Psalm 46: Where Is God In The London Bombings? page 1

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Today is the last time I shall preach here at Gillingham Methodist Church. I had hoped to preach on something personal, as a particular word at this time. However the events of Thursday in London have changed my plans.

I am a Londoner. On Wednesday I was exhilarated that London had been awarded the 2012 Olympics. I promised Rebekah and Mark I would take them to the Games then. Rebekah was very keen! And besides, it's always fun to wipe an arrogant smile off a French face! (Only joking.)

But on Thursday everything changed. My father used to take the train to Liverpool Street and then catch the tube to Aldgate East. That's where one of the bombs went off. My sister at one time commuted to Edgware Road - the scene of another bomb. I once went for a job interview in Tavistock Square - that's where the bus exploded. I saw the lunch-time news and all I could say was the word, 'Evil'. I felt like saying far worse and very unchristian things, but the children were present.

And I thought there would be many people in churches today with big questions as a result of these atrocities. I felt duty-bound to make some attempt at a response in this morning's sermon. I wondered which Bible passages to take. A number suggest themselves, but then I received an email of a press release from the Evangelical Alliance, in which their General Director, Joel Edwards, said:

"We need to pray earnestly for those who have suffered loss or injury and call on God to bind up the broken hearted. I have found Psalm 46 a great comfort at this time. "

Psalm 46. I knew it. I looked it up. It made a lot of connections for me. I offer them to you today, because they have helped me. I pray they will help you, and I pray they will help you in your conversations with your friends.

Right now some people have some huge questions, rather along the lines of the character Mary-Alice in the TV show Desperate Housewives, who said:

"Each night before we go to sleep we lie to ourselves, in a desperate, desperate hope that come morning it will all be true. "

What I say will not be complete answers: I can't give them, and maybe we should be wary of thinking we can give complete answers. It's part of a modern disease where we think we are all-knowing, like God.

What I'm doing here is letting the Psalm take us back to some basics: 'three Rs', in fact. These three 'R's are basic Christian beliefs that well repay returning to at a time like this.

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Copyright © David D Faulkner, 2006 except where other sources are attributed or noted as inspiration.