Eugene Peterson tells the story of an older congregation, people set in their ways, dour Norwegian people whose kids have long gone. There are, however, a couple of exceptions: two younger families each with two “bratty kids” who at least in one family are very noisy. Peterson wonders how many of these staid older people are irritated by the noise and disruption to their worship. He concludes that it was not a nice service; it was not good worship. Is this the way it is meant to be? On reflection, he says, “Yes, that is the way it is meant to be.” He came to this conclusion because, at the end of the service, at least half a dozen of the elderly people went to the mother, put their arms around her, touched the kids, and sympathised with her. Here, despite the kids’ resistance, despite the mother’s embarrassment and feelings of powerlessness, despite the interruption to the “worship”, was evidence of abundant life – but many people would not recognise it as abundant!

How is life meant to be? Jesus tells the story that when a child or animal falls in a well, we rush to pull them out, Sabbath or no. We feel that this is not “how it is meant to be”. When a cyclone comes to a nation or an earthquake, we send aid because we feel that “this is not how it is meant to be”.

But when there is HIV-AIDS or war or refugees, we don’t seem to feel that “this is not how it is meant to be” quite so strongly. We seem to say, “Its their fault – they should know better – they should be more careful – its their problem, they created it”. Likewise with indigenous issues we seem to say, “Its their fault”.

Our logic seems to go like this: when forces of nature come against us, it is no one’s fault but this is not how it was meant to be; when there is a failure of people we seem to say that this is how it is meant to be because they have it within their own power, within their own control, to do something about it. People have the power within themselves to sort this out and if they don’t use that power, it’s their own fault. The way its meant to be is that we should each sort our own problems out. I am not meant to be my brother’s keeper!

Our worldview says that we are each responsible for our own actions and for what happens to us. The only time we are not responsible is when an “act of God” occurs – and perhaps these days we don’t even think of it as an act of God. Perhaps we acknowledge, deep down, that storms and earthquakes occur because we had it in our power to do something about it. If we hadn’t stuffed up the environment, the environment would not be out of control. It’s our fault and we need to do something about it. So when we give aid to tsunamis, droughts, earthquakes, or cyclones we may do so, not out of a sense of love your neighbour as yourself, but out of a sense of guilt: “I created this problem. It is meant to be that I should be responsible for my actions. I’d better do something to clean up the mess”.

The old law said, “Love God and your fellow man”. Our new law of “how it ought to be” is “love yourself and accept responsibility for your actions”. If things aren’t good for you, it’s your fault. We don’t quite live by Darwin’s law. We don’t fully accept survival of the fittest because if we did we would not worry about how our actions affect others. We would live completely selfishly. We still feel that we are different from the animals. Being responsible for our actions is what makes the difference. So if things are good for us, we are responsible, no one else. If things are bad for us, we are responsible, no one else. If we do bad things, we are responsible for cleaning up the mess.

It is such a mental jump, such a huge conceptual shift, such a paradigm shift, to enter the Christian worldview. We now say that Christ shows us “the way it is meant to be”. He says, “I want to join these people in their lives. I want to enter into their lives. I want to enter into their very being. I want to enter the disordered mess of struggling humanity and be part of the struggle with them. I want to take on the human condition, to join them in their struggle and, if they will let me, I want to put it right. I want to share the suffering and transform it”.

And when he enters our lives we become like him and he turns our eyes towards struggling humanity and we begin to say, “It’s not my fault, it may be their fault but I want to join these people in their lives, to be part of their struggle, to be part of their lives, to share their suffering, and with them help transform their situation”.