God Was Not in the Earthquake
“…but the Lord was not in the earthquake”
1 Kings 19:11
The earth shook like an enraged beast,
the mountains trembled and the sea unleashed its fury,
the soil opened its mouth wide and swallowed whole buildings,
and a people exhausted from suffering, suffers anew.
We saw their faces and heard their cries,
through images that shuddered and shook,
people wandering, bodies crushed
death and destruction, agony and pain,
in the wake of the cruel, devastating earthquake.
But God was not in the earthquake…
Children without their mothers, mothers without their children,
brothers without brothers and friends without friends,
thousands and thousands of lives flattened in seconds,
stories, hopes, dreams and plans,
all disappeared in the blink of an eye.
The horror left its indelible mark
in the lost looks, the desolate faces,
the dead, the trapped, the mutilated,
in each life torn apart by the unexpected.
But God was not in the earthquake.
Someone cried out in terror and other voices joined in.
Someone lifted a prayer, and others prayed along.
Someone sang, and many joined the song.
Someone lifted a piece of concrete,
and others began to clear away the rubble,
somone hugged the injured
and others carried the wounded in their arms
someone stretched out a hand to help,
and thousands of hands joined in.
And God was among them.
In solidarity with the Haitian people
Gerardo Oberman*
Castelar, Argentina
January 13, 2010
* Poem written by Gerardo Oberman, a Presbyterian pastor in Argentina, after he learned of the earthquake in Haiti. translation (Unauthorized) was received by Stan Slade in its original from a friend, Juan Stam in Costa Rica.