Christ('s)church shaken...

I'm sure we have all watched on completely stunned and aghast at the terrible tragedy that has befallen New Zealand's second-city Christchurch in light of the recent earthquake. Given the media saturation such natural disasters receive (especially in countries we regard as developed and, even more so, 'western') we have had to deal with frequent common assaults to our senses with awful regularity over the past week. And there could be no more of a visually shocking image than that which has been seared into this white man's consciousness - the sight of the now crumbling edifice that once stood proudly as Christchurch Cathedral. The century-old church is one of the most iconic spiritual centres of Aotearoa, the land of the long white cloud. Yet as it now stands shaken, bowed and de-crowned of it's famous spire, the only cloud that surrounds it is the sadness of its people and the dust of a violent earth. As a single frame, the image of the fallen cathedral appears to represent, frozen in time, the despair of a lovely small city dealing with such a tumultuous and tragic event that literally shook it's foundations to the core.

Upon the occurence of other recent natural disasters around the world such as the S-E Asian tsunami, Hurricane Katrina in the US, the earthquake disaster in Haiti and even the Black Saturday bushfires here in Victoria, Australia, there has been a monotonous chorus of malicious opinion stating that such disasters are the consequence of rampant sin and general Godlessness. This is the viewpoint that believes that countries or regions on the earth vex God so much to the point where He commissions a little 'ground shaking' or oceanwave inundation just to remind those pesky sin-riddled humans who's boss! And it is usually around the 5-6 day mark after such an event that these spiritual doomsayers usually crawl out of their caves and spew forth their highly-convenient invective. Yet it is interesting though, and a good thing I say, that this white man has yet to hear any such forecast explaining the earthquake in Christchurch as being the result of the awful wrath of divine consternation. Well not yet I should add...

Because I guess it's hard, even for the rabid hell fire and brimstone fundamental right of the Christian spectrum to justify how God could have ripped His earth apart and brought a beautiful small city to it's knees in the South Island of New Zealand. Because it's all in the name really. How could God grind out His divine anger against a city called Christchurch? How could the image of a fractured Christ's Church in Christchurch resonate with the very God of love and grace to whom that church belongs?

So at least in the midst of this terrible tragedy and all the destruction the NZ earthquake has wrought, the silence of all the 'righteous haters' out there on the matter of Christ('s)church has been music to this white man's soul. Thank God for at least that one small mercy... And may God continue to defend New Zealand!