Grace to you and
peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen
Harvey, Irma,
Joses, and Katia
Storms.
Hurricanes. Epic hurricanes.
Harvey drenched
the Houston area with more rain than has ever been recorded in our country from
a single event in modern history.
Irma that is
striking Florida today is the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the
Atlantic.
While we are
still reeling in the aftermath of Harvey, Irma, Joses, and Katia follow close
behind.
All three of them
are expected to make landfall this weekend.
Irma in Florida.
Katia in Mexico.
Joses will hit
the islands in the Caribbean already hit by Irma, before heading northeast into
the Atlantic, luckily sparing Florida.
Meanwhile, at
home, our forests are burning.
Sandpoint
recorded the worst air quality in the nation this last week, the result of the
intense forest fires in the Northwest.
If only there was
some way to get some of the moisture from the Gulf States here, we could solve
two problems simultaneously.
Well, that’s
wishful thinking.
Back to reality.
One of the things
about hurricanes is that there are always warnings.
We know when they
are coming.
We have a pretty
good idea where they are headed.
We have time to
prepare.
My sister and
brother-in-law live in Florida, and one of the things that struck me when I
visited them a few years back is that they had brackets installed on their home
so that whenever a hurricane struck they were prepared to cover all their
windows with metal panels.
Be prepared.
Head the
warnings.
Friday night I
was amazed as I watched CNN’s coverage at how some are ignoring the warnings to
get out of the storm’s way, choosing rather to just hunker down and ride it
out.
Now for some,
this makes sense.
My sister Karen
lives northeast of Tampa Bay, and my brother Tim lives up toward Daytona Beach,
and both are likely far enough north that the storm will likely be more of a
nuisance than a threat by the time it reaches them.
But on CNN they
were interviewing people in the Florida Keys where the storm will hit hardest
that had resolved to stay put.
Why?
One replied that
they had considered leaving but didn’t know where they could go with their two
daughters, AND FIVE DOGS, so they are staying put.
Some of these
people who do not heed the warnings will die.
That’s the tragedy.
I have a friend
who was talking about the aid that our government will offer to the flood
victims from Hurricane Harvey.
His point was
that we should help them rebuild. Yes.
But with one
condition: that they relocate to higher
ground.
But we won’t.
Houston will be
rebuilt where it is, just like New Orleans was rebuilt. Never mind that much of New Orleans is below
sea level. Rebuild anyway.
Scientist warn us
that climate change is occurring and as the world warms up, the oceans will
rise because water expands as it gets warmer, and the warmer water will result
in hurricanes intensifying, and in the end, the remarkable storms that we are
now seeing will become common place.
But we like ocean
front property.
So we build on
the beaches anyway.
The thing is, we
are far enough away from the gulf that when we hear of one hurricane after
another, we can’t help but wonder why people don’t move, don’t they understand
that hurricane after hurricane will come.
Don’t they realize that no matter how often they rebuild, it is only a
matter of time before one strikes again?
Of course, when
they hear of the devastation caused by forest fires, the lives and homes lost,
they can’t help but wonder why we want to rebuild our homes in the middle of
the forest. Forest fires happen. Lightning strikes and tinder dry forests
erupt in flames.
And when the
forest becomes a raging inferno standing out in your yard with a garden hose is
not going to stop the fire.
The warnings were
there. Yet time and time again we simply
choose to ignore them.
Ezekiel was
appointed by God to be a sentinel, a watchman to warn God’s people about what
was to come.
Throughout the
ages, through God’s Word and the messengers he has sent to us, we have received
warning upon warning.
“ turn back, turn back from your evil
ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel?”
Those were the
words God gave to Israel.
Yet they didn’t
listen.
We hear a word of
warning and we don’t listen.
Are scientists
the sentinels that God has sent to us today to warn us about the effect of our
actions upon the world we live in?
Some believe so.
But many more
respond in one of two ways:
First we simply
deny that what they say is true. “It’s
all just a conspiracy,” we say.
Or, even if we
believe them, we either don’t believe there is anything we can do to avert the
disaster, or worse, knowing what we can do, we simply refuse to change our way
of life.
If what scientists
are telling us about climate change is true, and that our actions are causing
it, then the hope is that we can do something to avert the disaster.
The purpose of
the warning is not to condemn, but to offer a way out.
In Ezekiel the
prophet writes:
“Our transgressions and our sins weigh upon
us, and we waste away because of them; how then can we live?” Say to them, As I
live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked,
but that the wicked turn from their ways and live; turn back, turn back from
your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel?
In Ephesians 4:25-27
Paul warns us:
“So then, putting away falsehood, let all of
us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another. Be
angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make
room for the devil.”
Do not let the
sun go down on your anger.
What Paul is
warning us about is that if we fail to resolve our differences in a timely
fashion we will “make room for the devil”.
Jesus offers us a
way of reconciliation in the Gospel lesson for today.
We have received
a warning, and offered a way out.
There will be
things that make us angry, but we need not let them destroy us, either
individually, or as the body of Christ.
One of the
questions is when we hear words of warning do we hear them as words of judgment
or hope?
When the Bible
warns us that our divisions will destroy the Church, the hope is that if we
practice forgiveness, our unity may be restored.
This is so
simple, really. With every warning,
there is both a judgment and hope.
The warnings that
God gives us, are not a condemnation, but a diagnosis. God tells us what is wrong—and what we can do
about it.
The issue for us
is will we listen?
And will we act?
Sometimes,
though, we simply run from any notion of responsibility. We play the victim.
Even our theology
reinforces this notion.
“We are in
bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves.”
Well, to a
certain extent this is true.
But the other
side to that story is that we are to live responsibly.
Our actions have
consequences. If you want to avoid bad
consequences, avoid the bad decisions that bring about those consequences.
“Turn back, turn
back, from your evil ways.”
In Romans Paul
writes:
Love does no
wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.
Love is a choice.
This is the
thing:
There are
situations in life that will make us angry.
There are
situations in life that will please us.
Of that, we have
no control.
But we do have a
choice about how we respond to the good and the bad in life.
We can wallow
around in our anger and let it consume us.
Or we can choose
to love, and to forgive, and be reconciled to one another.
The choice is
between that which will kill us, or that which will give us life.
“turn back, turn
back from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel?”
Why will you die,
O house of Israel, when God has shown us how to live?
Amen
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