The Meyer Minute for August 26, 2019

“Vulcanalia” was the festival for Vulcan, the Roman god of fire. It’s hard to put yourself into the Roman world of religion. We Americans have traditionally believed that there is one God, but the ancient Romans had many. Christians historically have understood the faith by the doctrines, the teachings of the Bible, which are systematized and put into books like catechisms for people to learn. That would have been totally foreign to the Romans. And Bible-believing Christians think other world religions may be well-intentioned but are wrong. Romans didn’t think that way; the more the merrier. “You have your opinion; I have mine. Who are you to say that I’m wrong?” So people in Pompeii celebrated Vulcanalia, not taking it too seriously, just having a good time and nodding to the nice gods. The date was August 23 in the year 79 A.D.

The next day started normally, just like your day today. Pompeii was a commercial center on the Bay of Naples, not far from Rome. Bustling life included import and export business, textiles, a large food industry (olive oils, wine, fish, breads, a sauce called “garum”) and millstones, carved from the nearby abundance of volcanic rock. Pompeiians ate dinner at home but breakfast and lunch were often at food stands, sometimes take outs. People pursued their own interests, or in the case of slaves, a third of the population, the business of their masters. At noon the earth shakes. An hour later Vesuvius erupts with a hot cloud of dust and ash reaching 8 miles into the sky. The cloud keeps growing larger, soon 18 miles high. Now we can’t see the sun, dark as night. Some 12 hours later a landslide of volcanic debris heads right at us. Heat over 500 degrees instantly kills us all. Today, August 26, Pompeii is no more.

Apparently their god Vulcan was not pleased by their celebration. The mysteries and terrible powers of the creation, known so much more today because of the discoveries of science, move us Christians to awe, to the fear of the true God. “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?” He asked Job. We know so little, but one thing we do know. “Love never fails” (1 Corinthians 13:8). In today’s normal going-here and going there, who knows what may come? We know one thing. He’s with us in the love of His Son, love we share with one another so long as we have life.