Having researched “hunkering down”, as in yesterday’s
blog, I noticed that it is sometimes accompanied by another phrase: “Bug In”!
Another Americanism, and I like the idea of all our cousins across the Atlantic
bugging in. They need to. The phrase means “to survive a natural disaster”.
Just how natural some of the disasters which befall them or us is open to
question.
We might be talking about hurricanes and tornadoes, or
the raging wildfires. They are natural phenomena, but we know that they are becoming
more prevalent due to global warming. We might be talking about the virus, which
looks like a natural phenomenon spread by our global travel options – which
only fuel the global warming.
Natural disasters could also be about people, for we are part
of nature. But do we exercise our responsibility? Our lack of concern, our
choices which can be so flawed, can leave us needing to bug in when faced with
human folly in oppression, exploitation and aggression. Our faith tells us that
humans have been flawed from the beginning, the picture of the Garden of Eden –
that most natural of places - shows Adam and Eve making self-centred,
self-aggrandising decisions which ruin their lives, and so it has ever been.
Our failures, our sins, are in one sense a natural
disaster, the results and then the consequences of our human state of
fallenness. Jesus is the New Adam who challenges human sin and calls us to
love. He is the one who offers us the chance to Bug In, to survive this
disaster. Our nature cannot bring us eternal life, but through Christ’s loving sacrifice
we all have the opportunity to survive the disaster of becoming separated from
God.
Heavenly Father, we sometimes feel so frail in body and
spirit. Life has become so complex and unnatural in so many ways, and nature seems
to be trammelled down by our activities, threatening our very existence. And so
many decisions and achievements are either flawed or stem from selfishness.
Hold and guide us that we may, together, survive and
flourish. Give us a vision of a world based on justice and responsibility, and as
we live day by day help us to serve your purposes and rejoice that in the face
of the world’s failures you have sent your Saviour, Jesus the Lord. Amen
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