Here's a hymn of Kim Fabricius which addresses this issue of trying to work out a theodicy only as a theoretical problem (you'll find this him in his Paddling by the Shore, Wipf & Stock, 2015) [suggested tune: "Scarlet Ribbons", reproduced with permission]:
Children die from drought and earthquake,
children die by hand of man.
What on earth, and what for God's sake,
can be made of such a plan?
Nothing -- no such plan's been plotted;
nothing -- no such plan exists:
if such suffering were allotted,
God would be an atheist.
Into ovens men drive "others,"
into buildings men fly planes;
history's losers are the mothers,
history's winners are the Cains.
Asking where was God in Auschwitz,
or among the Taliban:
God himself was on the gibbet --
thus the question: Where was man?
God of love and God of power --
attributes in Christ are squared.
Faith can face the final hour,
doubt and anger can be aired.
Answers aren't in explanation,
answers come at quite a cost:
only wonder at creation,
and the practice of the cross.
No comments:
Post a Comment