A Christmas Tsunami

I've not been sure how to say anything worthwhile on this blog this week -- about or in the face of the tremendous suffering on the other side of the world,

this sermon, which I found at textweek put together well much of the ambivalence and frustration that I've been thinking about....


Nine nights ago we gathered here to sing and celebrate
We told stories about a baby
A baby who would save the world
A baby whose birth was greeted by angels
A baby whose birth meant tidings of joy for all people everywhere
We spoke of God-made-flesh
Cute chubby baby flesh

...

What child is this who laid to rest on Mary’s lap is sleeping?
What child is this who laid to rest
in the mud and devastation of Aceh?
And what child is this?
And this?
And this?
Who knows?
Corpses everywhere
Battered lifeless unnamed corpses
Every now and then there is a scream
and one of the living gives a name to one of the dead
and grieves
and thousands more lay waste in the sun
some perhaps with no one left alive who knew their name

What can we say?
Who wants to sing of cute babies now?
Who wants to stand up and talk of the Word made flesh?
There’s flesh strewn all over the streets
Broken lifeless flesh
Beginning to bloat in the sun


read the whole sermon