Providence

The Old Tower Cross, Frauenkirche Dresden, photo by jch

Sermon Series “Through the Bible,” № 64, Romans 8:28-31

We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. –Romans 8:28

Last year, Sixty Minutes televised a story about how the war in Ukraine has impacted the world of dance. Jon Wertheim interviewed Olga Smirnova, former principal ballerina for the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow, and five young Ukrainian ballet dancers. Smirnova denounced Putin’s war. The Ukrainians were in places subject to air strikes. All have been relocated to Amsterdam. They are there partially for reasons of safety, but primarily to follow what they feel is their life’s calling.

Their daily stress includes worry about the safety of family members and friends in the places they’ve left behind. They wonder whether they ever will be able to go home again. For now, they’re dependent upon the grace and generosity of the country and people who have welcomed them.

Ted Brandsen is the artistic director of the Dutch National Ballet, and offers a hopeful interpretation of his nation’s show of solidarity with Ukraine. “Dancers will go on. Choreographers will go on. The work will continue. Theaters, ballet companies, they have survived worse. They have survived famines, revolutions, two World Wars. I think they will survive this.”[1]

The ballerinas in Amsterdam and their hosts highlight something summed up well by the Apostle Paul in today’s key verse. Not everything that happens in our world is good.  But for those who love God, who are called according to God’s purpose, things still can work together for good.

Sometimes, we are the ones who need to be reminded. Unanticipated challenges emerge that threaten to keep us from our goal.  Unforeseen circumstances conspire to place us on a path that we did not choose to travel. Then, one day, it’s as if light breaks through darkness, and we see that we’ve arrived at our true destination. 

“Providence” is a word that theologians use to describe this sort of experience. We see providence at work in the stories of many of the Bible’s greatest characters. For example, there’s the story of Joseph, a portion of which Kalyn read for us from Genesis. You’ll recall his roundabout journey to his life’s true destination. 

The apostle Paul, on his journey, also took detours he never imagined at the beginning. Christ led him on missionary journeys to many places, during which time, Paul tells us, he suffered whipping, beating, stoning, prison, shipwreck, exposure, hunger, and thirst.[2]

In the eighth chapter of his letter to the Romans, Paul reflects upon the meaning of suffering.  Here, he pens one of the most quoted sentences in the New Testament: “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” 

We find it difficult to believe Paul’s words, especially when we contemplate senseless death or needless suffering.  Just two weeks ago, in northern Illinois, a six-year-old boy was stabbed to death. The man who did it was motivated by hatred of Muslims.[3] This week, there was a mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine. It’s difficult to believe that these deaths somehow works for good.

I argue with Paul when people I care about are seriously injured or terminally ill, or when innocent lives are taken by flying bullets or falling bombs.  I feel like Paul would have been a bit closer to the truth if he had said, “Even when some people misuse freedom and hurt others, still God is with us and cares for us,” or “In life’s dark times, and at the moment of death, God holds our hand, and guides us to his eternal home.” But “All things work together for good”?  That’s not easy believe.

Looking closely, Paul doesn’t exactly say all things are good; Paul doesn’t claim that evil, tragedy, and suffering are trivial or imaginary.  If we tried to put it into our own words, maybe we’d say “In every place in which we are lost, God is there working to redirect us.”  “No matter how dark the path, Jesus stands in solidarity with us, shining the light toward our true destination.” 

Maybe it’s like the story surrounding Dresden, Germany, that emerges out of the much larger story of World War II. During its final months, a decision was made for a joint U.S.-British air mission. In retrospect, some say that the mission was justified by the fact that Dresden still was an important rail center for the German military, and arms were still produced there. Others say that the war was a relatively late stage, the city had become a refuge for civilians fleeing the Red Army, and that residential and culturally-significant areas were unfairly targeted. For a long time after the war, most Americans didn’t know the full story about the air raids, the resulting firestorm, and way tens of thousands of civilians were suffocated and burnt to ash. The website of the National World War II Museum, New Orleans offers a fine summary for those who want to learn more.[4]

A few months ago, when Therese and I visited Dresden, we spent some time at the Evangelical Lutheran Cathedral, the “Frauenkirche.” It lay in ruins until the 1990s, then was slowly rebuilt, using hundreds of stones from the original building. It was rededicated for worship on this Reformation weekend eighteen years ago.

In the worship space, we found on display the old tower cross. It’s disfigured by the heat it endured, but still recognizable. The old cross has become a kind of holy relic around which people light candles and pray for peace.

The new tower cross has a different story. According to one summary, it “was constructed by Alan Smith, a British goldsmith from London whose father, Frank, was a member of one of the aircrews who took part in the bombing of Dresden.” He made it an act of contrition, reconciliation, and reparation. When it was installed in June 2004, “the external structure of the Frauenkirche was completed. For the first time since the last war, the completed dome and its gilded cross grace Dresden's skyline ….”[5]Inside, I listened to a member of the church commenting on the tragedy of war, the power of reconciliation, and the hope that the story of the Frauenkirche holds when we feel despair about the state of our world today. As impossible as it sounds, by God’s grace and in time, enemies can become friends.

The state of the world can feel disastrous to a degree that makes any preacher’s words of consolation feel empty. Like the dancers in Amsterdam, like the members of the Frauenkirche in Dresden, you may have life experiences that make you feel the forces of evil are too strong for faith, hope, and love to make a difference in the welfare of the world.

The Bible is bold to say that even in the worst circumstances, we have reason to hope.  All things are not good. Still, all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to God’s purposes.

NOTES

[1] Brit McCandless Farmer, “Ballet: A theater of the war in Ukraine,” Sixty Minutes Overtime, 22 Jan. 2023, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ballet-ukraine-russia-war-60-minutes-2023-01-22/ accessed 25 Oct. 2023.

[2] Paul describes his sufferings in 2 Corinthians 11:23-33.

[3] Sophia Tareen, “Muslim boy killed and woman wounded in Illinois hate crime motivated by Israel-Hamas war, police say,” Associated Press, https://apnews.com/article/muslim-boy-killed-chicago-landlord-will-county-5135dea218326d6e639a996564d9369e , accessed 25 Oct. 2023

[4] “Apocalypse in Dresden: February 1945,” website of the World War II Museum in New Orleans, https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/apocalypse-dresden-february-1945# Accessed 25 Oct. 2023.

[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frauenkirche,_Dresden accessed 25 Oct. 2023.

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