The Missing Malaysian Plane - a Lenten Reflection

In the early hours of last Saturday, Malaysia Airlines Flt # 370 went missing with 239 people on board.  For the past week, there has been a massive hunt for this plane as authorities have assumed that the probable cause of its disappearance was a crash in the South China Sea.  An international, large-scale operation has been engaged in locating this plane in a 40,000 square mile area and received military and intelligence support from twelve nations.  The world waits in confusion and puzzlement since no answers are forthcoming.  Where could this plane be?  With all the advanced technology available to us, how can we not locate its whereabouts quickly?  It is a mystery worthy of a movie or a television show.  Yet this is no made up television drama with a guaranteed polished ending.  This is an actual event, and therefore it is difficult for us to feel comfortable with the unknowable, especially since it involves the lives of 239 people and their families and friends. 

We live in a time when we expect specific answers or at least some solid theories to be in place as a story like this one unfolds.  The disappearance of a major aircraft, carrying hundreds of people is not only tragic, but it is also humbling.  It is a quiet reminder that there is still so much mystery all around us.  And, it is also a spiritual experience that demands a respect for all the mysteries of our lives.  We find ourselves responding to this event and others like it with the simple response, “I don’t know.”   Despite all the amazing tools at our fingertips, we still need to acknowledge our limited ability to know it all, do it all, be all.

Lent is the time when we recognize the mystery of the wilderness, a mystifying place where there are no easy answers.  When we find ourselves immersed in the unfamiliar territory of the wilderness of our souls or hearts or minds, we might experience God as distant or as very near.  Either way, we become much more aware of our reliance on our God and so it becomes a holy time and place for all of us.  For the families and friends of the passengers of Flt 370, it is indeed a wilderness time as they wait for some answers.  For us who keep them in our thoughts and prayers, we are invited to walk along with them during this tragic time.  The wilderness experience does not need to be a solitary one and together we can look to our loving God for guidance and hope during these unknowable days.

Mary Grace+