response

When I first logged in to work this morning, having not yet caught any news, as is usual for that time of the day, I had an instant message from a colleague on the East Coast asking me, “Have you headed for higher ground yet?” I had no clue as to what he meant, and before I could ask I had to head downstairs and grab some hot tea and toast so I could be coherent for an 8:00 am call.

I thought, perhaps, he was speaking metaphorically, that there had been a huge upheaval in the company and I needed to take cover. It turned out, of course, that he was speaking literally and referring to the devastating earthquake in Japan that resulted in the tsunami warning along the West Coast. The damage, as you know, varied from severe in Crescent City to moderate in Santa Cruz, to minor or none at many other places along the coast.

The events of today made me think of the South Asian tsunami in 2005, and then Episcopal Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold’s response to the question of “where was God in all this?” I can’t find the exact quote, but Griswold said, in effect, that we should not be confused by thinking that God is in the acts of nature, because God is not. Nature does what nature does, and that is not God.

Where God is, Griswold said, is in the response to the event.

And as with the 2005 event, so today, responses are already mobilized and aid is moving in quickly.

That’s where God is.