Second Sunday in Lent (Psalm 121)  03/20/2011

Several weeks ago, the rising protests in many countries of the Middle East and North Africa captured our attention; and our attention deserves to remain focused on these important events because the results of these protests will shape world history for many years to come. The protests of the people, although surprising in their rapid escalation, were not altogether surprising after years of suffering from poverty and many forms of government abuses. Farther to the East, well beyond this region of political turmoil, we have recently seen events unfolding in Japan that the word “surprising” does not do justice to describe the situation. The earthquake, tsunami, fires, nuclear accidents, and the biting chill of winter weather have all visited destruction upon the people of Japan so completely that the human language is unable to adequately capture the scene. Archbishop Nathaniel Uematsu, Anglican Primate of Japan, recently made this observation in a letter he released: the Archbishop wrote, “The stories and images constantly broadcast by the media have left people lost for words, unable to describe the sheer scale of the unbelievable destruction caused by the earthquake, tsunami, and fires.”[i] As I read the Archbishop’s letter and watched the dramatic images of the events unfolding in Northern Japan throughout this past week, I was reminded of the story of Job, one of the earliest biblical stories of complete and unexplainable loss. Continue reading →