"By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:35)Why? That is the question that all of us have asked and pondered in our hearts and minds since last Saturday night. Why did the tornado explode on some streets and leave others untouched? Why was no one killed in Albertville, but ten people were killed in Yazoo City, Mississippi? Why did I drag myself out of bed after yet another tornado siren? Why did Laura instinctively go to the interior bathroom after the lights went out? Why did we happen to make it to the bathroom seconds before the tornado went through the front of our apartment like a freight train? Why were some churches spared and others not? And the most truthful answer I can give you is: I. don't. know.
Well, that may be overstating it a little bit. But the standard answer – "God's will" – makes God into an arbitrary tyrant who destroys some and spares others for no discernible reason. If we thank God for not killing anyone in Albertville, does God also get the credit for those in Yazoo City? You say that of course God doesn't kill people, he spares people. So why did God intervene to save the people of Albertville and not intervene in Yazoo City? Does God only take the sinners and spare the righteous? Would anyone like to take a moral inventory of all the people affected by the storms and decide which ones deserved to suffer? I'm sorry but aren't we all sinners in need of God's unmerited grace?
All people naturally want to feel secure. Many want to have some control of their lives. No one really wants to face the truth of how fragile our lives really are. And so, they project their fear of losing control onto a God of their creation. And that, my brothers and sisters, is idolatry every bit as much as witchcraft, or anything that people substitute for God as the object of their worship. Even the illusion of a God as puppet master, pulling all our strings, is preferable to saying, "I don't know."
Okay then, where was God in the tornado? What good is such a God in a crisis? What do you know, Reverend, about the ways of almighty God in this world? What I and many other believers know is that God is not to be found in the sky pulling our strings. As a blogger put it this week:
"God was the father who could think of nothing but his family while he tried to protect them, hunkered down in the hallway…God was the child looking to his parents for comfort. God was the man or woman that kept a cool head in the midst of total chaos…God was the family who had no damage that generously took in another family until they can get back on their feet…God was the faithful few that took communion and gave thanks in their church courtyard, though the church building had a gash in the ceiling and the walls were leaning off the foundation.
"We are not God's playthings. He is not some grand puppet master, and we are not his puppets. I hope that people will stop believing that God caused this destruction. I hope people will stop thinking that God was merciful to some and merciless to others. I hope people will stop asking, 'What did God do to me?' and ask instead, 'What does God want for me?'
God is the love that has passed between us all in the days since last Saturday. In God's Son Jesus Christ, God is the love that bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. In that love we need not fear any disaster. For in the cross and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, God has truly endured all things.
So, what will happen to Christ Episcopal Church in Albertville, Alabama? I don't know. Will we be able to recover our historic church, or will we have to find some way of replacing it? I don't know. There are still facts to be gathered. However the church looks to any of us, none of us in this room have the expertise to say what is and isn't possible for that lovely gray church on Main Street. Your Senior Warden and I will be consulting with the Church Insurance company and their experts in the week, or weeks ahead. Your Vestry will be praying and discussing all the possible options. And those options will be presented to you at the appropriate time, with all the information necessary to make an informed decision about the future of the church.
What is the future of Christ Episcopal Church? I don't know. But I do know this from the Good News we hear today. We are to love each other as Jesus loves each and every one of his disciples, then and now. We are to listen to one another. We are to respect each other. We are to seek the truth with each other, knowing that none of us has an exclusive claim on the truth, and that we will not find the truth, except we look for it together. We all should know that.
I also know that we are blessed with a parish hall and office space that was untouched, and will allow us to continue our ministry to bridge Christ and community. I know that we have been blessed with $10,000 from Bishop Parsley, half of which must go to Outreach. Know that in the days ahead, even as we care for each other, we must not stop caring for Albertville. We have already begun caring for the community through our beans and rice ministry. On Saturday morning, before the tornado, we gave away beans and rice to 40 families. Many more families are in need and we must take the gifts that God has given us and give them back to God through the people of Albertville.
That, my brothers and sisters, is what makes us the Church, our love for each other and our neighbors. My brothers and sisters, the Church is the people not the building. What will happen to the beautiful building we call our church? I don't know. What will happen to the Church, the people of God and the Body of Christ? As long as we love one another, and our neighbors, with the same selflessness as Christ loves us, we will endure all things. And we will triumph in all things.
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