Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea Diocese of Port Moresby Bishop Peter Fox

Faith and the Tsunami by Bishop Peter Fox.

It is inescapable fact that it is often sadness that pulls a broken family together. When we are faced by the grim reality of pain or death, the disagreements that have divided us are set aside, so that we can help each other. Instead of arguing with one another, we try to give and receive comfort from each other.

One positive thing that has come out of our sadness over the recent Asia Tsunami Disaster has been that it has united Papua New Guinea in a shared compassion. I suppose the last time this happened was when PNG suffered its own Aitape Tsunami a few short years ago. Just for a little while we can put the differences of language group, traditional rivalries and prejudices, pride of status and religious controversies on one side, and work together to help other people. It is one small sign of hope to be pulled from the wreckage.

It is right and good that people of different faiths should be trying to find ways of helping one another at such a time. People of every faith died in the Asia Tsunami, and people of every faith are at work in the places that have been most severely hit. No-one is asking which church a person belongs to or which religion they follow, before they reach out with relief or comfort. A child’s body is discovered. No-one knows the child’s name. We do not know what she believed in. Strangers bury her in a mass grave, but we all weep for her.

People are reaching out to people. We cling to our faith, of course, more tightly than ever. It is only our faith in Almighty God that can carry us through this experience, but at the same time, we are learning to respect each other a little more, and to judge each other a little less.

For me, the only thing that makes sense of what has happened is the fact of Jesus being alongside His children in their sufferings. The Cross of Jesus is the sign of His Living Power among us, His Resurrection the sign that after suffering and death comes healing and life restored. But then the words of Our Lord’s own prayer come whispering from the depths of my being, and with Him I say, “Our Father….”

“Our Father” !!! Not just My Father, not just Yours. There is a wonderful inclusiveness about that phrase, “Our Father.” Jesus is reminding us that whether we like it or not, God is everyone else’s Father as well. He is Father of the people we like, and the people we do not like. He is the Father of people we agree with, but he is also Father to the people who disagree with us. He is even Father to people who do not believe He exists. He is, whether I like it or not, I have no choice about this, He is the Father of people who call Him by different names, who worship Him in ways that are strange to us.

As a Christian, I find myself discovering afresh, that the Father sent His Son, that Jesus died on the Cross and rose again, that the Holy Spirit came, not to divide us, but to unite us. God is Our Father. He belongs to all of us, whether we know it or not, and Our Father wants all His children to listen to each other and love one another.