Facing destruction with faith

I don’t want to look. I don’t want to look at the images coming from Nepal, where I spent time two years ago while on sabbatical. I don’t want to see the chilling pictures of landslides, toppled buildings and avalanches that have taken thousands of lives in and around Kathmandu.

And I don’t want to look at the footage of burning buildings in Baltimore, and close-ups pictures of angry young people venting their frustration in such destructive ways.

I don’t want to look, because it is intensely sad and scary; and if I don’t look I might be able to somehow convince myself that it hasn’t happened. That my comparatively halcyon corner of the world is unaffected.

But Nepal and Baltimore are happening. Many parts of the world are crumbling, and the social fabric which holds the world together, is being torn. And we don’t want to look. And the temptation is to hide under a large, tectonically stable rock.

Easter faced the crumbling of the world, and the tearing of the social fabric. The Resurrection faces nature-driven and human-generated destruction, and presents another picture. It is a picture of life and hope. A picture which reflects a commitment from God that we can live in freedom. We can be free, not of the darkness and danger of the world – but of the fear and despair that accompany them. And, with the living Christ, we can face into the destruction with our faith – to respond and make a difference.