A Communion Meditation Preached by

The Rev. Jean Niven Lenk

First Congregational Church of Stoughton

United Church of Christ

“The Questions -- and Our Response”

“Why did God let this happen?  Why doesn’t God do something?  Why do bad things happen to good people?”

These are The Questions during times like these, and they have no doubt been asked between anguished cries by the victims of Hurricane Katrina, asked by their families and friends, and – I suspect – by many of us as we have looked on in horror at the heartbreaking images on TV this past week.  These questions are asked whenever there is senseless, needless suffering, whenever there is tragedy and loss.  

“Why did God let this happen?  Why doesn’t God do something?  Why do bad things happen to good people?”  Human beings have asked these questions from the beginning of time, in times of catastrophe and loss, on a large scale in times of national and international calamity, and also on a small scale, when tragedy hits us personally.  I have asked these questions and I suspect have you, too, because -- in our helplessness -- we want so much to lash out with blame and anger at the someone or the something that has caused our heart to break.

Every religion has answers, of sorts, to The Questions.  Some say that God causes the disaster to happen for a reason, to punish human sin, for instance.  Some say that God causes tragedy in order to teach human beings something, like the brevity and fragility of life.  Some say God has a master plan, which we cannot understand.  And some say God is indifferent to human tragedy and that the only meaning in it is to cultivate a spirit of stoic indifference in us so that we can endure whatever happens to us. 

Our faith does not promise a life free from pain and sorrow.  Jesus tells us that God causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good alike, and sends rain on both the righteous and unrighteous.  And yet, the Christian response is not to explain God, not to attempt to make rational and understandable sense of human tragedy and suffering.  Rather, the Christian response is a tangible act of love and compassion inspired by a God whose love and care for us is embodied in Christ.  For us gathered here this morning, more important than answering the questions of who and why, more important is the how – how are we, as Christians, are we going to respond to this tragedy.

I do not believe that it was “God’s will” or “God’s plan” or “God’s punishment” that caused hundreds to die, and countless more to be left homeless, hungry, and desperate.  But I am certain that God is with those who did – and continue to -- suffer.  In this morning’s Call to Worship from Psalm 29, the psalmist asserts that God is always here, right with us.  “The voice of the Lord is over the waters.”  God is not some remote being confined to a throne in the heavens or a distant corner of the universe; God is with the victims of the Hurricane, and their loved ones, in the midst of their suffering. 

And I will also say for certain that it is God’s will that we help one another in the aftermath of this disaster.  We do not have the option of responding or not; it is mandatory as an act of our faith.  This tragedy confirms a core belief that we are all God’s children, and we are all in this together.  Hurricane Katrina is not something that happened at the other end of the country, thousands of miles away.  It happened to people in God’s family, and thus in our family, to our brothers and sisters.

In our scripture lesson this morning from the Gospel of Matthew, the Son of Man returns to separate the sheep from the goats, the saved from the damned.  And what is the criteria for receiving God’s favor?  Not correct doctrine, not sophisticated theology, not the right faith tradition.  Rather, the ones who receive God’s favor are the ones who reach out in extravagant, non-judgmental love and compassion to give food to the hungry, water to the thirsty, hospitality to the oppressed.  “Jesus, when did we serve you in your need?” ask the surprised sheep.  “When you did it for one of the least of these who are members of my family,” he answers.  Jesus tells the sheep that when they show compassion to the most vulnerable members of society, “you did it to me.”  And every time we help a person through our dollars and our prayers, every person in New Orleans and Biloxi and Mobile, and all the other towns and cities and states hit by Katrina, every time we show care, we are serving not only a child of God, a brother or sister in our human family, but we are also serving Jesus Christ himself. 

God is calling us to act as Jesus would, to love unconditionally and sacrificially and to show that love in tangible ways.  We are being invited to express both the heart and mind of Christ in this current situation in any number of ways – to contribute to our UCC disaster fund, to Church World Service, or any one of the major charitable groups already active in relief efforts such as the Red Cross or Salvation Army. 

And we as a church have already begun to give.  The One Great Hour of Sharing special offering of the UCC, to which we contribute each year, is set up specifically to get aid flowing as soon as disasters such as Hurricane Katrina strike; the UCC has already made an initial donation of $25,000, and the goal is to raise $1 million more. 

In addition, let us keep in our prayers the victims of the disaster and their families; let us pray for the relief workers, and for the leaders of the effected cities, states and also of this country.  Bearing the burdens of others and sharing in their suffering is the mark of faith in Christ – the One who broke the bread and said it was his body broken for the redemption of the world, the One who took up the cup and said it represented his blood shed for all. 

Take the cup and the bread today – and do it as a sign of your renewed commitment to follow Christ into a life of radical, extravagant, compassionate, forgiving love and service – do it in the name of the One who reaches out to all who suffer and grieve; do it in the name of the One who reaches out to those who have lost everything – except the love of God.  Amen.