We were eating a late lunch at home on Tuesday when we heard the familiar wail of the city’s emergency sirens. But then we looked at each other with the same thought: It was the wrong day of the month, wrong day of the week, wrong time of day. Something was not right.
The sirens are tested at noon on the first Wednesday of every month. Any other day or time and it means it’s not a test. We’d already been out and about that morning and knew the weather was fine. So why the sirens? It didn’t take long for folks on social media sites like Nextdoor and Ring to start asking the same question.
Having watched “Dr. Strangelove,” the satiric 1960s movie about the Cold War just the night before, I joked that unless we were under attack from the “ruskies,” the sirens must be a mistake. Then again, the war in Iran was churning up warnings about vague, unspecified threats to our country. And then there’s the ongoing trouble with Russia over the war in Ukraine and decades-old provocations from China.
Another possibility that came to mind briefly was several meteorite sightings reported on the news in recent days — with fragments crashing to the ground and through roofs. Even so, the chances of being struck by a meteorite are estimated at one in 1.6 million.
We knew the sirens were sounding by mistake and went on about our business. An hour or so later we got an explanation by email and text from the city: “The Outdoor Warning System was accidentally activated during routine maintenance. There is no emergency and we apologize for the confusion.”
Confusion comes in all varieties and intensities. The false alarm we heard was curious but didn’t raise any real concerns for us. On the other hand, some confusing situations can raise feelings of real concern, stress and fear – like the sudden and unexpected evacuation of NorthPark Center mall the next day. We weren’t there, but I can imagine people who were at the mall had emotions closer to the fear end of that spectrum.
During Lent each year we read again about the confusion felt among the followers of Jesus during the days leading up to and following his arrest, trial, crucifixion and resurrection. Those who were listening closely to him might not have been confused if they’d taken him at his word. He pretty much told them what was going to happen — not in explicit detail, but in broad terms, even quoting from the Hebrew prophets. But the reaction by many was, “It must be a mistake.”
Left without an official explanation, conspiracy theories flourished. Some said the body was stolen. Some said there never was a body; he escaped or was sent away. Some said he wasn’t who he said he was: the long-awaited messiah. And if he was, he wasn’t the type of messiah they had wanted and expected.
More than 2000 years later – and even with all our theology, preaching, teaching, archaeological and historical context – it still is confusing. Meanwhile, God has not and will not offer a statement of apology for the confusion brought by the events of Easter. God had a plan, still has a plan and has stuck to that plan all along. We are invited to accept and join that plan in faith.