Archive for the ‘Katrina’ Category

Hope Through Storms

Sunday, October 16th, 2005

God’s thunder sets the oak trees dancing
A wild dance, whirling; the pelting rain strips their branches.
We fall to our knees—we call out, “Glory!”

 Above the floodwaters is God’s throne
from which his power flows,

from which he rules the world.

 

God makes his people strong.

God gives his people peace.

Psalm 29:9-11 (from The Message)

How those words have come alive for me!  Like so many of you, I have been on my knees calling out to God during the events of these last few weeks.  Sometimes, I admit, I’ve forgotten to look for God’s glory; instead I’ve been blinded by fear and grief and inadequacy.  In the face of hurricanes, evacuation, gas lines, and stranded cars, I realized how small, how insignificant I really am.  For me and my family the crisis came along interstate 10 in Sealy.  We were 22 hours into our trip from Baytown to Austin; we were looking at emptying gas tanks and hundreds of cars stranded along the sides of the road.  With little food or water and no opportunities for restroom breaks, we were just about out of our own resources.  We had no choice, but to rely on God.  We fell to our knees … and God provided in grace-filled, unforeseen ways.

Six years ago I took a trip to the El Yunque rainforest of Puerto Rico.  A guide explained the great devastation done to the forest by the winds of Hurricane Hugo a decade earlier and pointed out how the natural habitat recovers relatively quickly from such catastrophe.  Nature needs storms and fires to make way for the new lush growth that comes after.  The health of the forest depends on the occasional cleansing of the land.  As I took a trip to New Orleans a week or so ago, I wondered … will the human spirit recover as well and as quickly from this disaster?  At a home behind Lakeview Presbyterian Church, I met the director of a nursery school who was determined to open the school again on the first of November.  “I don’t know where I’ll be living then, my home in uninhabitable, but the school will be open.  We need to let our children know that their school is here for them.”  I was totally amazed by the resiliency that woman portrayed.

These last few weeks I have visited churches devastated by floods and winds; I have also visited quite a few churches whose survival is threatened not by the hurricanes, but by the winds of time and damaging demographic shifts.  I ask myself, is God’s throne above these flood waters as well?  Will God’s power of grace and rebirth flow forth among and through these congregations too?

Yes, I am convinced this is the message of hope.  God’s throne is always above the flood waters.  His power flows in ways that dwarf our own capabilities.   God’s vision is always beyond our vision.  God’s power is always there for us when we realize that our own abilities are insufficient.  It doesn’t mean we escape the realities of water-drenched carpets and pews; we don’t escape weeks without electricity or the loss of employment.  Grace doesn’t eliminate discomfort, pain or grief, but it can comfort fear by providing hope.  Hope in Christ means that when storms wreak havoc with our lives, God will make his people strong.  And God will give his people peace.

Printed in the November 2005 issue of Connections, a publication of the Presbytery of New Covenant.

Posted in Christianity, Church, Congregational Transformation, Katrina, Presbytery | Comments Off

At Your Doorstep

Friday, September 16th, 2005

In some post-evangelical conversations there is a distinction being made between the Gospel about Jesus Christ and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  The latter being the Good News that Jesus, himself, proclaimed in his teachings and that he sent the apostles out to proclaim.  In the sending of the seventy, for instance, Jesus tells the apostles, “… say to them, ‘The Kingdom of God has come near to you.’” (Luke 10:9 NRSV) Or, as Eugene Peterson translates it in The Message, “… tell them, ‘God’s kingdom is right on your doorstep!’”

As Kevin Boyd led the presbytery staff in mid-week prayer and Holy Communion the Wednesday after Katrina hit, he shared with us the response St. Paul had been offering a handful of families stranded in a hotel nearby the church.  He said they literally started showing up on their doorstep family after family after family.  A few families from New Orleans grew to over 100 people within days.  Each one had a similar story.  They had sought refuge in an inexpensive hotel for a night or two; but their money was quickly running out.  They needed food; shelter; and many other daily necessities.

Kevin said, “We felt called to do what we could.”  They started by paying hotel bills for the stranded families; then they began offering a hot supper each night for those who were displaced.  Some nights they fed 40; other nights they fed over 100.  The dinners turned into wonderful times of fellowship.  The people of St. Paul helped the families by providing prayer, friendship, clothing, Bibles, gas, and personal items.  They helped them sign up for food stamps, gave them job leads, sat together with them in hospital rooms, and shared all the latest information on hurricane relief as it became available.

On Sunday over 35 of the evacuees from New Orleans came to worship with the people of St. Paul, and just prior to communion they heard one of the guests sing the spiritual, “God Has Been Good to Me.”  God’s kingdom was right on their doorstep alright.

I think of all the churches in our presbytery that have similar stories to tell.  And all I hear in my mind is the echoing phrase from The Message “God’s kingdom is right on your doorstep!”  One thing is clear to me – our churches have been changed by what they gave and by what they received in answering God’s call.  Whether it was a sheltering people in their fellowship hall or providing money for the feeding of the thousands at the Astrodome … all we have to do to see the awesome majesty of God’s kingdom is open our eyes … it’s right here on our doorstep, in our emails, in our connectedness, in our oneness and compassion.

In an email about a week after they began caring for their neighbors in need, Kevin writes, “We began this process by saying, ‘we can’t!’ God answered quietly, ‘No, but I can!’”  He went on to share all of the miraculous ways people of faith came together and provided for these people.  The result was far greater than anything the people of St. Paul Presbyterian could have hoped for on their own.  To me, that’s the essence of the Gospel.  “No, you can’t, but I can, and I will.”

My prayer today is that as we continue responding to the needs of those impacted by Katrina, we will all pause and remember … the kingdom of God is right on our doorstep!

printed in the October 2005 issue of Connections, a publication of the Presbytery of New Covenant

Posted in Christianity, Evangelism, Hospitality, Katrina | Comments Off