The editor of the Times newspaper wrote this week, “There is something unavoidably symbolic about the cloud of volcanic ash hanging over Britain”. I agree. He said it “should have prompted a serious election debate about the environment”. I can’t quite follow that extraordinary conclusion! I felt a sense of complete anti climax!
Two phrases had previously come into my mind as I had thought about any meaning or symbolism in this volcanic eruption; they were “human vulnerability” and “frightening immediacy”. A simple confluence of volcano, ice and wind direction (all totally outside of human control) had produced millions of tons of ash that incapacitated the latest aviation technology and grounded hundreds of planes. Staggering! The impact is huge with thousands stranded and perishables in danger of rotting. The vulnerability of this tightly knit, sophisticated human society we live in has once again been completely exposed. This volcano will do more damage yet if it continues.
Two phrases had previously come into my mind as I had thought about any meaning or symbolism in this volcanic eruption; they were “human vulnerability” and “frightening immediacy”. A simple confluence of volcano, ice and wind direction (all totally outside of human control) had produced millions of tons of ash that incapacitated the latest aviation technology and grounded hundreds of planes. Staggering! The impact is huge with thousands stranded and perishables in danger of rotting. The vulnerability of this tightly knit, sophisticated human society we live in has once again been completely exposed. This volcano will do more damage yet if it continues.
It all happened so suddenly – that really is the frightening bit. One day all is well; the next day there is chaos. There’s no time to prepare, no time to get back home before the ash is in the sky, no time for alternative arrangements. It’s an instantaneous moment of reckoning.
I don’t need to use “judgement” vocabulary in this reflection, even if it were appropriate. I find myself much more drawn to a verse in Ps. 90 “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (v.11). God teaches us “to number our days” by making our vulnerability obvious. It’s a lesson that a self-centred consumer society needs to learn before it crashes along with its pride in its achievements and its growing mind-set that says it has a right to have what it needs and wants. When we face our vulnerability, then we start to ask questions about life that are rather deeper than just what we are going to buy on the next shopping spree. When the psalm talks about “gaining a heart of wisdom” it is talking about getting divine “wisdom”, that is to say a God centred life, righteousness and care for others.
We live on an “angry planet”. This is not just “unfortunate” or “cruel”. It’s very anger can be a blessing when it takes us down a peg or two, brings home to us our dependence on God, and lifts our thoughts to the way we live and to the fact that there is an eternal life to be lived beyond this planet.
No, the volcano is not symbolic of the environment! It’s symbolic of the need for humanity to really face up to itself and the way it lives.
Bob
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I don’t need to use “judgement” vocabulary in this reflection, even if it were appropriate. I find myself much more drawn to a verse in Ps. 90 “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (v.11). God teaches us “to number our days” by making our vulnerability obvious. It’s a lesson that a self-centred consumer society needs to learn before it crashes along with its pride in its achievements and its growing mind-set that says it has a right to have what it needs and wants. When we face our vulnerability, then we start to ask questions about life that are rather deeper than just what we are going to buy on the next shopping spree. When the psalm talks about “gaining a heart of wisdom” it is talking about getting divine “wisdom”, that is to say a God centred life, righteousness and care for others.
We live on an “angry planet”. This is not just “unfortunate” or “cruel”. It’s very anger can be a blessing when it takes us down a peg or two, brings home to us our dependence on God, and lifts our thoughts to the way we live and to the fact that there is an eternal life to be lived beyond this planet.
No, the volcano is not symbolic of the environment! It’s symbolic of the need for humanity to really face up to itself and the way it lives.
Bob
To make a comment: click on word “comments” below, write your comment in the white box which appears and add your name and e mail address (if you wish), choose “select profile”, click “anonymous” and then continue.
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