EYEWITNESS FROM JERUSALEM

A WEEKLY JOURNAL WRITTEN BY SISTER MARY

Jerusalem Journal # 7

February 10, 2001

    One evening this past week I was sitting at the computer when I heard a loud explosion. I sat still and waited for the sirens. Was it a Molotov cocktail or a bomb? No sirens...and then I realized that my reaction to loud noises these past months here in Jerusalem had prejudiced me to expect the worst. It was only a sudden clap of thunder over Jerusalem. Although I am accustomed to the rumble of thunder as it rolls across the central plains and down the deep river valley of the Midwest, this was something different, and the first thunder heard since the rainy season began this past Advent. Here in Jerusalem winter has often been days of constant and much needed rain. Had I forgotten that it thundered?  

    This country has suffered through two years of severe drought and the water supply here was at an all-time low. So much so, that importing water seemed a necessity for this year. Now with the abundant rains here, perhaps that won't be necessary; though I'm sure drinking water will still be imported.

    The thunder of that evening, which at first I didn't recognize, brought to mind the references to "thunder" in the scriptures. At first, various psalms came to mind, where "thunder" is always spoken of as the "voice of God". When I looked further into the scriptures, from the exodus account straight through the prophets, it was the same -- thunder is most often equated with the voice of God. Then I began to wonder what the "voice of God" might have to say to us here and now. Then my mind did one of those strange things, it remembered that it wasn't in the storm that Elijah heard the voice of God.  He discovered that God has a message for us: God is not found in power. Rather He comes in a still, small voice that asks a simple question: "Why are you here?" Thunder over Jerusalem provoked strange reactions and provided food for thought.

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