Spiritual Hiccups - No Answers

Like many people, I've been watching images on TV and the Internet of the devastation in northern Japan, with death tolls expected to exceed 10,000 and an ongoing emergency involving several nuclear reactors.  When I awoke this morning, I checked for the latest news from Japan, and then I read today's lectionary passages, hoping that something would speak to me from those verses, that providentially some particularly appropriate text would offer hope or solace.

But the lectionary readings seemed blissfully unaware of this tragedy.  No reading seemed to have anything helpful to say.  Of course these readings are simply from a list made long ago. Still, I was hoping.

Pastors are often with people who have just experienced some terrible loss, a child killed in an accident, a loved one struck down by some terrible illness.  Sometimes they ask the awful question, "Why?"  It's a legitimate question, but I'm not sure that they really expect much of an answer.  I certainly don't have one. My usual answer is, "I don't know."

In seminary they teach you that what people need most at such times is your presence and not your answers.  That's good advice because answers tend to fail on several fronts.  To begin with, theological explanations of suffering don't really relieve pain.  Being held tightly by someone who loves you is far more comforting than any theological rationale. 

Far more problematic, explanations and answers often invalidate peoples questions and anger.  More often than not, religious answers seek to protect God's reputation, to somehow insulate God from people's anger and pain.  But if Jesus can scream an unanswered question from the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Psalm 22:1) who am I to deflect angry questions hurled at God by those caught up in inexplicable suffering.

I think that our desire to explain can sometimes be a form of idolatry.  We imagine ourselves capable of understanding all things, but as many have said, "Any god I can fully understand is no god at all."

I follow a number of pastors and religious folks on Twitter and such, and I'm happy to say that most of them have refrained from explaining the events in Japan.  Instead they have simply kept the people of Japan in their prayers, sent donations to aid groups, and asked others to do the same. 

There will be plenty of time later to reflect theologically on the events in Japan.  But for now, the best "answer" is not unlike the best answer we can extend to a friend who has lost a loved one unexpectedly: an "I don't know" that does not try to quell people's anger, a loving embrace, and whatever practical help we can offer.

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