Dear Friends,

Our thoughts are probably on Hurricane Ian, which is what “Invest 98L” became from when it passed Cayman. It threatened but (I believe) passed the Islands without significant damage for the most part. However, because of the continuing impossibility to predict weather perfectly, the warnings were heeded, the shutters went up, shelters opened, winds blew and rains fell, and it seems that some roofs were somewhat impacted. Some areas suffered power loss, but most did not. Like its name, hurricane “Ian” was “Ivan” (2004) writ small.

It was different in Cuba and even more so in parts of Florida where there are huge areas of flooding and destruction and widespread power loss, as well as huge evacuation plans which would have been only partially heeded. 

As believers in God we perhaps wonder about His purpose when severe events of nature confront us. Such philosophising about the divine purpose of potential disaster is called “Theodicy”. We are confronted with a reality that we find hard to “get our heads around”. Nevertheless by faith we put our trust still in the goodness of God that we see revealed to us in His Son Jesus who, after all, calmed the storm on the Sea of Galilee.

A way of thinking that I find helpful is to recognise the storms as a kind of witness and leftover of the power of the creative work of God when He brought the Universe, and especially our Earth within it, into being. There are some striking passages about this in the book of Job and elsewhere in the Old Testament that have been too much neglected. 

The Collect for the Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity is

O Lord, we beseech thee, let thy continual pity cleanse and defend thy Church; and, because it cannot continue in safety without thy succour, preserve it evermore by thy help and goodness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The prayer reminds us that it is the “continual pity” of the Lord God which we may call upon in a prayer to “cleanse and defend” His Church. This cleansing and defence is not a matter of the creation exercise of earthquake, wind, hurricane or fire, because it is an exercise of redemption exemplified by the actions of the Christ. It is “through Jesus Christ our Lord” that the Church may pray in faith that the Lord God will “preserve it evermore by thy help and goodness.”

For directions about the services this Sunday the 2nd October 2022, the 16th Sunday after Trinity, please see the website www.TruthWithLanguage.com .

In faith in the holy Name of our Lord Jesus, who will continue to provide guidance and joy by the Holy Spirit to all His people.

+ Nicholas