In his blog, Jim Somerville, pastor of First Baptist Church, Richmond, reflected on some of his learnings in light of the recent earthquake and hurricane. I liked what he wrote, but I especially liked the last sentence: "If I'm not careful, I'll forget everything I learned."

I am amazed by some of the theological interpretations given to the meaning of natural disasters. These wild versions of what went wrong seem to happen every time. Jim's learnings had more to do with being reminded of the fragility of our lives and what it is that matters most--loving God and one another. Now that makes sense to me.

Other "interpretations" do not, especially when they come from religious spokesmen who seem to have missed the Sunday School lesson in the third grade which taught that God is not out to get us. If God gets really mad at us, and uses hurricanes and earthquakes to punish us, we're all in trouble. Such an angry, vindictive God would make me far more nervous than the scariest weather forecast. Imagine turning on your TV to get the latest forecast and hearing, "The east coast is in danger, because God is really mad tonight!"

How many of us would take such a forecast seriously? Yet these post-disaster pronouncements get reported by the media as if worthy of our time.

Hey, I'll just say it. God does not use earthquakes and hurricanes as weapons!

Jim is so right. If we're not careful, we will forget everything we have learned. We can so easily forget everything we have learned about God and fall into the jaws of superstition and fear. I started to say we fall into childlike thinking, but that would be an insult to our children. They know better. Somewhere along the way, as our lives get buffeted by winds and rain, we forget what we knew.

I cannot think of a better commercial for regular worship among a congregation that has become a community for spiritual nurture and continued learning. We need each other's help in remembering. Worship is remembering the Goodness of God, the Love of God, the Presence of God. Worship is remembering the face of God that we see in the life of Jesus.

Is this the face of an angry Zeus who throws thunderbolts in anger, a god who makes the earth shake just because he can?

Goodness, no.

God so loved the world. God so loves the world...and don't ever forget it.

Steve