7.0

In the midst of life we are in death;
from whom can we seek help?
From you alone, O Lord...

As I've listened to news reports today detailing the devastation in Haiti from yesterday's massive earthquake, I've found myself thinking, time and time again, about these lines of Scripture that are used in the Burial Office in the Book of Common Prayer.

Some have argued that God's "job" is to protect all humanity from suffering and death, particularly from the randomness of those events we euphemistically refer to as "natural disasters". Many people see the tragedy of thousands dead in a matter of moments as proof positive that God is either "too weak to be of any use" or "too malicious to be trusted". Christians would say there is another perspective -- a perspective that recognizes the limitations of human understanding. A perspective conversant in the language of lament. Tonight, people of faith everywhere offer up prayers of anguish and grief; groaning for the nation of Haiti with sighs too deep for words.

O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, we pray thee to set thy passion, cross, and death between thy judgment and our souls, now and in the hour of our death. Give mercy and grace to the living, pardon and rest to the dead, to thy holy Church peace and concord, and to us sinners everlasting life and glory; who with the Father and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP, p. 489)