st thomas' weekly bulletin letters
This is an archive of the St Thomas' "Weekly Bulletin" letters, written by Simon Manchester and other St Thomas' ministers.
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Haiti and Disasters The great King Solomon nearing the end of a long and full life wrote solemnly “there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). His point is both distressing and profound. The distressing part is nothing that ever happens is “new”. Disaster? There have been plenty before. You name it – it has happened before, over and over again. The most recent and horrific disaster – Haiti – Solomon would say, is just another of countless horrific disasters our world has seen. In our lives “under the sun” we can recall many disasters – the tsunami, fatal bushfires, Bali bombings, China earthquake – in fact the list is endless. Watching the tragedy of Haiti unfold before our eyes, from the comfort of our lounge rooms, can almost be a déjà vu experience. Sit in front of TV long enough and the tragedies seem to keep rolling on. Scenes of carnage, suffering, and hopelessness almost gain a sameness about them. I grieve that I can forget them almost as fast as I can change the channel. The profound part of Solomon’s conclusion only compounds our distress. In this case – there has always been, presently are, and will always be, tragedies and disasters. The folly of humanity is that we think that somehow we can change things – but even such folly is not new. All this is to say one thing: Almost always when there is a disaster of such proportions your leaders see the need to address understanding the problem of suffering in a loving God’s world. Over the years your leaders have prayerfully addressed these issues in our bulletin letters. The truths from God’s Word are timeless, so we decided to make what has been written before available to you again. Copies of the relevant letters can be downloaded from our website. There is nothing new to say – but what has been said before has been very helpful indeed! I commend their teaching to you afresh. Your brother in Christ Richard James
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