The Tsunami and God’s Will

January 2, 2005

Currie Burris

This week the world has witnessed a tragedy in SE Asia of unparalleled proportions. The earthquake and the subsequent tsunamis, the tidal waves, have brought terrible destruction to Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India and many other countries in SE Asia and the Indian Ocean. Before the measure of this event is concluded, this may well be the worst natural disaster in recorded human history. The death toll rises every day. Total the number is at 150 thousand lives lost. Many of the bodies are yet to be found, many people unaccounted for. And many more may suffer and die from the resultant disease and starvation this disaster will leave in its wake.

Whole towns and villages have been wiped away. Satellite pictures show landmasses as they were before the tidal wave, and now afterward, with large sections washed away; islands gone. Arial shots show miles and miles of debris that once were homes, farms shops, and businesses.

These reports have helped us measure the immensity of the disaster. Stories are now emerging of the personal horror of the event. A wife steps out of her car to enter a store just as the wave hits. It washes away her husband and three children. Somehow those in the car escape to high ground, the wife disappeared forever. A church is full of worshippers on this Sunday morning. All that is left is a concrete slab. All members gone. Mosques, temples likewise destroyed. An orphanage, built by Christian missionaries over 30 years of work — the pastor happens to the see the wave coming in the distance and is able to get all of the children into a boat on an adjacent canal. The engine, which never starts on the first pull, starts on the first pull, and carries the children to safety. The orphanage itself is destroyed.

All across the region, a whole world is destroyed in 30 seconds.

Our first reaction is shock, then horror as the pictures and stories come in, then deepening sadness hits. Now many are beginning to ask questions, many are searching for meaning in the midst of the tragedy. Why did this happen? How can we make sense of it? We believe that God is the creator of the universe, the maker and sustainer of all that is. Nothing happens that is not known to God. When awful things such as this disaster in Asia happen, we want to ask if this was somehow God’s will. Did God have a purpose in this tragedy?

It was put eloquently this week by an old woman in a devastated village in southern India’s Tamil Nadu state. “Why did you do this to us, God?” she wailed. “What did we do to upset you?” Some are suggesting this was somehow God’s punishment for some range of unspecified sins. Sins of those in the region, or sins of the whole world with these poor Asians bearing the weight. What did they do, or what did we all do to deserve this fate? People of all religions, Hindus, Muslims, Christians, and Jews, are asking these questions. Some are even suggesting this event is a sign of some cosmic proportions that is a sign of the beginning of the end. Armageddon is coming.

In the face of such horrendous suffering, we are searching for meaning, some explanation, and some way to understand what has happened. But we are wrong to suppose that somehow God willed the suffering and death of thousands of innocent people. God does not work that way. God does not meter out mass punishment. God does not punish the innocent for sins of the many.

This was a natural event. Two massive tectonic plates – that form the subsurface of the Indian Ocean and the Indian subcontinent – slipped. An earthquake happened in the ocean off the coast of Indonesia. It could just as easily have happened elsewhere, in the Pacific, in the Atlantic off our Eastern shore, or off the coast of Europe or Africa. Earthquakes happen. And when they happen in the ocean, tidal waves, tsunamis, often follow. The terrible tragedy is that sometimes people are in the way when it does happen. God didn’t will that confluence of events, that crossing of paths. It just happens. Hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, lightning, storms, snow, and rain — all natural processes that sometimes have human consequences.

But God is here in these events. God is with the people who have suffered this terrible tragedy. God is with all the people who have lost families, homes, farms, and businesses. God is with all who are suffering. God is with those who are searching for loved ones, searching for food, searching for shelter. God is with those who are cleaning away debris, burying the dead, treating the wounded, bringing in supplies, food, housing.

The measure of God’s will in this event is not how or why it happened. God’s will is in how we as the human community help those who so desperately need our help. God’s will for people around the globe is to rally to assist the southern Asians with food, medical supplies, sanitary supplies, housing, clean water.

Not so many years ago, an event like this could have happened in some corner of the world, and most of the world would never have heard about it. Or if they did they would never have begun to understand its full scope, much less be able to respond in any way that would be really helpful. But today, through instant communications, satellites, the Internet, jet travel, a global network of communications and transportation, we know about what has happened and we can organize the resources to help. And help we must.

You have probably already heard of some the agencies that are receiving funds to help in this crisis. Our own church, the Presbyterian Church USA, has been helping in times of natural and human-caused disaster for many years. The Presbyterian Disaster Assistance agency is already working with non-governmental organizations to send relief to southern Asia. Right now the most useful resource is money. Money will buy food and supplies that can be airlifted to the area almost immediately. There is also a call out now for churches and groups to assemble small sanitary kits, with things like soap and swabs that will help an individual stave off infection. More details about these kits will be forthcoming soon. I hope that we will be able to respond as we are called.

Our Second Mile offering today, taken up after our Communion service, will be dedicated completely to disaster relief. All money we collect today will go to the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance fund. Make your check out to SSPC, earmarked for disaster relief. 100% of the money sent to Presbyterian Disaster Assistance goes for relief. Administrative costs are covered through our benevolence giving.

Let us give as God calls us to give to help those who need us now.

Let us pray.