A Sad & Shocking Weekend

Feburary 7 & 8, 2009

As the news of bushfires around the state started to filter through on Saturday, late in the evening I was told of members of my own congregation who had fought off a blaze around their Humevale (near Whittlesea) farmhouse. I called to see how they were coping. The worst of it was now behind them and they had survived without loss of life, property or livestock but it had been a physically and emotionally traumatic day for them.

They hadn't been able to watch or listen much to the news of what was happening elsewhere. In an attempt to be supportive and encouraging while we spoke about the situation around the state, I said something like, 'At least there's been no loss of life.' With hindsight, it sounds so superficial, naive and blasé. My friend on the end of the phone had a much better grasp of the reality. He said simply and ominously, 'They just wouldn't know yet.'

Within the hour there was a 'ticker-tape' newsflash at the bottom of our TV screens saying that 14 people had died in the fires and throughout Sunday that number rose steadily. By the time we went to bed on Sunday night it was 84, and this morning (Monday) it has risen to 108 with the depresingly realistic expectation that it will rise higher still.

I have learned today that the campsite in Marysville that was booked for our congregational retreat in April has been almost completely destroyed, several staff families have lost their homes and possessions, and one former staff family has suffered the devestating loss of a mother and two young boys.

Living in the protected and comfortable environment of a major city, I can hardly begin to understand the fear and anxiety in the face of an approaching fire. I cannot grasp the confusion and panic in the midst of it. And I can barely fathom the grief and agony of its aftermath, whether a family member has been lost or 'just' a family home.

What do we do to help people pick up the pieces of their lives and start to rebuild? Of course we can pray, but in the spirit of James the brother of our Lord, "If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace and be warmed and filled', without givng them the things needed for the body, what does it profit?" (2:15 RSV)

Churches are well placed to be centres of practical support and emotional encouragement. We who are not directly on the battlefront need to do everything possible to help our local brethren with whatever supplies we can supply. We need to have open hearts and open homes to feed the hungry and house the homeless.