September Sketch

Unshaken

Boats, swans, children’s playground, picnics… Relaxed people, on a tranquil late summer day, enjoy Christchurch, England, whose priory church has stood solid for nearly a thousand years. Nearly twelve thousand miles away, in Christchurch, New Zealand, its earthquake-damaged cathedral stands as a reminder of life’s uncertainty. A recent earthquake shook Washington DC and rumbled under New York. A hurricane threatened that same eastern seaboard. And New York, this month, recalls the different terror shock of ten years ago.

Life is uncertain. Peaceful places suffer sudden ferocity. Without warning there may be illness, unemployment, bereavement, riots, terror attack… Can we prepare for the traumas that affect us mentally, physically and spiritually?

Jesus told the story of two house builders. One built on sand, one on rock. When the storm came, the house on sand fell, the other stood - rock solid. “Listen to me and obey my words,” Jesus said. A secure foundation to build on. He never said “if” the storm comes, but “when.” Christ’s church – the people who listen and obey him – will find strength and hope in him. The Bible says, “The solid foundation that God has laid cannot be shaken; the Lord knows those who are his.” “Continue faithful on a firm and sure foundation. Do not allow yourselves to be shaken from the hope you gained when you heard the gospel.”