certainly Stuart Diver would not have had reason to expect so much to have been done on his behalf!
But what about the cost to God in rescuing the human race? Just think of it – Jesus Christ, the creator of the universe, took on human flesh and became a part of His own creation.
He did this to demonstrate God’s love to us and restore us into relationship with Him by suffering a cruel death on the cross of Calvary.
He didn’t have to do it, but He did, because of His overwhelming love for us, even though we have done nothing to deserve that love.
He still love His world, and longs that people like you and me respond to His generous love by turning our lives back to Him and giving Him full control.
CONCLUSION
As I sat with that very sad mother kissing the photo of her son, I myself was overcome with the sadness of the occasion.
I think I understand something of what Jesus was going through as He wept at the tomb of His friend Lazarus. It grieved Jesus to see how people suffered because of this broken disfunctional world.
I knew that there was little I could do to relieve this mother’s pain of not knowing whether her son was dead or alive. Sadly, in time he was to be found to be one of the 18 who perished.
But in the midst of that suffering, with all the questions that arose, I couldn’t help sensing God was at work.
After the chapel service, back at the hotel I found her thumbing through a very little booklet that she had withdrawn from her purse.
At this point she revealed that she was a Christian, and she gained some comfort in her pain by reading some scripture portions in this little booklet..
Her eyes lit up when I told her that I had a Gospel of John in my bag back in my room.
As I gave it to her, she thanked me warmly and said that John was her favourite gospel.
Even in the midst of her deep pain, and despite all the unanswerable questions, she was doing her best to hold onto the one thing that no-one could take away – that God still loved her.
Even though the bottom had seemingly dropped out of her life, she was determined by the grace of God to continue on in His love and strength.
I had the privilege of praying with her and her husband, just before I returned home.
Life is fragile – our own lives and the lives of our loved ones and friends.
We all need a foundation for our hope.
Jesus Christ, our rescuer and friend is meant to be that foundation.
Is He yours?
