Letter from the Rectory
PARISH
OF LLANDUDNO, NORTH WALES
September 2007
It’s been a strange old summer in Britain. Terrorists attempted,
unsuccessfully, I’m glad to say, to cause destruction in London and
Glasgow. The dreaded foot and mouth disease re-appeared on farms
in Surrey. And, of course, there has been the dreadful flooding
in Yorkshire and Gloucestershire and other places. We seem to
have lurched from one crisis to another and I really feel sorry for our
new Prime Minister Gordon Brown who has had to deal with all these
problems almost as soon as he assumed office and even had to rush back
to London hours after starting a holiday with his family to deal with
the foot and mouth crisis. ‘What have we done to deserve all this?’
some may ask.
But let’s put our problems into a wider perspective. For example,
without wishing in any way to minimize the misery faced by our fellow
citizens who have had to endure the flooding of their homes and
businesses etc. we are all aware of the still more desperate plight of
those who have endured much worse flooding in the Indian sub-continent
in recent weeks. And nothing experienced in Britain this summer
can compare with the misery faced by refugees in Darfur.
These facts haven’t stopped some folk, including at least one eminent
churchman who should know better, declaring that events like the
flooding are in some way a punishment sent by God because of the sins
of modern society. Now I really can’t believe in a God who
behaves in such a way. To me, this is an ‘Old Testament’ view of
an angry vengeful God, a view which is incompatible with a belief in
the God of love and forgiveness revealed in Jesus Christ. And, in
any case, why should the people of Gloucestershire or Yorkshire be
regarded as any more sinful than those in other parts of the
country? No, the troubles we have endured are due either to
sinful humans (terrorism) or natural forces (flooding). As the
cause of the foot and mouth outbreak has not been fully discovered as I
write this, I’m not sure to which of these it can be attributed!
Flooding, as a punishment for the corruption of humanity, is the theme
of a very famous story in the book of Genesis. I refer, of
course, to the story of the flood and of Noah’s ark. God attempts
to wipe out all living things (except a remnant saved on the ark) by
flooding the whole earth. At the end of the story, however, God
promises Noah that he will never again wipe out all living things with
a flood and sets a rainbow in the sky as a sign of a covenant between
Him and all living things to this effect.
I don’t believe, by the way, that the story of Noah and the flood is to
be taken as historical, though of course it may reflect memories of
flooding in ancient times. It is rather to be understood as a
parable – a story – dealing with God’s dealings with sinful humanity,
His desire to save and to forgive, and to give opportunities for a
fresh start.
There are, in fact, several instances in the Old Testament when God
brings people to salvation through water – the Flood is one and the
Exodus another when the people of Israel pass through the Red Sea on
dry land on their way to freedom. Water can be terribly
destructive; it can also be the means to salvation and healing.
In fact, the Flood and the Exodus are often seen as pointing forward to
Baptism in which water becomes the sign of the cleansing and new life
offered to us by Christ.
This year, the theme of our autumn parish conference will be Baptism
and we will be able to explore these themes at greater depth
then. There will be more about this in next month’s
magazine. Meanwhile our task is not to wonder why they have
happened to our country, and certainly not to attribute them to divine
anger, but rather to do what we can to show love and compassion to
those who have suffered in flooding and other disasters by prayer and
action, for it is in these things that Christ’s love is revealed.
Fr John.