Hurricaine Katrina Sermon

Hurricane Katrina Sermon

Mark 15:33-39

Psalm 22

James 5:7-12, 19-20

                    In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.  Amen.

In the aftermath of the devastation of  Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast, as many people were, I too was glued to the 24 hour news networks.  All the time I spent watching, there was one common comment that kept bothering me.  Several times I heard people describe New Orleans as Hell.  It was unsettling and I was not sure why.  I recognized the hardships and suffering these people were going through.  And while nobody can say that they know what someone is going through.  Especially, since most of us had never faced anything like this before.  We can empathize.

But was it Hell?  Then one day as I was continuing to mull it

over, it came to me.  As bad as it was down there, New Orleans was not Hell.  Because if Heaven is the presence of God, then Hell is the absence of God, and God was not absent in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.

†        God was not absent when all those people died.

God was present in the Hundreds of Thousands that were saved!

†        God was not absent during the days when the crowds waited for aid.

God was present in the Hundreds of Thousands of people through out our country and the world, who through tears of their own, offered prayers, money, assistance and the much needed aid, for the victims, and still stand by to render more!

†        God was not absent in the violence and horror in New Orleans in the aftermath of the storm.

God was present in the thousands of rescue workers, military personnel, and police officers that risked their own lives to go in harms way to save others!

†        And God was not absent when his Son died on the cross.

But was ever present, when “God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten son, to the end that all that believe in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”!  (John 3:16).

[Pause]

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Whether we hear this from Mark, Psalm 22 or the Streets of New Orleans, it sounds like a cry for help.  And sometime it is!  We know very little why this statement is included in the Gospel of Mark.  It is also included in the account in Matthew but it is not included in the other two Gospels.  Some scholars believe that Jesus was reciting Psalm 22 while he hung on the cross.  And reciting a psalm would have been a common practice for a Jew of Jesus’ day to do in a time of trouble.

Perhaps Psalm 22, which is a plea for deliverance from suffering and hostility, can help us to understand more.  The Psalm begins with “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?  Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?”  It then continues with a litany of troubles facing the psalmist.  But more importantly, along the way, the psalmist begins to praise God as the God that delivered the people of Israel.  Finally, it ends with the Psalmist recognizing that it is God that provides our needs  “For he [God] did not despise or abhor the affliction of the afflicted; he did not hide his face from me, but heard when I cried to him.”

          So whether it is the reading of Psalm 22 or the news from New Orleans, we are reminded that life includes suffering.  And in these times of despair, it is easy to feel alone and abandoned.  But it is in just these times, that we must be reminded, God is always with us, he will never abandon us, and that we must turn to God for our relief.

          This often requires an amazing level of patience during the suffering even when everything seems hopeless.  “Indeed we call blessed those who showed endurance. You have heard of the endurance of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.”  (James).  While the suffering is hard, our endurance is rewarded.

     But it is not my purpose in this homily to criticize those in need for expressing their human fears and concerns while they were facing their trials.  Nor to chastise them for loosing sight of God.  But it is to remind all of us that we as Christians, who were not living on the Gulf coast, have a responsibility to help.  Both by our gifts and by our Christian guidance to those in trouble.  It is our duty as Christians to not only assist the needy with their basic needs but to also bolster them up in our prayers and with encouragement.  “My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and is brought back by another,  you should know that whoever brings back a sinner from wandering will save the sinner’s soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.” (James).

Jesus teaches us to help those in need and to remember that it is through God that all of our needs are provided.  During time of disasters such as this, the work of God and love of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit can be seen.  It can be displayed in the outpouring of care and assistance to those in need even though they may be strangers to us.  And when they witness our love for them, as modeled after the love of Jesus Christ, then like the Centurion they will recognize that a love this strong can only come from Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen