Catastrophe and Its Aftermath

Watched a very interesting program on PBS Sunday evening. It was the first episode of the series, Secrets of the Dead and was titled Catastrophe!. It was developed from the theory from David Keys who wrote a book on the subject.

Beginning in the year 535 A.D. major climatic changes began to occur worldwide. It appears to have been caused by a cataclysmic volcanic eruption around Java and Sumatra. The intriguing question explored by the episode and the book: Did this event of 535 cause the Dark Ages and move the world from the “ancient” world to the beginnings of the modern one.

This was the beginning of major drought- or flood- or famine from significantly colder temperatures.
>> The temperatures allowed the Bubonic Plague to make its first incursion into Europe, decimating Constantinople and the Roman Empire,
>> changing the climate caused political and religious uprisings in Mexico,
>> and Yemen was devastated leading to immigration and movement of large numbers of Arabs into the Medina and Mecca areas, possibly even setting the stage for the development of Islam.

Amazing stuff.

One of the intriguing aspects was the religious one. When the skies darken, the climate changes, the moon turns red, it looks like the end of the world. In Mexico, one of the largest cities was demolished by its inhabitants, including the temples and religious sites. The priests were not able to maintain their position. They couldn’t produce the rain, or convince the gods to give them food. And when gods fail - people move to new ones. Sometimes- often- violently.

Needless to say my mind began to think of the possible minor, but still possible, similarities with the situation in the western church today. As Modernism and it’s sidelines in intellectualism, materialism, and technology struggle in the movement into the more mystical and uncertain postmodern, western religion has found itself in the same boat. It’s not able to produce the “outcomes” people wanted to expect. The institutions have become institutionalized. The Reformation needs to be reformed. The intellectually based thinking needs to find its feelings again. It is a time of transition. The sky may not have turned red, the volcano may not have erupted, but it is a time of upheaval. People will look for the expression of God that meets their spiritual needs.

Again, back to 9/11. The church did not meet the needs.

Or after the Holocaust. The nation that produced some of the greatest culture in western history and sparked the Reformation and many great Christian thinkers also produced the Holocaust. That disconnect may be at the very heart of the spiritual crises of the past 50 years. Where was God? Why would God allow such a thing to happen? When the world seems to fall apart, we look to our gods. And when the gods, as we understand them, fail, we move to new ones.

May we continue to be faithful to God and not wrap God in the cultural baggage. Instead, may we, in our faithfulness, show that the gods that are failing are our human conceptions of God. May we be able to invite each other and others into a new pilgrimage to discover the ways God is calling out to us today. It is a new day emerging. It is a new spirituality emerging. Let is stay near to God and seek the wisdom from on high and then the power to live it.