SPIRITUAL GUIDANCE:

Fires, earthquakes, floods and other disasters are all revelations. To some, they open the door to faith; to others, they close it.

The tragedies of this past week are revelations of our ultimate fragility, our vulnerability and our need for one another.

They are a revelation of what is true all the time but is usually not allowed in to our awareness.

Are we aware of our priorities in new ways?

What would you take if you only had minutes to evacuate your home? Whom would you call if you had seconds to live?

What will your final thought be?

The fires revealed to us depths of heroism and a sense of solidarity we scarcely imagined. It was an apocalyptic moment as we came face-to-face with our helplessness.

We had to think the unthinkable this week. We had to try to make sense of a senseless experience.

I wonder if it also reveals our petty ambitions and shabby visions. I hope it woke up in us the sleeping visions of a different, better world.

Perhaps we have to learn over again what it is to be fully human.

We say, “Life has to go on!” And it does. That’s not enough! Life is taken on trust. Taking life on trust is a matter of faith.

We know that, living lovingly and faithfully, there is no such thing as a fire-proof life.

We ask, “Where is God?” We know that God is right here with us in all our anguish and grief and bewilderment.

God loves us with a love that will not let us go. Our names are engraved on God’s hands. God wants to wipe the tears away from our eyes.

Disasters produce a kind of spiritual liquefaction; a crossing-over of boundaries.

We belonged to each other for a few hours this week. Strangers became friends; friends grew closer. Suddenly we found ourselves linked to one another through fragility, vulnerability, heroism and fear — all the things that make us human and remind us that we belong to one another. Feel the flame of connectedness.

The Very Rev’d Canon PETER D. HAYNES is Rector/Senior Pastor of St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church in Corona del Mar.