My Developing Thoughts about the Prediction of Another Earthquake.

(I wrote something more extensive yesterday that I will post soon that gives more of the biblical background to this)

Man it was good to get out of Christchurch today and get a bit of a perspective on the wave of concern about a prediction of a major earthquake in Christchurch on September 28. Sitting with a group of Christian leaders involved in national church leadership, including some recognised by their churches as prophets, when I mentioned this, the response was interesting - there was a singular lack of interest – like “well we all know that those predictions never come true” - and relative disbelief that there could be widespread concern in the Christian community. However what did provoke a response was when I told them about the response of some to think about packing up their stuff and leaving the city for the day – the response was “well that’s a Christian response! NOT!” Perhaps as my friend Blair the social worker says it’s all a sign of the level of anxiety we are all under here.

It is interesting that it has been such a struggle for some to get a clear conviction about this. “Like I am 99% sure this is not right ....but...I have a little niggle”. Maybe people need to talk together and we get a developing conviction.

So again I do not purport to have the final word on this but this is my developing perspective – as I reflect and as I listen to what others are thinking:

I totally disagree with the spirituality and theology behind the prediction.

I am convinced this reflects what happens when the intercessory and prophetic movement is not (in Pentecostal language) in submission to the apostolic – in less strange language – that this subjective spirituality is not linked to our basic mandate which is to be agents of God’s redemptive kingdom, winning the lost, making disciples, building churches and being salt and light in our communities. The Bible does indeed talk about God’s wrath and judgement. However it shows God took his wrath upon himself at the cross. It then talks about a future final judgement when God will step in to stop the brokenness of the world and renew his creation. In between God commissions his people to GO – it is the age of grace, of the church, of mission, in the power of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus spoke about judgement he spoke about judgement at the end of the age, final judgement, even of cities. Jesus mission was good news to the poor, opening the eyes of the blind, setting free the captives and declaring the day of God’s favour (and he stopped the quotation there saying that was now fulfilled – he specifically left out a mission of declaring the vengeance of God). Paul followed this same strategy. The prophetic needs to be seen as one input into THIS agenda. For its own health it needs to be in relation to apostolic, pastoral, evangelistic and teaching gifts.

Part of this way of understanding the world is that we currently live in a good but broken world where tragedy happens. Romans 8 says we live in a world awaiting liberation from groaning, suffering and frustration. We are called to groan with this world in its brokenness. And to be God’s agents of his kingdom in this world.

The prediction also portrays a false sense of prophecy. Those who function in this area say ‘don’t do dates”. Why? The fulfilment of God purposes are always complex and mysterious and almost never as obvious as we think. Even Jesus didn’t do dates. Why?

One good reason is the clear teaching that prophecy is partial, limited and in unclear riddles. This side of eternity we don’t get crystal clear insight. We walk by faith not by sight. We get glimpses.

But the other main reason is that fundamentally prophecy is not about prediction. It is about a call to action now, based on if you keep doing this bad thing then this bad future will happen but if you change and do this good thing then this other good future will happen.

So in that God is not releasing his wrath on Christchurch, that the earthquakes should not be seen as God’s judgement on Christchurch and that prophets should not stray into date-setting, the usual response would be to ignore this kind of thing.

But even if I disagree with the basic theological perspective and the understanding of prophecy.... well all of us have limited perspectives... what if this person was a ‘seer’ and had perceived something even if integrated into what I consider a faulty theological framework.

What if this is God? What if this is the one case where date-setting is right? Then the big question is what should a Christian response be? Ask that question and I think that’s where some clarity finally comes.

First of all I should pray. This is really another point under the nature of prophecy. God invites his people into prayer and specifically when he warns of judgement it is actually so that his people can pray that it DOESN’T happen! Look at Abram and Sodom, look at Moses and Israel, look at God’s call to Ezekiel to find someone who would stand in the gap. If we think there is a possibility this could be true, surely our first response is “please God no.” Pray for peace for the land, pray for the settling of the quakes, pray for safety, pray that another disaster might be averted.

What else should I do?

See I used to be a missionary – we felt called to an Asian slum and so we lived among the people; later we felt called to a people in the middle of an armed conflict and so we lived among them. Now we feel called to Christchurch. So what if there is going to be a big earthquake, what if it triggers a tsunami? I live on the banks of the Heathcote. Where should I be? Might sound a bit melodramatic but shouldn’t I be there with my neighbours if a tsunami comes rumbling up the river? But what if I died? Well doesn’t that mean I am instantly ushered into glory, into the paradise of God, into the presence of God? And if it does come and I don’t die... well then I stand with my neighbours in the massive task of then rebuilding and I have to dig even deeper into Christian hope to inspire our city to hope and the challenge of Gods heart to bring recovery and rebuilding and redemption just asks even more of me!

Paul has an interesting angle on spirituality.

Philippians 1:21-26

²¹ For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. ²² If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labour for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! ²³ I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; ²⁴ but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. ²⁵ Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, ²⁶ so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me.

If I die I get to be with the Lord; if I stay I get to serve God’s mission in the world.

Kind of weird that people who would think of themselves as really spiritual would be scared of dying and reluctant to be involved in mission? Just saying!

So what should we do? There’s the weird thing. But my friends might be killed? Shouldn’t I warn them? Yes but they might die tomorrow. That’s why Jesus calls us to witness to our faith through word and deed! So what’s different if I knew there was going to be an earthquake on September 28?

Well we could prepare. Yes but even the science says there are likely to be more significant aftershocks, and at some point the alpine fault will go ... not might go... it will go ... and there will be a disaster. Might be in 1000 years, might be tomorrow. So I should be prepared. I heard one expert say be ready to survive at your home for 72 hours.

See here’s the rub: whatever might happen on September 28 might happen any and every single day of my life. And while I live, I engage in loving mission in the world and in particular in the city that God has called me to and that he has called me to love. And when I die my labour in Christ is complete.

Could all end tomorrow! Could end Sept 28! Could end, for me, in 20 years, 30 years!

One last thought, bottom line, I want to listen to the wisdom of godly leaders with a track record of missional initiatives in our city, people who live out this mission and in living connection with the spirit. People like David McGregor, Sam Harvey, Chris Chamberlain, Warren Gouman, Don Scott, Chris Ponniah, Alan Jamieson, Murray Talbot, Murray Robertson, Max Palmer, Paul Bennetts, Bishop Victoria, etc etc (no offence intended to those not listed).

The Apostle Paul to the People of Christchurch (with apologies to Luke, the writer of Acts 17:22-33):

“Women and men of Christchurch, I see that in every way you are rising up to meet the enormous mind-numbing challenges of this time when you have been shaken to the core of your beings. Everything you considered normal has been shaken, and you have lost much that was precious and good and comforting and important. But in the midst of this grief and trauma many of you are saying you have also awakened from the slumber of our consumerist, materialist age (probably not the words you would use!) - you would say you have suddenly realised that those broken possessions count for so little compared to what is truly important – your family and friends, he tangata, he tangata, he tangata. You have pulled together as families, as neighbourhoods, as a city and even as a nation. Jesus would say, “Well done, for have I not said, your real treasure is not in your possessions but in your love for one another.”

But I Paul would say that there is an even deeper level of shaking that you have experienced and that stirs you, and indeed calls you forth, from an even deeper slumber. You see you have stood on the edge of the abyss, and you have felt small, helpless and afraid – you have felt terror - before forces and powers far bigger than your mere mortal strength. Part of that is awful trauma to your soul and you will recover from that with time and support and love. But part of that is actually awkward, uncomfortable, humbling, even humiliating truth and there is an invitation to also reflect on how you will live your lives differently in light of that. Our culture blinds us to that reality but I want to tell you today that every spiritual tradition acknowledges it as the prime reality. And every spiritual tradition says it is foundational to life to search for peace and security in our smallness before this reality - locating our lives in some bigger reality.

Jesus would say as you have suddenly realised your homes and possessions were so much less important than family and friends, you have truly discovered the second most important truth in life. But he would also speak of this other thing and it is he who would say that you have felt something else that is even more true, more foundational – he would speak of this experience when you felt your smallness and vulnerability before forces and realities beyond your control and understanding - and he would say in his usual puzzling, disturbing, shocking, paradoxical way: in a strange way ultimately blessed are you who have felt that (how rude does that sound!) - that emptiness of power, that bankruptcy of resources and coping, that poverty of spirit - not because it is good in itself but because that is the beginning of the road to true knowledge and understanding. Jesus would say you have an opportunity now not just to reassess the importance of family and friends but also to acknowledge this dimension – that life is so brief, so fragile and frail, so fleeting and that your life needs to find its true place within a story of larger powers, and forces and persons. The Jewish writings would call that the “fear of the Lord” and name that as the beginning of wisdom – not fear as in terror but fear as in awesome wondrous trembling – like standing before a huge waterfall, watching a glorious sunset, standing on the top of a mountain range, observing the birth of a star or of your own child. Beyond even the mountains and the seas and the skies and the heavens, you stand before your Creator.

Jesus and Jewish tradition would say that we were made to acknowledge our Creator, to give thanks for the goodness and kindness that come across our path, to call upon our Creator for help, to entrust our lives into his hands as we live our days and ultimately as we face death, and to live in conscious trusting dependence upon him every day of our lives. Spiritual wisdom would smile - sadly - at our usual sense of self-importance, strength, independence, autonomy, immortality, invincibility and power.

Jesus came to demonstrate the heart of this Creator, to issue His heartfelt call to acknowledge our relation to Him and to effect His powerful initiative in intervening in our hurting broken world for good and to put it to right – in Jesus’ language, to see the reign of God breaking into our world – by which he meant the ways and the presence and the power of God breaking into our world. Jesus invites us to relate to the Creator as Father – an image of strength and care, power and provision and protection. He invites us to live in the reality of this kingdom presence and power and to entrust our lives to him, Jesus, as the face and centre of this reality. Many of us felt what it was like to get caught up in the power of loving and serving one another. Jesus would say marvellous! – and now go one step further and get caught up in acknowledging the force of love behind this, your Creator and the kingdom of his son, Jesus. He invites us to surrender this false sense of autonomy and live our lives in relation to the Creator as Father and Jesus as Lord - the face of the divine love and authority.

And the Creator showed this, confirmed this, actually effected this by raising Jesus from the dead – the message of Easter. And so now we have a decision: to acknowledge and enter into the flow of God’s life giving restorative presence in this broken world, finding my place as one small mortal presence before the His loving, joyful, peaceful presence and being part of the flow of his restoring love - or to continue in my slumbering complicity in a world that rejects the first great truth: you were created to be in loving dependent connection with the divine.

Women and men of Christchurch as you seek to rebuild and restore your city, the second most important thing you could do is realise it is all about people. The most foundational thing you could awaken to is to acknowledge that we are created to build this community under the watchful loving eye of a heavenly Father and in the presence and power of the kingdom of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

With much love, and earnest prayer for you all

Paul (sort of, maybe?)

Pondering the Christchurch Earthquake:

It has been two and a half weeks since the earthquake – it feels like a lifetime and another world! Some of us have been really busy just coping. Others of us have been really busy helping others and we are now exhausted. Many of us haven’t had a chance to sit down and reflect on what has happened, to begin to try to make sense both of what did happen and even more so the implications for the future. For various reasons I have been one of the fortunate ones who has had the chance to ponder this thing and so I would like to pass on my “ponderings” in the hope they may be helpful to some of you in prompting and stimulating your own reflections as you find the time to actually stop and think and reflect. As a quick aside, to “ponder” means “1. to think and consider something, 2. carefully and thoroughly, 3. over a lengthy time, 4. before reaching a conclusion or making a decision.” I think that is really important with something like this. Rash conclusions, claims not well thought, knee jerk reactions – all these out can be incredibly damaging and hurtful at a time like this, crushing actually to people’s spirits. We really do need to ponder.

Please note: this is long! If you just want a brief version read the section about trauma and the section about Romans 8. Please feel free to use this material in any way you want. Forward it, use it as a resource base for sermons or studies. No copyright, no need to acknowledge sources (I haven’t acknowledged mine!). This is one thing I feel I can offer to people in Christchurch at this time. Also please note this is a different tone to the two blogs I wrote fairly soon after the earthquake – it seemed appropriate to be very direct and bold then. Reflecting on this I remembered Paul’s statement about needing clear direction in times of crisis: “And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle?” (1 Cor 14:8). This article is designed to be different – maybe you might find it less inspiring, maybe less powerful and compelling, it is designed less to make you say “Yes!” and more to make you say “Hmmmm”. It is the result of pondering.

1) It’s not just grief its trauma

It is one thing to say we are grieving - and that is bad enough – but it is a further step to say many of us are traumatised (and grief is one part of that). Now I am not a medical expert nor a counsellor nor a psychologist but a brief look at the nature of trauma has helped me make sense of a lot of what has gone on for many of us.

Traumatic events are defined as events that completely overwhelm our ability to cope or integrate the ideas and emotions involved with that experience. Our most basic senses of safety, security and control are shattered, and we feel scared, helpless, vulnerable, even kind of betrayed. How do we respond? The “symptoms” are often described in terms of emotional avoidance, emotional numbing, and hyper-vigilance (inability to relax and let go). Many of us have felt fear, helplessness or horror. I think that one of the big differences between the first and the last earthquake is that this time many more of us didn’t cope – this time we were traumatised. After the last earthquake many of us sprang into action. This time thank God there were still people who did that but for some of us we reacted differently – and maybe we are finding it hard to accept how we reacted.

So how do you react when your capacity to deal with something is overwhelmed? We often talk about fight or flight but there is also freeze, or what is pictured as a turtle going into its shell Basically the systems freeze, and we try to shut it out. Many of us fled or “turtled” – we went into our shells and survived in the little world of ourselves, or our family or our home. Its was all too much to process and we had stop it reaching us - we shut it out or we got out. And now we feel bad.

Another reaction is to try to regain some sense of control over some little area of life – some of us got fixated on some little detail that just had to get sorted and then the world would feel a bit safer and we would feel a little back in control – I have to keep that appointment, weed the garden, change the postal code. Others got angry at some little incident – cause hey you can’t get angry at a whole world collapsing but that one shop assistant or driver or telephone answer machine – man did they wear it! Others swing between crying and super efficiency. Others got overloaded, wired, hyped – we couldn’t sleep, couldn’t stop, we jump at every noise. (Earthquakes must be one of the worst forms of this kind of trauma because if one of the symptoms is flashbacks then with every aftershock our body says here we go again).

As I have pondered this I want to say.. it’s ok. Actually I believe God says, it’s ok. I mean imagine the physical and emotional reactions if you had just had an arm or leg ripped off in an accident. Your whole body would be in shock, the systems would not be functioning. The same kind of thing has happened in for some of us in our minds and emotions. You are allowed to be frail, fragile, you are allowed to be human. It’s ok that you go overwhelmed and had to flee, freeze or fight.

Does the Bible have anything to say about trauma? Now I don’t want to be silly or trying to create links where there are none but I think this is what the Bible would call being brokenhearted. We trivialise that today by only thinking of romantic breakups. In Scripture the heart is the seat not just of thinking and feeling but of the search for deep things like security, value, hope and treasure. And that is precisely what got ripped apart.

Psalm 34:18
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Psalm 147:3
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

Isaiah 61:1
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,

In that moment it wasn’t just your house, or ornaments, or suburb or city that broke – for many of us it was our heart. Now is not the time and frankly I am not the person to address the how of recovering from that but the first step is to acknowledge it has happened.

2) At times like this we really need to read the Bible well:

I want to ponder what the Bible says about our situation, to read it closely and carefully. But if we are to turn to the Bible where should we go? What kinds of material or specific passages resonate as speaking into our current situation? What helps us make sense of what has happened? This is an important skill. Jesus modelled at least three important skills in reading Scripture.

Firstly he was able to see it as one coherent story reaching its climax or centre in him and particularly in the events of his death and resurrection. I fear many of those who have made pronouncements on what God was saying in the earthquake have not reflected on what it mean to live this side of the cross and particularly how we read the Old Testament prophets this side of the cross where amongst many other things God’s judgement was taken upon himself in an incredible act of self-sacrificing love.

Secondly Jesus models a skill which is to know out of the rich diversity of Scripture which particular parts should be focused on because they speak into the parallels of our own situation and resource us in facing comparable challenges. Look at Jesus in the wilderness. Satan tempts him, Jesus answers from Scripture but not just any Scripture. Jesus answers from a section of three chapters in Deuteronomy, where Moses is reminding the people of Israel about the lessons of the wilderness. Jesus knew where to draw from. Satan realises this and tries to get Jesus out of that section and into Psalm 91. Jesus refuses to go there and he returns to Deuteronomy. He knows that the living word of God for him comes from there. I want to suggest that at times like this we go to the stories of recovery (see my first blog/article).

What I do want to concentrate on though is a third skill that Jesus demonstrated, in that he was able to zero in on key passages as central to the Scripture, as pillars on which to construct a picture of the world we live in. Faced with the whole of the Old Testament Jesus was able to zero in on two key commandments as central – love God in Deuteronomy 6 and love neighbour from Leviticus 19 – and part of this skill is being able to defend why these were foundational rather than just reflecting personal bias. I want to ask about what is defensible as our default position in interpreting events such as the earthquake.

So where should we go – in this case for a biblical worldview? Some go to Old Testament accounts of prophets declaring judgment against nations because of sin (there are they say huge portions particularly of the Old Testament about judgment so kind of a majority rule makes this the default setting and they also suggest our modern versions of Christianity are particularly weak on this), others go to the book of Revelation with accounts of God’s wrath being poured out in destruction, others go to Jesus’ accounts of the end and others putting these latter two together interpret the earthquake through the framework of a view of how the world ends that sees great destruction in the midst of rampant sin escalating towards the rapture of the church – surely this is a sign of the end!

So where should we start? I want to argue that we go to Romans 8.

a) Romans 8

In my understanding Romans 8 is a good place – and a justifiable or defensible place to make central. In Romans the great apostle Paul systematically outlines his understanding of the gospel, the story of what God has done to redeem His world.

In Romans 8 he reaches the climax of his portrayal of how this unified story of God’s redemption has played out and he reflects on what that looks like now in terms of Christian living and in particular on the place of suffering within this worldview. In chps 9-11 he then specifically addresses the question of how to understand the place of national Israel and the church in this story and then in chps 12-16 he spells out the practical implications of such an inclusive gospel. So in Romans 8:18-39 we have a climactic statement about a theological vision of Christian living.

Paul gives a picture of what Christian life is like between the past finished work of Christ and the future final hope. As I said he specifically addresses the issue of present suffering. Theologically then this is a significant passage. There is a good case to use this as the major grid and then to read other passages in light of this framework. This is not personal bias, this is identifying Paul’s central statement about living with suffering.

Read it below:

¹⁸ I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. ¹⁹ For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. ²⁰ For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

²² We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. ²³ Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴ For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

²⁶ In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. ²⁷ And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

Paul’s perspective is that we live in a world in pain. There is a threefold “groaning going on” – of the creation (v22), of the people of God (v23), of the Spirit within the people of God (v27). Creation is pictured as in a condition analogous to childbirth – groaning, perhaps in escalating pain but with a future hope of new birth. Worldview is the glasses we look through at life. I wonder if these are the glasses you wear when you try to interpret life? You see others wear glasses that we live in a neutral universe and everything that happens is a direct result of our behaviour – if bad happens that is because you have failed, or sinned; if good happens that is because you have accessed the blessing of God. Direct causal relationships, nice and simple. Kind of makes us feel everything is in control. It is a mechanical world where God directly implements every action.

However in Romans rather than trying to discern if this was from God or the Devil, Paul simply says we live in a groaning world. He outlines a vision of a world that experiences trauma. This is not how some of picture this world and Christian living: groaning as distinctive of our world, groaning as distinctive of Christian living, groaning as a key ministry of the Holy Spirit! (We so often associate the spirit with triumph over pain and death). The national principal of Laidlaw College, Rod Thompson, visited the Christchurch campus last week. He shared how he had lived through the Darwin cyclone, Cyclone Tracy, in 1974 and he talked about the impact on him. We realised he understood what we were going through. One of our students asked him a very good question: “what was the long term impact?” His answer: “a certain sadness about the world”. Before you react, and suggest he needs inner healing or counselling or prayer ministry, think about what Paul said – I think Paul would agree. Spirit-filled Christians should be frustrated! We are not so good at lament. Jews were. Read the Psalms. There are psalms of praise and celebration but something like two thirds of the psalms are lament. They wept, they raged, they doubted, they were disappointed. And they talked to God about that. We don’t do that enough. Paul says the sign of the spirit is not some superficial triumphalism but a deep groaning and frustration at the brokenness and pain of our world.

So where is God in that picture? Paul goes on to consider that:

²⁸ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. ²⁹ For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. ³⁰ And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

This is not a silly affirmation that God has willed all things – not that God “works all things” – a mistranslation and an abomination - but that God works “in all things”.

Where is God at work in all things? Paul focuses on a mystery. There are bad things but God is somehow at work even within evil to bring work good and lest we be too flippant about this good – shallow culturally defined definitions of good (comfort, ease, blessing), Paul defines the good – in the events God is at work seeking to transform his people a little bit more into the image of Jesus. That the church might look a little bit more like Jesus at the end of this horrible thing. That out of the rubble of suffering the church would emerge a little bit more as the glorious thing God had in mind – a bearer of the heart and character of Jesus.

The Dean of the cathedral Peter Beck famously said of the earthquake something along the lines of was: “The earthquake was not an act of God. It was the earth doing what the earth does. The work of God is us loving each other”. I must admit when I first heard that I had an instant reaction. And I know from my quoting it to others that so do others. It kind of feels a bit insulting to God. Some people really reacted against that feeling it somehow dethroned God. As I have reread Paul (and as I will show soon Jesus), you know what, I think that actually is the message of Romans 8. Except Paul would have shown more lament about the fact that we currently live in a world that does this sort of thing. Maybe for the clarity of impact, the Dean kind of normalised it – I think Paul would have expressed more upset about a world that does this, more the wrongness of a world that is like this and he would have hoped passionately for a world that one day did not do this kind of thing. Overall though I think Paul would have been happy with that level of analysis.

Where had Paul got this idea of a world broken with evil and sin but that God could use it for good? You think maybe the cross of Christ? The place where human rebellion, and demonic hatred meet but somehow God turns it into salvation for the world. Not a shallow triumphalism but a deep painful but glorious mystery.

Paul seems to be saying don’t try to tag specific “pains” as from God or the Devil or humans but cooperate with the work of the cross and resurrection and thus allow the work of God in you in the midst of this.

Paul then celebrates his enormous confidence in the midst of such a reading:

³¹ What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? ³³ Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶ As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The one overwhelming confidence is that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. That is what makes it so wrong that in the name of being prophetic this is precisely what some have targeted – they want us to see this earthquake as a direct act of God’s judgement, that this is Gods action against us – whether that is the city for allowing sin, the church for being compromised or Christian leaders for being apathetic. They want us to question our relationship with God.

(“Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who then is the one who condemns? No one”... ah sorry Paul we actually have some here who see themselves as prophets who do precisely this!)

What is the message of Romans 8 – we live in a world groaning and in pain; we can discover God at work in the transformation of his people in and through it all and we can have a confidence that nothing can separate us from God’s love.

So let’s now look at another passage.

b) Mark 13

Some point out that Jesus prophesied destruction, including earthquakes Many regard Mark as the foundational gospel. In Mark 13 the disciples questioned Jesus about the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. There are various ways to interpret this chapter since it clearly starts with the events fulfilled in AD70 but for most it seems to transition at some point to the end of the age.

Read a few verses below:

⁷ When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. ⁸ Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.

Oh my goodness there’s that thought again – see the world as in labour, as in birth pains. So maybe that’s where Paul got the idea from! And specifically interpret earthquakes along these lines.

Actually the one thing Jesus says is do NOT overrate the eschatological significance (that means don’t say this is a sign of the end). Do not be alarmed, Jesus says, that this is a sign of the end. Don’t go there.

This whole birth pains thing is radically different to the view of a world about to be destroyed. This is the vision of a painful process of the new coming. Surprising how many are locked into such a negative view – suffering is not ultimate, destruction is not the end. It’s like birth pains – say Paul and his Lord, Jesus.

Jesus showed this kind of attitude to stuff that happens in life:

²⁴ “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. ²⁶ But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” (Matthew 7:24-27)

Notice that the exact same language is used for what happens to both: “The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house” – not God sent them, not the devil sent them. They just came.

There is a kind of agnosticism even indifference about where this came from – it just came. The difference was in the response. Stuff happens in this world. We get to cooperate with God in how we respond.

c) Conviction and condemnation: Old Testament Prophets and the Churches of Revelation

Many point out that a substantial body of the biblical material is messages of judgement by the Old Testament prophets, often including criticism of the religious leaders of the time, and often involving predictions of destruction because of sin.

Surely there is our model for times such as this?

It is important to understand where the prophets fit. Israel lived under a covenant with specific terms that included blessings for obedience (Deut 22:1-14: Lev 27:3-13) and curses or judgements for disobedience (Deut 28:15-68; Lev 27:14-39). The prophets were not so much random predictors of future judgement as covenant enforcers (sounds like Arnie!). What that means is that they would say you are not fulfilling say terms a,b,c of the covenant – if you do not change you will therefore reap d, e, f of the judgments for disobedience BUT if you return to God you will receive g, h, i of the promised blessing. They enforced the covenant.

Most of the time the trajectory of the people of God was towards disobedience so messages of judgement dominated. Now we do not live under that national covenant indeed we live the other side of the climax of the Old Testament covenants in the death and resurrection of Jesus. It is true they did also prophecy to surrounding nations that were impacting the life of Israel.

However it is important to see that: they warned of specific issues in advance and the consequence of continuing in that path, they therefore gave an opportunity to change and a promise of an alternate future. Read Jonah – the lesson was that a true prophet knows the heart of God – that God does not actually want to bring judgement.

Even when judgement was prophesied once it came the prophet’s message changed to comfort. Read Isaiah 40, often seen as a second commissioning, reaching beyond the exile to a ministry of encouraging recovery. That is one reason I am convinced that the word of God this side of tragedy does not focus on a condemning soul searching to try to discover if did we do something wrong but focuses on comfort and encouragement looking forwards to the challenge of recovery.

Actually the stories I find most disturbing are the letters to the churches in Revelation. There are some occasions of prophesied judgement. Again, this side of the cross, Jesus tends the churches, again specific issues are identified and specific changes called for, with a promise of wonderful things upon embracing the need for change.

Why labour this? Well as a young Christian I was taught that there was a difference between conviction and condemnation. Conviction was the Holy Spirit putting his finger on a specific issue, for our good, calling for change, warning of consequences if we continued in the destructive behaviour and didn’t change and promising good things if we stepped into the good purposes of God for us. Condemnation was from the Devil, generally a blanket sense of failure for past actions with no hope or way out. You don’t go searching for something we might have done wrong. Which is why I find it so strange and so concerning that for some people their default position is to assume we must have done something wrong and we open ourselves to all kinds of vague suggestions about what that might have been. That’s not how God works. That’s not the kind of relationship he wants for us.

There was always going to be a second earthquake. The experts always said it was likely that there would be an aftershock one degree of magnitude less than the main shake – so a 6.1 earthquake was expected. It’s just that this one was so shallow and so close – that’s why there was so much more damage. The experts also always said that the total energy released from the first quake and its aftershocks was significantly lower than comparable events – they expected more.

The book of Job is precisely about this issue of unhelpful religious people in the midst of disaster. Religious people haven’t changed much in several thousand years! Still the way we cope with other’s pain is to suggest they must have done something wrong. I think that makes us feel safe, secure, in control and powerful – it’s way too scary to admit we live with uncertainty. It’s also unbelievably cruel.

3) The good news of a spirituality deep enough for earthquakes and death

A few days before the earthquake I saw my 15yr old daughter doing some homework. It was about a model of health that included spiritual, mental, emotional and social dimensions. I expressed pleasant surprise that they looked at a spiritual dimension to which my daughter replied, “It’s not religion, Dad, its goal setting.” After the earthquake I talked about this with a friend who is a social work lecturer. He laughed and said yes spirituality is defined as the search for meaning and purpose so of course in a secular sense that means goal-setting. His other reflection was that after the earthquake people would be experiencing a depth of pain that needed comfort and answers far more profound than that level of understanding offered. Other cultures are better at that than us modern Westerners– you could see it in the call (karanga) of the Maori woman before the 2 minutes silence. We are trading, as I said at the start, in deep levels of broken security, trust, treasure, and hope and we are created with a need for eternal connections at this level. This is God being God in and for and with us. This is true spirituality and God alone can embrace people at that level.

One thought does bother me. I am convinced that God is speaking about recovery and I hope in the coming days that churches are places of enthusiastic energy for recovery. Yet in one sense I am haunted by the faces of, in my case, two women I know who will be sitting in those churches and saying – but my loved one died, there is no recovering of what was lost.

And so again we are forced to confront what our culture denies – our mortality. Any spirituality that is only about God empowering for now is too shallow.

Again we turn to Paul. In writing to Corinth he confronts a church that some think placed too much emphasis on what the past work of the cross had done for them and thus the current level of triumph they now lived in by the spirit. Cross as past and resurrection as present spiritual reality. Now Paul would affirm all that – indeed they probably got it from him. But theology is usually about holding truths in tension and heresy is normally taking one part of the truth and pushing it to extreme. So Paul writes to them affirming the present work of the cross in their hearts and lives and the hope of a future objective physical resurrection. 1 Corinthians 15 is a long majestic celebration and affirmation of the belief in a spirituality and thus in a gospel that reaches beyond the grave. Indeed Paul famously says,

If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. (1 Cor 15:19)

The tragedy of the earthquake becomes a microcosm of the reality of life that most of us particularly in the West like to remain oblivious to.

I think this is how we should read Jesus’ answer to the question about tragedy:

¹ Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. ² Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? ³ I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. ⁴ Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? ⁵ I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” (Luke 13:1-5)

Jesus strongly denied the tendency to look at disasters and see specific judgement; and yet he also goes on to say there are lessons in tragedy for all of us. Now in the context of these couple of chapters in Luke he may be specifically referring to the coming judgement on Jerusalem in AD70 but the general principle applies to all time: that we need to live our lives, we need a change of mind, we need a spirituality and a faith and a life that embraces God’s answer to the reality of death.

And so in the midst of tragedy we need to rediscover this depth of spirituality and we need to realise that God desperately wants people He loves to find this level of comfort and hope. Evangelism means sharing good news.

1 Cor 15:51-58

⁵¹ Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— ⁵² in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. ⁵³ For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. ⁵⁴ When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

⁵⁵ “Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”

⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷ But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁵⁸ Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

There is a probably apocryphal story from the conversion of England. Several monks wanted to present the gospel to a village. The village gathered in a long house at night and the monks sought to present the gospel. The people were not terribly interested. At one point a bird flew in from the darkness at one end of the long house, flew the length of the long house and out the other end into the darkness. The king raised his hand to stop the monks speaking. He said, “Our lives are like that bird - where we come from we do not know, our span is here is fleeting and then we disappear to who knows where. If you can help explain that we will listen.” The gospel does give an answer and a comfort to those questions.

4) It’s not about us

And so many of us find ourselves in the recovery process with a spirituality and hope that while shaken sustains us and compels us to be involved. In the past days and in the coming days some of us will find ourselves to put it bluntly in positions of influence, rubbing shoulders with movers and shakers. Now historically the church has not handled power at all well.

There is an important story in Scripture for times such as this – the story of Joseph. It’s an interesting story. Take the book of Genesis – an account of the foundations of the people of Israel, it looks at the creation of the world, the origins of sin and judgment, the start of the story of redemption, the lives of the patriarchs – and about one quarter is given to the story of Joseph. So what’s so important about Joseph? Well Joseph is a picture of an initial fulfilment of the Abrahamic covenant – the call to be blessed to be a blessing to the world. When he is young he knows he is loved, he knows God is with him and he knows he has a destiny. But I want to suggest as he got a glimpse of the kind of influence God had in mind, it was kind of all about him. Nothing like a long period of suffering and disappointment to beat that out of you! The mature Joseph makes two statements that show how he now sees things:

⁵ And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. ...⁷ But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance (Genesis 45: 5-7)

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. (Genesis 50:20)

It’s about being in the image of the servant king. Could it be that God could trust his church with some influence because we actually get it... it’s not about us, about status position power and influence - it’s about getting a city restored and he’s got to use someone. Oh that He could trust us, oh that this could be the churches greatest hour because we get it that it’s not about us.

5) It’s time to dream

The task of recovery is huge. The good news is that the Spirit still broods over chaos reaching forwards towards possibilities of new creation.

There are big decisions to be made – so what happens to the CBD, what happens to the eastern suburbs, where should new housing be established, new business parks, new centres for finance, how do we promote tourism again, how much heritage is preserved. The good news is that we are not alone in this. This is what the Holy Spirit does, yearn forward towards new possibilities. The good news is that this divine influence is not restricted to the important people among us – whatever the world you will shape in the days ahead, may you find yourself awake at night dreaming, seeing possibilities, speaking out words of previously unforeseen possibilities.

¹⁷ “‘In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
¹⁸ Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.

(Acts 2:17-18)

6) Created to build good things on chaos

It’s funny how new experiences can take us back to see things in Scripture that we had never noticed before. Genesis 1 is a wonderful account of God bringing order and fullness to a formless and void chaos (see the first blog/article). And at the end it is all very good. And humans are created in the image of this creator to co-create order and fullness. Somehow in the West I think we lost the sense that Jews had, that order continued to be imposed on forces of chaos, normally restrained by God but never fully gone and always liable to rear up and destabilise– indeed part of the vision for the end was that finally there would be no more chaos.

As we face the task of rebuilding a city, a place of order and beauty we impose that on chaos, to be specific on the possibility of future liquefaction, and future quakes. Let’s insist that happens responsibly. Order and beauty and fullness - acknowledging it is imposed on potential chaos and thus not cutting corners or being irresponsible. Responsible stewards and co-creators.

7) Recovery or RECOVERY?

I believe God’s Spirit is at work to bring recovery. The only problem is I can see the potential for two kinds of recovery. There is the recovery of an athlete who gets better but never quite has that edge again. In fact as you read the recovery literature of the Old Testament (Ezra-Nehemiah and the accompanying prophets Zechariah, Haggai, Malachi), despite all the great promises, it kind of ended up fairly mediocre and the Old Testament kind of fizzles out in a puzzle of unfulfilled hopes. There is a kind of recovery for this city that sees the city we love back functioning but it never quite bounces back – there is a loss of momentum and a bypassing. And is suspect we would still love this city but we would wonder what might have been.

There is another kind of recovery that says here is a once in a hundred year opportunity to renew the city, that sustains energy and drive and vision and determination in the midst of huge challenges, in the face of the temptation to let it go, to settle for mediocrity, to say that’s as good as it gets and not so bad considering...

Either way it is going to take 10-15years. There is a dynamic of faith that holds to a vision over a long haul, that is not empty hype but does extinguish the “fiery darts of the enemy” that at times discourage and defeat us. I think that is actually our challenge, what kind of recovery will we have. What kind of dream of recovery can we sustain long term? What kind of recovery will we have? What level of commitment and hope will the people of God bring to the task.I think we choose.

In my first blog/article I quoted:

24 Then the work on the house of God that is in Jerusalem stopped, and it ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia. 5:1 Now the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel who was over them. 2 Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak arose and began to rebuild the house of God that is in Jerusalem, and the prophets of God were with them, supporting them (Ezra 4:24-5:1)

If that hope is to be sustained the people of God need to keep the dream alive and support the leaders of the recovery.

8) A generation who love the land

Who hasn’t been moved by watching the student volunteer army out here cleaning up? Maybe not so prominent but also the 24/7 youth workers organising programmes for students, the high school students cleaning up their schools. We have had a spirituality that so often has not been earthed in a context, the gospel becoming incarnate in our specific location.

Jesus said “Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5)

Paul spoke of “the church of God, the one that is, the one that exists, in Corinth” (1 Cor 1:2). Not peripherally in Corinth, not incidentally in Corinth, the one that wrestles with what it means to be the people of God in Corinth. I suspect that a new generation who love Jesus and who love people will also in a new way love this land. As a result of seeing their city broken, as a result of volunteering to help clear up, they will love this land and will express their commitment in a commitment to working out this gospel in this place, to seeing the fruit of their faith in the life of this city. It’s going to take the next 10-15 years of their lives.

My great hope is that a new generation of God’s people who love God and love the people of this place will in a new way have an integrated faith that loves this place - the church of God that is ... in ... Christchurch - not incidentally, not peripherally but sacrificially, incarnationally, intentionally, laying down their lives for the cause of God in this place.

Steve Graham

Dean, Laidlaw College, Christchurch