"After the Disaster"

On Monday morning it's never clear to me what a sermon is going to be on Sunday at worship but this Sunday I want to begin our reflection in the season of Lent by bringing together two parts of the Judeo-Christian faith.

I want to being with the disaster that became known as "The Flood" and Noah and the ark and the waters that destroyed the earth and the thought that God was behind it. Often there is the assumption with the things that happen that there is some kind of ultimate power that created it and there was some purpose for it. Somehow it's more comforting to think of God as a destroyer than to think of life as random and God who does not cause bad things to happen but will not prevent bad things from happening. It's a matter of comfort to think that things are under control even if the things that happen have a negative effect on us.

That's what people thoughts about the flood and when the waters subsided there was a rainbow that became a sign that never again would God bring catastrophic events down on the human race.

Compare that to what we have come to believe about Jesus as a human being, sent by God to save us. The faith of the classical Christian was even more dramatic if we accept the fact that God sent Jesus to die for us and if we believe, as traditional Christians believe, that Jesus was God's only son and his death on the cross was God's ultimate sacrifice by the giving of his son. This idea is called the "Atonement Theory of Salvation". For many Christians it is central to their theology.

The sermon I will be writing this week will attempt to contrast and compare the idea that there has evolved in our thinking a movement from God causing bad things to happen, to the need for a sign that God does not cause bad things to happen, to the idea that God is a presence in the world that seeks to help us when bad things happen but sending us one who took the worst of life and emerged from pain and suffering to meaning and mystery; from death and the end of life to resurrection and the rebirth of life.

We seem to have moved from the idea that God is the cause of bad things happening because God is intent on punishing us for our sin to the idea that God is in the midst of bad things when they happen because God is intent of helping us.

Do you think Jesus died for our sins?
Do you think God could cause a flood, an earthquake, a hurricane in order to teach us a lesson?

Do you seen any connection or evolution between Noah and the flood and Jesus and the cross?

If so write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to share your thoughts with the readers of the blog click on the 'comments' box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.



Charles Schuster