Creating Caring Community

Next Sunday, we will install and ordain new Deacons to their respective ministries. For a long time, the ministry of the Board of Deacons was not fully utilized by congregations. We now know, and value, the creative role Deacons play in creating and sustaining a caring church.

One of the critical marks of a healthy, vibrant community of faith is the way it shows care for each other. It isn't just about making a "friendly" church. Creating a caring community includes: praying for each other in times of need; cooking meals for parents of newborns; checking in with each other informally; taking note of subtle signs of distress and follow up with the person a few days later.

Let me give a personal illustration. A few months ago, I was "up to my ears" with stress and the stuff of life. A church member who had been speaking with me noticed I was not up to par, and took time to call me later in the week. "I don't know what was going on," he said, "and I really don't need to know. I just wanted you to know that I've been praying for you all week."

That's a good sign that God is at work in our community, creating a caring church. May God go with you this week!

Chris

Water

The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord, over mighty waters… (Ps. 29:3)

The images from Asia are disturbing. One can only begin to imagine the sense of hopelessness and desperation felt by those snatched by the deadly wave. The geography of our planet, and perhaps even the geography of our human souls, has forever been rearranged. The sheer force of the tsunami defies any quick explanation—including (as some have suggested) that the earthquake was a sign of God’s judgment or that God has determined that one part of creation should suffer more than another.

In the aftermath of this disaster, what we do know is that all of us are suffering. All creation groans with the mothers and fathers who are missing children; all creation groans at the loss of life; all creation groans that our responses are painfully inadequate. Can anyone truly doubt that God's heart does not break at the astonishing loss of life?
If this great disaster is a sign, it should be a sign that calls us to deeper acts of caring for all creation. Perhaps this earthquake and its resulting destruction will remind us that the ultimate answer to “Where was God?” is “God is in our love, our responses, our prayers.”
Visit our web site to learn more about how Woodlawn Chapel is leading our community in responding to the disaster. Gathering items such as soap, wash cloths, tooth brushes seems so minor. The information we have received is that these gifts not only provide basic health care, they are received as reminders of our solidarity with those who suffer.
And God is still in the water, the mighty water.