July 26, 2026 Trinity 8

July 26, 2026

Trinity 8

It was a beautiful, sunny, summer day in Baltimore, Md. People in a neighborhood of neatly kept brick rowhouses were going about their usual business. A few minutes before 10 a.m. — BOOM! — a massive explosion rocked the entire neighborhood. A great plume of white smoke shot into the sky, and a hail of debris — bricks, scraps of wood, roof shingles — came raining down on the manicured front lawns. Articles of clothing were left hanging from tree limbs.

A security camera across the street captured the scene on August 10, 2020: three houses simply exploded. In the blink of an eye, nothing remained of them but a massive pile of rubble.

It appeared to have been a natural gas explosion, although Baltimore Gas and Electric said at the time its equipment was in good working order and there had been no reports of gas leaks. An investigation ensued, with five months of questions and uncertainty. Finally, on January 11, 2021, the company called a press conference and reported that the explosion happened when someone turned on a stove in one of the houses. Nothing unusual about that. But it was also discovered that a contractor had done unpermitted repairs in that house the day before — under the radar, as they say, without calling the gas company in to certify the repair.

Two people died instantly. Seven more were injured.

One of the dead was Joseph Graham Jr. He was supposed to begin his sophomore year at nearby Morgan State University in a few weeks, studying electrical engineering.

Joseph was an outstanding student by all accounts, well-respected by his classmates and professors. He had gone to a party with a friend the evening before and decided to spend the night at his friend’s house afterwards. It was one of the three houses leveled in the blast. Firefighters found his body in the rubble the next day.

Responding to the gas company’s report, Joseph Graham’s mother issued a written statement that expressed with quiet dignity the family’s agony. “We’re still trying to process and accept the loss of our son Joseph. He was such a beautiful young man with inspiring dreams. He had so much drive and ambition. This hurts like hell.”

An event like that raises all sorts of questions, not just for the survivors, but for everyone else. Some questions can be answered in time, as the gas company did when it issued its report. But there are other questions, many of them unanswerable.

The hardest questions usually begin with “What if …”. What if Joseph hadn’t gone to the party on Sunday evening? What if he hadn’t decided to sleep over at his friend’s house? What if he hadn’t slept so late on Monday morning, and walked out the front door minutes before the fateful hour of 9:54 a.m.?

Everything depended on timing. The explosion just happened out of nowhere. Whether or not you were a victim came down to dumb luck. Or did it?

Is there such a thing as luck if God is all-knowing and all-powerful? If, as Jesus says, not even a sparrow falls that God does not know about (Matthew 10:29), does the same go for exploding houses?

This raises even more disturbing questions. If God knew those three houses were about to blow up, and God — being all-powerful — had the ability to stop it, then why did the Lord of love not intervene? Couldn’t God have at least set off a fire alarm or something so that everyone inside those three houses could have been standing outside on the sidewalk?

Such questions are as old as the hills and really don’t have an answer. But that doesn’t stop us from asking them. It’s only human to wonder about such things — and to wonder what role luck may play in determining who lives and who dies.

We talk about luck all the time. Will we have the good luck to find a great parking space, a better job or the right person to marry? Plunk down a greenback or two for a lottery ticket and you’re confessing a certain belief in luck … or at least your fervent hope that some may come your way. Some folks are said to be “lucky in love,” meaning they find a life-partner who is better-looking, smarter or richer than they are.

The truth is — as park bench sage Forrest Gump famously pronounced — “Life [is] like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” Good news or bad news, we all get a portion of both. The best any of us can hope for — on this earth, anyway — is that, in the final analysis, the good and the bad will cancel each other out, offering maybe a slight advantage to the good. A life free of all trouble and disappointment is not likely for anyone.

St. Paul says: “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).

On first hearing those words, you may think this is a promise of good luck bestowed on those who believe in God. It does say, “all things work together for good.” Isn’t Paul saying — if you believe — that the Lord dealing cards at the heavenly blackjack table will make sure most of your hands are just shy of 21?

It’s an appealing thought. And it probably explains why this verse, or at least the first half of it, has made it onto bumper stickers, T-shirts and coffee mugs.

But Paul is not saying that at all! “All things work together for good …” doesn’t mean only good things will ever happen to you. The key to the meaning of that promise lies in what follows: “… who are called according to God’s purpose.” God does have a purpose for the world, a purpose much bigger than any individual person. We are all part of that divine purpose together, not separately. It surrounds us. It’s the universe we inhabit, the air we breathe and the life we live.

The great British preacher, Leslie Weatherhead, used to encourage his listeners to think of God’s purpose like a great river, rushing to the sea. Within that river are scattered bits of debris. Logs and branches float and spin upon the surface. Rocks and pebbles are borne along beneath, scouring the stream bed, bumping up against each other, and sometimes causing damage.

Does God, who made the river and charts its course, manipulate every bit of debris? And do the random collisions of those pieces of debris make the least difference to the river’s larger purpose?

Of course they don’t. Within the great plan, things happen that we can only explain as accidents. They cause us no end of consternation and make us wonder why God delivers such afflictions upon us. But, in the larger view, they’re part of a greater movement for good.

What about the decision of the people residing in those three Baltimore houses to be in that very place on that sunny August morning of 2020? Was that part of God’s plan for their lives? Or was it entirely their doing, the result of choices they made, in all innocence? Or was it sheer randomness, a floating chunk of wood, turning end over end in the torrent of God’s greater purpose?

It’s perilous to think of the accidents of our lives in that way … as random. But consider the alternatives. Either God exercises ultimate and complete control, manipulating every tiny event that happens — from whether the preacher waves a hand right now to whether a house collapses — or God has walked away from the universe and no longer cares.

Both alternatives are distasteful because either one makes God sound like a monster. On the one hand, God is like an evil, willful child, catching flies and tearing off their wings for sheer amusement. On the other, God is the ultimate deadbeat parent, having moved away with no forwarding address and never sending another child-support check.

It’s much better to envision a God who does care, deeply, but who is also committed to the principle that there is going to be freedom in this world. We human beings — creation’s crown — have been graced with such a gift. But it comes at a price, and that price is accidents. These accidents are not just random gas explosions but include anything incidental to the main purpose. For God to intervene in every accident would really take away our free will. Whether that is good or bad, is a question too long for today.

Bad things happen in this world, things that cause pain and heartache. But here is the good news: pain and heartache are not the last word. The great river of God’s purpose flows onward to the sea. Like it or not, we are carried along with it. At times, our progress is slow and listless — a peaceful paddle on a meandering stream. Other times, it has all the excitement and terror of a whitewater rafting expedition. Either way, the river carries us. We can’t predict its route, nor can we declare what obstacles we will encounter along the way. The only certainty is that the Lord will bring us to our destination.

When we do finally emerge from the waters — wet or dry, exhausted or exhilarated, bedraggled, bewildered or bemused — we have a promise. The promise is that someone will be waiting for us on the shore.

Maybe it will be something like what happens to the apostle Peter in the 21st chapter of John. That old fisherman hauls himself out of the water, dripping wet, after jumping out of his boat. Peter’s eyes lock with those of his master, the risen Jesus. “Come,” the Lord says to him with a smile, turning over a fish filet on the barbecue. “Come and have breakfast.”

Take it as a promise. The promise of a complete happiness without the perils we experience now, is promised to us in the next life, not this one. There will be a welcome awaiting us on that riverbank. Arms will embrace. Gentle voices will offer comfort. Love will be all around. And the words of Revelation, chapter 21, will ring true:

See, the home of God is among mortals.

He will dwell with them;

They will be his peoples …

he will wipe every tear from their eyes.

Death will be no more;

mourning and crying and pain will be no more,

for the first things have passed away.

It’s not that experiences such as mourning, crying and pain have no reality or true existence. The good citizens of that Baltimore neighborhood can attest to that as they think back to that awful day. The tears are all too real. But — and hear this well — the tears are not forever.

Let us pray.

In today’s Gospel Jesus likens the kingdom of God to a great treasure, for which we should abandon all worldly goods to pursue. We pray for the wisdom to listen to his word and commit our lives to finding the great treasure of being forever in His eternal presence. We pray to the Lord.   

We pray for the understanding and strength to know that this life has no promises except one; that those who follow the Lord will have a place in heaven waiting for us where no pain will exist anymore. May we have the perseverance to this end. We pray to the Lord.           

On this special day for grandparents and the elderly, we pray that those who are blessed to have grandparents value their presence, help them to live serenely and bestow on them the love and gratitude they have earned through their lives of sacrifice and dedication. We pray to the Lord.            

We pray for our children and young people that they may be guided by the example of parents, grandparents and community to seek the treasure that is the love of God. We pray to the Lord.            

We pray for all those whose lives and homes are threatened by the excessive temperatures and forest fires being experienced in so many parts of the world at this time. We pray to the Lord.                                    

As we mark World Day against Human Trafficking on this coming Thursday, July 30th, we pray for the protection and release of all those who are exploited, forced into labour and trafficked into sexual slavery. We pray to the Lord.  

We pray to God for an increase of priests, deacons, and religious for our denomination to bring the Good News to all peoples without prejudice. We pray to the Lord.

We pray that those with generous means may be led to our small church and give generously to our mission so that we may continue to be a church open to all peoples. We pray to the Lord.

For those on our parish prayer list, that they may receive swift answers to their needs and that they may find consolation through Christ’s healing presence. We pray to the Lord.

We bow our heads and remember in silence our own personal intentions and the intentions of those who have asked for our prayers (pause). We pray to the Lord.

God who watches over our lives, who knows our inmost desires and pain, help us keep our heads about us as we are carried along by raging waters — be they propelled by accident or purpose. Bring us, by your grace and in the fullness of your time, to the place of firm footing, the place of solid rock, the place where the love of Jesus is all in all.

O God, Omnipotent and Omnipresent, while it may seem that you are distant and unreactive to the problems of the world, that you do not hear us; we take heart in the words of your Son who said: “Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God.  But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” Help us in this struggle of life to know you are there even when our finite minds might think otherwise. In the end, when we are all brought into heaven, we, then, will be free of all pain and doubt. Until then, we are called to faith, never doubting that you are here. Knowing full well, as Jesus taught, that you indeed do answer prayers. Sometimes, what to us may seem like inaction from you, is merely an inaction on our part to pray.

And so, O God, helps us during the storms. Help us to know that we hold some responsibility in the blight of this world. Help us to know, that even so, we but need to come to you; to confess our mistakes in the part we may have played – large or small – and pray for help in rectifying what we can and the grace to understand when we cannot. We ask all these things through Christ our Lord. Amen.

God Love You +++

The Most Rev. Robert Winzens

Pastor – St. Francis Chapel

San Diego, CA.

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