Genesis 1:1-5. Isaiah 43:1-3aColossians 1:5-20 and John 1:1-5

God does not cause suffering and death. Sometimes it seems that way. Sometimes we say things such as, “God took him or her,” or “To everything there is a season ...,” a quotation from the Scripture which we can all too quickly misinterpret.

But God does not cause suffering and death. Nor does God let them happen. We say that, too, don’t we? We ask questions such as, “Why in the world would God let something like this happen?”

And we’re not wrong to ask. Even Jesus shouted, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me,” from the cross, and I think God had to understand his feelings.

Still, it needs to be said clearly, especially in this setting, that God does not cause death. God creates.

God creates — that’s the message of the Scr…