The elements shall melt

In the wake of a disaster, there are always reporters who seek out people standing by the ruins of buildings, stick cameras into their tear-streaked faces, and ask some variation on the question "How do you feel?"

If the people can say anything at all in their grief, they often say something like this:

"Everything we had, everything we ever worked for, is gone."

This feeling of loss is bitter and the victims of disasters deserve our help (not just the voyeuristic interest of the media), but it also reminds us of a very important truth:

Everything we have on this earth, every worldly thing we work for, will someday be gone (perhaps sooner rather than later).

St. Peter reminds us of this quite vividly in today's first reading (from the end of his second epistle).

"...the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved,
and the elements shall melt with fervent heat."

This vivid imagery would be reflected in one of Christendom's most classic hymns: a profound plea for God's mercy from the deepest pit of man's fear:

Dies irae, dies illa
solvet saeclum in favilla...

A day of wrath, that day --
The world will dissolve in ashes...

Everything we see, everything we touch, everything we walk upon, will one day cease to exist.

Some people think of these things and despair.

Peters counsels us to look ahead and to be diligent.

Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved,
what manner of persons ought ye to be
in all holy conversation and godliness....

we, according to his promise,
look for new heavens and a new earth,
wherein dwelleth righteousness.

Wherefore, beloved,
seeing that ye look for such things,
be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace,
without spot, and blameless.

Storms and volcanoes may wipe away our earthly dwellings and may even take our lives, but the grace that God builds up in our lives of faith is eternal.

May we always seek our security not in the mistaken hopes and foolish pursuits of this passing world, but in living according to the way of the Lord.

Ye therefore, beloved,
seeing ye know these things before,
beware lest ye also,
being led away with the error of the wicked,
fall from your own stedfastness.

But grow in grace,
and in the knowledge
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

To him be glory both now and for ever.
Amen.