Reposting this a year on from the Japanese quake:
God you are omnipotent
omnipresent
ineffable
and lots of other big words
that mean that you have power.
So where was your power
when the fault plates shifted
and the earth moved for hundreds of thousands
of your people?
Where were you when
the ocean
took up the vibes
and swelled and raged
and attacked the land
with such force,
wiping out cities
and towns and villages
sweeping the board clean
like a child
who has fallen out with friends
and refuses to "play nice".
Where were you as folk fled for their lives
with no warning
and so many had nowhere to go?
And where are you now
as folk huddle in makeshift centres
or trawl the streets
looking in vain
for loved ones.
Or jump in alarm
at the slightest shudder,
living in fear
of the very real threat
of after shock.
All powerful God
where are you?
As we look on in horror
safe but impotent
open our eyes O God
to see you
crouched and slouched
with your suffering people
broken and battered
and washed up in the carnage.
Huddling with the lost
and the grieving
and the confused
and the hurting.
Cowering before the forces of nature
that may strike again
with the same savagery
and the same unpredictability.
Simply because
you are NOT a distant God
but a God who dwells with God's people
suffering the ravages
that affect humanity.
And, when we despair
that you share our impotence
remind us
that we would have you
no other way
but wholly involved
with your creation.
All powerful God
too close for comfort.
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