Rome burns

August is often thought of as the silly season, with the papers having nothing much to write about.
Not this year, with the world's financial markets crashing and English cities experiencing crowds of rioting and criminal gangs on the rampage. It is so bad that political leaders have had to abandon their holidays, to try to sort things out.
None of them wants to be accused to following the example of the Roman Emperor Nero, who 'fiddled while Rome burned'.
The question in their minds must be what should be done. All these issues are related, as the crashes on the Asian Stock Markets are linked to the slow decision of the US Government to sort out their debt issues - mostly as a result of the extreme views of the Tea Party Republicans. Meanwhile, Rome burns.
The Gospels tell a story with similar issues at stake. The small and vulnerable band of disciples are crossing the Sea of Galilee, with its notorious weather turning nasty, and they are threatened with a cataclysmic storm and face death by drowning. And Jesus is asleep! 'Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?”
  When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Silence! Be still!” Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm. Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
 The disciples were absolutely terrified. “Who is this man?” they asked each other. “Even the wind and waves obey him!” (Mark 4.38-41)
The message from this and countless other stories about Jesus is that He calls us to trust Him, whatever the forces of destruction that are crashing around us. It doesn't mean we will escape unharmed and exempt. But we may know what Paul told his Roman friends. ' And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.' (Romans 8.38-39)
Best wishes,
Richard