My wife and I were at the Big Church Festival (BCF) last Friday. The event was supposed to end on Sunday, but it came to a premature and devasting end mid-afternoon of Friday.
I have written a brief reflection on this for Evangelical Now, which can be found here. That news piece represents an instant reaction to what happened on the day.
In this blog I want to contribute a theological reflection from the perspective of a preacher who had to stand up and preach on the Sunday after.
There were 30+ people in the congregation who had been to BCF. Like me there where many who were still wearing their BCF wristbands. I kept mine on as a reminder to pray for the 41-year-old pastor from Eastbourne who died, those who were injured and still in hospital, those who witnessed the accident and the organisers as they navigate the aftermath. I also, like them, had questions.
The main question was “why?” Why did such a thing happen at an event attended by 40,000 Christians, which had so much potential for doing good?
Why? It is one of the first questions that a toddler learns to ask. It is at the heart of the long painful lament that emerges from the mouth of Job as he wrestles with the puzzling events that have stripped away almost everything from his life. The question ‘why?’ is also one that emerges from the lips of Jesus when he enters the deep suffering of the cross. Jesus makes use of Psalm 22 to reflect centuries of pain arising from millions of hearts.
I was preaching on an encouraging passage from Genesis, the songs and prayers highlighted the reality of a God who could be trusted. We were reminded by the pastor who led the service and in my sermon that being a Christian does not make us immune from suffering or from reversals and losses in life. We were reminded that we do not always get an answer to the question ‘why?’ We do get a saviour who has stepped into the world he has made, stands with us, weeps with us and has been wounded for us.
In a world that is broken we have a saviour who has been broken for us.
Yes, we have a saviour who still bears the scars of his crucifixion.
In a world that is so broken we can trust a God who has scars!
At a time like this there is a need to reflect.
We need to reflect on the brevity and uncertainty of life.
“Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes” (James 4:14).
We need to reflect on how we can be better men and women, better fathers and mothers. Preachers need to reflect on how they can be better preachers, attuned to the voice of God in Scripture and to the heart cry of the congregation.
We might not have an answer to the question ‘why?’ but we dare not act as if the question had not been asked!
Photo by Simone Secci on Unsplash