Why – The final question?

One of my favourite Roger Whittaker songs is ‘Why’. Written fifty years ago, Whittaker asks about climate change, lost love, regret… universal questions of why things happen as they do:

Will the grass be gone from underneath the sky
Will the golden flower wither soon and die
Will the fire burn out the land
And the sea fill-up with sand
Will the last word ever spoken be why?

Yesterday morning at Men’s Shed we enjoyed a robust discussion. War in the Middle East inevitably led to religion… Why can’t Jews, Christians and Muslims live together peacefully? Why do we need religion?

One gent had served in the military in Northern Ireland. We discussed Irish history, the ‘why?’ of conflict, whether peace is possible. After suggested easy answers to difficult questions, the final question seemed to be ‘Why?’.

I came home to news about our disappearing fish. In response to my pond-emptying news a friend directed me to a ‘Pakefield Community’ Facebook page. Other local ponds have been emptied of fish too!

After various thoughts and speculation… heron, foxes, herring gulls… the consensus – backed with photographic evidence – is that there’s an otter visiting our gardens.

But why an otter in Pakefield?

The evening news reported on the annual Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling. This tradition, believed to be over six hundred years old, requires participants to race down a steep, 200-yard hill chasing a 7–9-pound wheel of Double Gloucester cheese.

The first person over the finish line a wins the cheese. Multiple races are held during the day; there are often multiple injuries. British bonkersness at its best. But why?

Jesus’ last question was a ‘Why?’ question. Just before he died he cries: ‘My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?’

I know that the Christian hope is of a new heaven and a new earth. ‘There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain’. The question ‘Why?’ will be irrelevant.

In the meantime ‘why?’ is often the final question.