Pilgrim's Progress: More questions than answers

It all seems so disastrous and tragic with the constant stories of the difficulties over the cost of living at home, and the news of wars and mayhem in so many other parts of the world. It seems so apocalyptic that one is tempted to start thinking that the end of the world is coming! But in reality, was it not always thus?

What is so different now is that we have the huge extension in our ability to communicate what is happening in many distant places at the touch of a button. There are also the voracious appetite of 24/7 news programmes to satisfy. Once upon a time what happened in China was so far away and the news, for example, of a disastrous flood killing millions took so long to reach Britain that is just was not newsworthy by the time it arrived.

Is there a Christian response to the question ‘Where is God in all this chaos and mayhem? I say ‘response’ rather than ‘answer’ as allows a more positive reply to the question. For the Christian, God is the Lord of the Universe but does not rule all things in the manner that we humans think of control. We want Him to make everything nice and straightforward but He has given us freedom, which we also cherish deeply, and too often clash. God solves this conflict in His own way.

St Therese of Lisieux was told in a vision by Mary, the mother of Jesus, that she could not promise happiness in this world but in the next. Put simply, this life is a preparation for the full life after death. It is only then that we shall find the answers.

Brian Hamill, St Austin's Church