Reflecting on Joplin - a year later

As we approach the anniversary of the May 22nd Joplin tornado and remember the devastation and those who were injured and those that died, we are often plagued by the question of why. I think this is a normal human emotion/reaction - we want to understand, we want to find meaning in the massive destruction.

Eugene Peterson in his introduction to the book of Joel in The Message writes that our understandings of God are at risk when disaster strikes - whatever it is. Natural disaster or illness, war or death, violence or a national catastrophe, we tend to cast God in the role of cosmic bad guy - "God is angry" or "God has abandoned us" or "God is judging us" or "God is punishing us for our sins." And while there may be some biblical precedents for these comments, often this is not the case at all. Enter the prophet Joel.

When the locusts attacked the crops of Israel, I suspect that many of them threw some of these same statements around like a blanket over the grieving shoulders of starving people. Sometimes we seem to want to be able to point to the responsibility of the victims, because if we can claim this to be their fault, then we can be certain it won't happen to us. But Joel disputes this idea. The locusts had destroyed major portions of crops creating an agricultural disaster. People were starving. Joel compares the devastation of the locusts to an invading army destroying everything in its path. The job of a prophet is to proclaim a Word from God. It is to turn people to God in the midst of such disasters. It is to point people to the presence of God in places where it seems as if God is absent. Joel does this admirably.

I would remind us that Joel speaks to us still - reassuring us that natural disasters happen not because of sin or judgment, but because of the natural order. In Romans 1 and 2, Paul goes to great lengths to remind us that God sees no degree to sin - no distinction in sin. All of the many 'sins' he lists in the 1st chapter of Romans are, he says, symptoms of the ONE sin which is a failure to honor God. All of us fall short in this regard and despite our best efforts to the contrary we continue to do so even as followers of Jesus. So if there is no degree to sin, why then would God punish some and not others? Why would a loving God choose to express anger through destruction that would devastate the saints along with the supposed sinners?

No, Joel reminds his people, and us as well, that we live in a world where natural cycles create disaster. Summer heating creates hurricanes over the ocean and thunderstorms on land. The clash of pressure zones creates thunderheads that can spawn tornadoes. Snow falls and blows, insects swarm, rains flood, and despite all the advances we have made scientifically we are still unable to stop or control these things.

But they are not a reflection of our sins or God's judgment.

Rather, I echo Joel in suggesting that the way we respond to these is important. In the midst of the disasters, how do we see God and how do we embrace each other? A crisis can devastate us, or, it can move us to a deeper faith commitment and draw us closer as a community. This is what I saw in Joplin - people who lifted each other up, who embraced each other, and who reached out in the name of the Trinitarian God to help each other. I saw people who found encounters with the divine presence in the midst of the rubble of ruined lives. I saw a community grow closer to God and to one another. I saw brothers and sisters from across the country pour in to bring whatever aid they could offer. I saw the face of Jesus in literally hundreds of thousands of people helping each other through the devastation and the crisis.

I continue to see that everyday in Joplin as we rebuild together. Like Joel, what I saw in Joplin was not an angry, judgmental God who was striking down saints and sinners alike. I saw a God who reached out in love and compassion to surround a broken community in the divine spark of love.