New Creation

The earthquake of Jan. 12 was our baptism; now is our new creation. In this new creation, we pray to all work together, and we ask that you give us the time we need, first to care for our people, then to rebuild the Kingdom.

In this Lenten season, the season of repentance, conversion and intense prayers, we ask you to remember our Diocese and all the people of Haiti in this difficult moment. We also ask you to continue to support us by your prayers and your gifts, so that by Eastertide, we will be able to sing together with great joy, "Alleluia! He is Risen!"

—The Rt. Rev. Jean Zaché Duracin, Bishop of Haiti
The full text of his letter is here: New Creation

Sustained Support for Haiti

The most urgent work in the Dominican Republic at present is their sustained support for their own mother diocese of Haiti. The diocese is sending food through to keep displaced Haitians fed by the thousands in the 26 refugee camps run by The Episcopal Church. In addition, important work is taking place on the border town of Jimani (pronounced Yih Mah Nee). The Rev. Jesus Mosque is the priest there at San Pablo Apostol Church.

Working with Episcopal Relief and Development the diocese here has established a Relief and Information Center in Jimani. A building with dormitory space is now under construction. Those of us here from the Diocese of Georgia plan to put together a trip there. I wish I had pictures, but the relief and construction workers have priority and at present we can't get to Jimani. Instead we have been in direct contact with those here who will make a return trip from the Diocese of Georgia possible. The logistics are now in place.

This will not be an easy trip. While safe to travel and to stay there, we need to put together a team that can come two months from now to complete the dorm. This will mean sleeping on the floor of the dorm under construction as the work is completed. We anticipate a painting and finishing work crew that will bring supplies and get the dorm useable by the steady stream of relief workers who will continue to be needed in Haiti for the coming years.

Do you feel called to this trip? Are you ready to go to work on a construction project that will matter for years to come? Are you willing to be led and to put your own ideas of how things should happen aside in order to get the work done? For those willing to rough it a bit, the upcoming week-long work in Jimani may be the most important thing you do this decade.

For those looking for something less challenging, there are two options: 1) the team that comes will have to have a Home Team offering support and prayer and, 2) we are also setting up other trips here to areas less challenging and more easily accessible and workable. Information will be forthcoming soon on several trips.

peace,
Frank+

Where Is God in the Haitian Earthquake? (Revisited)

I am happy to be a small-town preacher. On a typical Sunday, about 130 people hear God’s Word through my words. But a recent creation for my congregation went much farther, and I think the speed and distance it traveled had nothing to do with my words and more to do with the Gospel message folks needed to hear.

Two weeks ago, I was frustrated by hearing good Christians talk about the earthquake in Haiti in ways that seemed to blame the Haitians for the disaster. Now I will concede as readily as anyone that part of the tragedy of the January 12 earthquake was caused by human choices. Choices like living on a known fault line in substandard housing. While individuals in Haiti may have had little choice in that, there has been a history of human choices that have led to Haiti being the most impoverished nation in the western hemisphere. And this history of abuse and neglect did make the results of the quake all the more devastating.

But what I heard was different. I heard it being taught that the earthquake in Haiti was the direct result of sin on the part of Haitians. And as this directly countered Jesus’ clear teaching and added unnecessary insult to unspeakable injury, I didn’t want to leave my congregation thinking this response was biblical.
What I did was to create a short video, which I posted at our church’s YouTube Channel at www.youtube.com/user/kingofpeacekingsland

I sent a link to our church’s email list and posted a link at my Facebook page. Since then, the video has been viewed more than 13,000 times on YouTube. In addition, I have sent out copies of the file so that it could be used in churches as far afield as Connecticut and Arizona. And perhaps most importantly, the video has been posted and reposted by Haitian immigrants to the U.S. on their Facebook pages.

I promise you that the video is not that good. My words fail to fully convey all I wish I could in the midst of this tragedy. And I think that a video to my congregation was seen 1,300 times more often than I expected is because the Holy Spirit used it to get the healing words out that were needed.

The heart of the message is that Jesus spoke plainly in the 13th chapter of Luke’s Gospel about this exact issue. Jesus was preaching repentance, telling the crowds that they needed to turn back from evil and turn toward God. He was warning them to interpret the present times rightly. And then some asked him about a terrible tragedy. The Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate, killed some Galileans, mixing their blood with the sacrifices they had to offer to God in the Temple in Jerusalem.
Jesus asked the crowd if they thought that these Galileans were the worst sinners in Galilee? Then he added another tragedy. Jesus asked the crowd if they thought the 18 killed when the Tower of Siloam fell on them were the worst sinners in Jerusalem. Then he answered, “I tell you, no!” Jesus then would not be diverted from his teaching on repentance. For while Pilate’s actions and the tower falling were not God’s punishment, those who died were then liable to God’s judgment that comes for all when we die. Jesus warned the crowds to repent.

This teaching of Jesus fits so directly with the earthquake in Haiti. Do you think that those killed in the earthquake were the worst sinners in the western hemisphere? Jesus would say “no.”

So then if God did not cause this tragedy, where was God when the earthquake happened? Anyone who keeps up with the news from Jesus’ day and before until the newspaper you hold in your hand has ready proof that God does not act to undo all human tragedies. Yes, God can and does enter into human history. Miracles can and do occur. But these do not happen at every turn, undoing all the harm done by nature and humans. Jesus also addressed this directly in the 4th chapter of Luke’s Gospel when he said, “There were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the Prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed, only Naaman the Syrian.”

Don’t hear me wrongly as speaking against the power of prayer and how God can and will heal. I am not limiting what God can do. I am just acknowledging that Jesus demonstrated that not all are healed and not all tragedies are averted. But this is not to say that God is conveniently busy elsewhere when people suffer.

We know that God was present by the power of the Holy Spirit to all Haitians as the earth quaked. Those who have been rescued from the rubble after an impossible number of days have routinely reported being strengthened by their faith in God. They endured days with no food or water, knowing that God would rescue them. And how did God rescue them? Through their fellow Haitians and the many foreign rescue workers who descended on the ruined buildings to pick their way through the wreckage to those still alive.

Many times, the way God enters in to human tragedy is through the Body of Christ. That spark of the image of God within us is what has caused an outpouring of love and concern to the Haitian people. So while God was present to the people there directly in the same way that God is present to you as you read this column, God also used many human hands to accomplish a divine purpose. God has been present to our brothers and sisters in Haiti through that divine impulse that has been working through regular folk to redeem this tragedy.

I think the reason why my recent message traveled as far as New Zealand and to lots of points in between is because deep within, Christians already understood that there had to be something wrong with blaming Haitians for the earthquake. We should no more do that than we should label those who died in flooding in Atlanta earlier this winter as the worst sinners in our state.

No, God did not shake the ground under Haiti. But neither did God prevent those natural processes for taking place. As Jesus taught the crowds who gathered around him, disasters, both natural and manmade should show us how our mortal life is fleeting. This is the time for getting connected to God. And it is also the time for those of us who have that relationship with God to live into our love of God by loving our neighbors as ourselves. And now and for years to come, our neighbors in Haiti are going to need our loving support rather than condemnation.

The above is my religion column for today's Tribune & Georgian.

An Update from Haiti with Prayers

The Episcopal Diocese of Haiti is caring for 23,000 earthquake survivors in 21 camps. The full update on that work is available here in: an Episcopal News Service article. The update says in part,

"Please tell our partners, the people of the Episcopal Church, the people of the United States and indeed the people of the world that we in Haiti are immensely grateful for their prayers, their support and their generosity," [Bishop Jean Zaché] Duracin wrote. "This is a desperate time in Haiti; we have lost so much. But we still have the most important asset, the people of God, and we are working continuously to take care of them."

The Haitian diocese suffered greatly with the quake. A number of the diocese's 254 schools, ranging from preschools to a university and a seminary, were destroyed or heavily damaged, including the Holy Trinity complex of primary, music and trade schools adjacent to the demolished diocesan Cathédrale Sainte Trinité (Holy Trinity Cathedral) in Port-au-Prince.

There is also an ENS article: In Haiti's 'new era' Episcopalians around the world offer help.

We at King of Peace have sent $700 to further the work of Episcopal Relief and Development in responding to the immediate needs of Haiti. In addition, the Rev. Frank and Victoria Logue are planning to go on a fact-finding advanced trip to the Dominican Republi February 22-27, to see how those of us in the Diocese of Georgia can help out companion diocese build its capacity to meet the growing need caused by the tragedy on the opposite side of their island. More information on that trip will follow. For now, let us remain in prayers for our brothers and sisters in Haiti.

The following is a Litany by Wendy Tobias, Carol Wade and Alexandra Zepeda, from Strength Through Unity: A Service of Prayer for Haiti on Jan. 17 at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.:

God of infinite mercy, who calls forth order out of chaos, peace out of turmoil, calm out of fear, we come before you aching and tender, crying out for Haiti and her people, saying, We lift our prayers to you, O God: You are the hope of all Creation.

We pray for Haiti, land of mountains and sea, where the very earth has shifted. May her tremors cease. May her tumult end. We pray for her people, shattered yet courageous, frightened yet bold, destitute and longing for relief. May their voice be heard. May their need be met. We lift our prayers to you, O God.
You are the hope of all Creation.

We pray for the injured, broken and lost: thirsting for clean water, hungry for food, stripped of shelter, desperate for medical care; they look to the world for hope. May their dry mouths find drink, their empty bellies find food, their families find cover, and their bodies find health. We lift our prayers to you, O God.
You are the hope of all Creation.

We pray for rescuers, those who do the work of recovery, laboring in the midst of agony; for healers, doctors, nurses, and all who tend those wounded in body, mind, or spirit. May their hands be steady. may their resolve be sure. May their work be filled with grace. We lift our prayers to you, O God.
You are the hope of all Creation.

We pray for the dying and those who have died, whose frail bodies now line the city streets. May mercy be abundant. May death have dignity. May they never be forgotten. We lift our prayers to you, O God.
You are the hope of all Creation.

We pray for the global community, grieving and responding in love. May our action be swift. May our purpose be certain. May our devotion endure. We lift our prayers to you, O God.
You are the hope of all Creation.

We pray for the days to come, the future, and the promise of what lies ahead. May new roads be paved; new industry be born; new fortunes rise; and new friendships sustained. We lift our prayers to you, O God.
You are the hope of all Creation.

- - - - -

God of compassion, now let us answer your call and respond to our sister Haiti through steadfast commitment, diligence in prayer, charity in action, and constancy in hope. Her needs are deep and ours is a land of plenty. With open hand and open heart may our prayers be known in the eager generosity of our giving. In your holy name we pray. Amen.

Abiding God, your light is ever present with us, piercing through the darkness of tragedy. We give you thanks for the bright beacon of hope found when your people join together for the welfare of all. And now, when all seems dark, illuminate for the world your vision of hope, dignity, and life abundant set forth for Haiti from the beginning of creation. In your light all shall be revealed and all shall be made whole. Amen.