26/01/07 week of Epiphany 3
[Please remember this is a sort of "menu" from which to select. No one has to read it all]
Collect
Give us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our Savior Jesus Christ and proclaim to all people the Good News of his salvation, that we and the whole world may perceive the glory of his marvelous works; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
++++++++++
Today's Scripture http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/
Psalm 40, 54; Psalm 51; Isa. 50:1-11; Gal. 3:15-22; Mark 6:47-56
++++++++++
From Forward Day by Day: http://www.forwardmovement.org/todaysreading.cfm
Psalm 51. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
I associate this psalm with Ash Wednesday. It is recited in unison after all have received that smudge of ashes on their foreheads. Today we recite this psalm out of season--not in Lent, but in Epiphany-tide. This is a time of "showing," which is what the word "epiphany" means. On the day of Epiphany a few weeks ago, we commemorated Christ's own "showing" to the magi at the stable in Bethlehem--Christ's "manifestation to the Gentiles." The Sunday following we remembered how Jesus was baptized in the river Jordan, and perhaps we witnessed a baptism in our own parish churches. Epiphany is the season for baptisms, for clean hearts and a right spirit. The season challenges us to present ourselves as signs of Christ's love to a troubled world, washed in the waters of redemption. But it's also good, here in the middle of Epiphany, to be reminded of what about us needs washing. Reciting this psalm returns me to that Ash Wednesday moment, when that smudge of ashes on my brow uncovers all my frailty and weakness. "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return." In this season of washing, it is good to remember the dust.
++++++++++
Today we remember: http://satucket.com/lectionary/Calendar.htm
Timothy and Titus, Companions of St. Paul
Psalm 112:1-9 or 23; 2 Timothy 1:1-8; Titus 1:1-5; John 10:1-10
Almighty God, who called Timothy and Titus to be evangelists and teachers, and made them strong to endure hardship: Strengthen us to stand fast in adversity, and to live righteous and godly lives in this present time, that with sure confidence we may look for our blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
++++++++++
Today in the Anglican Cycle of Prayer we pray or the Diocese of Maine (Prov. I, U.S.)
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acp/index.cfm
++++++++++
Carmelite.com: Reflections http://www.carmelite.com/spirituality/reflection.php
How can I fear a God who is nothing but mercy and love.
St. Therese of the Child Jesus
++++++++++
Reading from the Desert Christians http://www.cin.org/dsrtftin.html
On True Peace
Two old men had lived together for many years and they had never fought with one another. The first said to the other, "Let us also have a fight like other men." The other replied, "I do not know how to fight." The first said to him, "Look, I will put a brick between us and I will say: it is mine; and you will reply: no, it is mine; and so the fight will begin." So they put a brick between them and the first said, "No, it is mine", and the other said, "No, it is mine." And the first replied, "If it is yours, take it and go." So they gave it up without being able to find a cause for an argument.
A brother asked abba Poemen, "How should I behave in my cell in the place where I am living?" He replied, "Behave as if you were a stranger, and wherever you are, do not expect your words to have an influence and you will be at peace."
++++++++++
Daily Meditation (Henri Nouwen) http://www.henrinouwen.org/home/free_eletters/
Forgiveness, the Way to Freedom
To forgive another person from the heart is an act of liberation. We set that person free from the negative bonds that exist between us. We say, "I no longer hold your offense against you" But there is more. We also free ourselves from the burden of being the "offended one." As long as we do not forgive those who have wounded us, we carry them with us or, worse, pull them as a heavy load. The great temptation is to cling in anger to our enemies and then define ourselves as being offended and wounded by them. Forgiveness, therefore, liberates not only the other but also ourselves. It is the way to the freedom of the children of God.
++++++++++
From the Principles of the Third Society of St. Francis:
(26) Therefore, as Tertiaries we seek to love all those to whom we are
bound by ties of family or friendship. Our love for them increases as
our love for Christ grows deeper. We have a special love and affection
for members of our own Order, praying for each other individually and
seeking to grow in that love. We are on our guard against anything which
might injure this love and we seek reconciliation with those from whom
we are estranged. We seek the same love for those with whom we have
little natural affinity, for this kind of love is not a welling-up of
emotion, but is a bond founded in their common union with Christ.
Lord Jesus, in Your servant Francis You displayed the wonderful power of
the cross: help us always to follow You in the way of the cross, and
give us strength to resist all temptation, and to You, Lord, with the
Father and the Holy Spirit be all glory for ever. Amen.
++++++++++
Richard Rohr's Daily Reflection
http://cacradicalgrace.org/getconnected/getconnected_index.html
"The Hole in the Soul"
Do you realize with what difficulty surrender will come to a fixing, managing mentality? There's nothing in that psyche prepared to understand the spiritual wisdom of surrender. All of the great world religions reach surrender. Yet most of us, until we go through the hole in our soul - our weak spot in the middle - just don't think surrender is necessary. At least that's how it is for those of us in First World countries. The poor, on the other hand, seem to understand limitation at a very early age. The Third World faces its limitation through a breakdown in the social-economic system. But we have to face our limitation, it seems, in the interior world. That 's our liberation theology. We must recognize our own poor man, our own abused woman, the oppressed part of ourselves that we have, that we deny, that we're afraid of. That's the hole in our soul. It's the way through, maybe the only way, says the crucified Jesus.
from Breathing Under Water: Spirituality and the 12 Steps
++++++++++
From John E. Rotelle, O.S.A., Tradition Day by Day: Readings from Church Writers. Augustinian Press. Villanova, PA, 1994.
http://www.artsci.villanova.edu/dsteelman/tradition/sources.html
Fall in love with true virtue
It is up to us to use the freedom we have been given to choose life or death. So I beg you as lovingly and tenderly as I can to be the sort of flower that breathes out a fragrance before God and for those in your care. Be a true shepherd, ready to give your life for your sheep. Correct vice and strengthen the virtuous in doing good. The failure to correct causes decay just as surely as does a gangrenous organ in the human body. Keep a watchful eye on yourself and on those in your care. Don't think it harsh to root out the thorns; the fruit will be far sweeter than the effort is bitter.
Consider God's ineffable love for your salvation; open your eyes and you see his boundless blessings and gifts. Is there a greater love than to give one's life for one's friends? How much more deserving of praise is the one who gave his life for his enemies! So let our hearts be on the defensive no longer, but let hardness be driven out and let these hearts not be stone forever. Let that binding chain be broken with which the devil so often keeps us bound. The power of holy desire, scorn for vice, and love for virtue will break all these bonds. Fall in love with virtue; its effect is the opposite of that of vice, because sin brings bitterness while virtue brings sweetness and even in this life a foretaste of the next.
Catherine of Siena, (1347 - 1380) served the people of Siena with her good works and the Church at large with her peacemaking.
++++++++++
Today's reading from the Rule of St. Benedict
http://www.osb.org/rb/
Chapter 7: On Humility
The first degree of humility, then,
is that a person keep the fear of God before his eyes
and beware of ever forgetting it.
Let him be ever mindful of all that God has commanded;
let his thoughts constantly recur
to the hell-fire which will burn for their sins
those who despise God,
and to the life everlasting which is prepared
for those who fear Him.
Let him keep himself at every moment from sins and vices,
whether of the mind, the tongue, the hands, the feet,
or the self-will,
and check also the desires of the flesh.
++++++++++
"A QUICK CHANGE IN PASTORATE"AND "ANYBODY AND EVERYBODY"
Today's eMo is really two different meditations on texts that will be read in many churches this Sunday. The first is the usual sermon preparation eMo. The second, intended for preachers who wish to focus their congregations' attention on the Church's service to the poor and those who suffer from the effects of war or natural disaster, explores the ministry of Episcopal Relief and Development. As with all the eMos, preachers and teachers are welcome to borrow, with the usual attribution. No further permission is necessary.
+
A Quick Change in Pastorate
They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.
Luke 4:30
Getting rid of a preacher seems to have been simpler in New Testament times than it is today. Apparently you could just run him off a cliff.
Ours is a more complicated time, though it is no less savage. Once the idea that a pastoral relationship is irreparably broken has taken root, the agenda shifts. Nobody is asking how the relationship might be redeemed, not any more -- all anybody wants to know is how quickly it can be ended. Rich places can run people off cliffs more easily than poor ones can; a clergyperson's early departure can usually be purchased, if the price is right. And, if it isn't, everyone can end up in a secular courtroom for what can be an ugly business indeed.
Sometimes it becomes clear, after a suitable interval of mourning and licking of wounds, that it was all for the best. Nobody was really a villain; the fit just wasn't right, and both parties are the better for having parted ways. Sometimes there really was a villain, and that person will need some major repentance and some serious work before he or she ever tries again, if that day can ever be allowed to dawn. And sometimes it just becomes clear -- for those who have eyes to see -- that the sickness unto death was not located solely in the entrails of the departed leader, that there were demons lounging about the place before he ever arrived, and that none of them have gone anywhere. They are busy now, readying themselves for a season of productive work with the next search committee.
Oh, no, parish leaders think, what if we make another mistake? What if we're blind in some important way that none of us can discern? What if there's a curse, some kind of weird jinx we cannot shake? What if we've become radioactive, famously difficult and doomed, and nobody will ever want to go near us again?
Hey, I thought this was supposed to be a preaching eMo, you're thinking as you struggle with Sunday's sermon. I can't get up in front of my people and talk about running clergy off cliffs. Or about demons lounging in the vestibule.
No, but you can talk about the aftermath of a major mistake. You can talk about picking up the pieces after something has been smashed to smithereens. You can talk about what a painful thing it is to doubt one's own judgment -- but what a cartoonish horror it is never to do so.
You can talk about finding one's way back to the land of the living again, after something like that. You can remind people that there really aren't curses or jinxes in this world, that all we have is the love of God and that we can trust that love. Nobody's magic and nobody's doomed. We all make mistakes and we all can learn from them.
But to get started this week, you're going to have to get up there and make a joke about running the preacher off a cliff. Good luck with it. Remember that Jesus walked away unharmed, and that you probably will, too.
+
Jeremiah 1:4-10
Psalm 71:1-6
I Corinthians13:1-13
Luke 4:21-30
+
And here is the ERD meditation:
Anybody and Everybody
But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian." When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage.
Luke 4:25-28
What made the people in Jesus' hometown so angry? It was his refusal to limit the love of God to the people of Israel. Healing was for everybody, he told people again and again, throughout his short ministry. Everyone will eat, anyone who is thirsty will drink! Look at these cases, he said, cases you folks remember hearing about: miracles worked by God -- in the lives of foreigners! That was hard for those who had always been told that they were the chosen people to believe.
I suppose it all comes down to what it means to be chosen. It seems that chosen-ness for Jesus involved looking outward, sharing the love of God with people besides the ones known and loved. It seems that chosen-ness was for the sake of the whole human family. We don't have to know who they are or who they follow. Need qualifies them, nothing else.
Who knows how many of the farmers whose cattle herds were devastated by the terrible ice storms in central Nebraska were Episcopalians? How many were Christians? Which of the homes without power and the hospitals on emergency generators were Christian ones? Nobody involved in relieving their suffering knew or cared, not when the ice was eight inches thick in places and the power lines were down.
People in and around the town of Holdredge could go to St. Elizabeth's Episcopal Church for vouchers for food, utilities, rent -- all local businesses were closed, some for as along as three weeks, and many people lost their sole income. During the days when radio and television transmitters were out of commission, the church was an information center. Local pastors quickly improvised a program of community meals at another church, opening its doors for lunch and dinner, other congregations taking turns cooking and serving. In two weeks, the churches of the little town of Holdredge served hundred of meals and dispersed vouchers worth $28,000.
We're going to have a big celebration as soon we can, the Rev'd. Jami Anderson of St. Elizabeth's said. Local restaurants will put on the food, see if we can't help them make up for some of the business they lost. We'll open the agricultural center in town and have a reconnection celebration. Not just the reconnection of the electricity, although that will be wonderful -- there's still only one electrical line going into Holdredge, and we all have to be really careful -- but a celebration of reconnecting with one another and with the outside world.
You know, she went on, one of the things we've been struck by is how blessed we are. The bishop and Episcopal Relief and Development have been great -- we're tiny, and we could never have done what we've been able to do without their help. And we've done it! We're doing it! I've been thinking a lot about how rich we really are. Even with all that's happened, we've got it pretty good.
Through the Diocese of Nebraska, ERD helped St. Elizabeth's help. Right away. A tiny church in a tiny town, frozen in the ice out in the middle of the agricultural heartland. Isolated, but not alone. God was with all the people of that rural area, and the Church was there.
+
To learn more about ERD's work, or to make a donation, visit http://www.er-d.org/ or telephone 1--800-334-7626,ext 5129.
Copyright © 2007 Barbara Crafton - http://www.geraniumfarm.org
Collect
Give us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our Savior Jesus Christ and proclaim to all people the Good News of his salvation, that we and the whole world may perceive the glory of his marvelous works; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
++++++++++
Today's Scripture http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/
Psalm 40, 54; Psalm 51; Isa. 50:1-11; Gal. 3:15-22; Mark 6:47-56
++++++++++
From Forward Day by Day: http://www.forwardmovement.org/todaysreading.cfm
Psalm 51. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
I associate this psalm with Ash Wednesday. It is recited in unison after all have received that smudge of ashes on their foreheads. Today we recite this psalm out of season--not in Lent, but in Epiphany-tide. This is a time of "showing," which is what the word "epiphany" means. On the day of Epiphany a few weeks ago, we commemorated Christ's own "showing" to the magi at the stable in Bethlehem--Christ's "manifestation to the Gentiles." The Sunday following we remembered how Jesus was baptized in the river Jordan, and perhaps we witnessed a baptism in our own parish churches. Epiphany is the season for baptisms, for clean hearts and a right spirit. The season challenges us to present ourselves as signs of Christ's love to a troubled world, washed in the waters of redemption. But it's also good, here in the middle of Epiphany, to be reminded of what about us needs washing. Reciting this psalm returns me to that Ash Wednesday moment, when that smudge of ashes on my brow uncovers all my frailty and weakness. "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return." In this season of washing, it is good to remember the dust.
++++++++++
Today we remember: http://satucket.com/lectionary/Calendar.htm
Timothy and Titus, Companions of St. Paul
Psalm 112:1-9 or 23; 2 Timothy 1:1-8; Titus 1:1-5; John 10:1-10
Almighty God, who called Timothy and Titus to be evangelists and teachers, and made them strong to endure hardship: Strengthen us to stand fast in adversity, and to live righteous and godly lives in this present time, that with sure confidence we may look for our blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
++++++++++
Today in the Anglican Cycle of Prayer we pray or the Diocese of Maine (Prov. I, U.S.)
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acp/index.cfm
++++++++++
Carmelite.com: Reflections http://www.carmelite.com/spirituality/reflection.php
How can I fear a God who is nothing but mercy and love.
St. Therese of the Child Jesus
++++++++++
Reading from the Desert Christians http://www.cin.org/dsrtftin.html
On True Peace
Two old men had lived together for many years and they had never fought with one another. The first said to the other, "Let us also have a fight like other men." The other replied, "I do not know how to fight." The first said to him, "Look, I will put a brick between us and I will say: it is mine; and you will reply: no, it is mine; and so the fight will begin." So they put a brick between them and the first said, "No, it is mine", and the other said, "No, it is mine." And the first replied, "If it is yours, take it and go." So they gave it up without being able to find a cause for an argument.
A brother asked abba Poemen, "How should I behave in my cell in the place where I am living?" He replied, "Behave as if you were a stranger, and wherever you are, do not expect your words to have an influence and you will be at peace."
++++++++++
Daily Meditation (Henri Nouwen) http://www.henrinouwen.org/home/free_eletters/
Forgiveness, the Way to Freedom
To forgive another person from the heart is an act of liberation. We set that person free from the negative bonds that exist between us. We say, "I no longer hold your offense against you" But there is more. We also free ourselves from the burden of being the "offended one." As long as we do not forgive those who have wounded us, we carry them with us or, worse, pull them as a heavy load. The great temptation is to cling in anger to our enemies and then define ourselves as being offended and wounded by them. Forgiveness, therefore, liberates not only the other but also ourselves. It is the way to the freedom of the children of God.
++++++++++
From the Principles of the Third Society of St. Francis:
(26) Therefore, as Tertiaries we seek to love all those to whom we are
bound by ties of family or friendship. Our love for them increases as
our love for Christ grows deeper. We have a special love and affection
for members of our own Order, praying for each other individually and
seeking to grow in that love. We are on our guard against anything which
might injure this love and we seek reconciliation with those from whom
we are estranged. We seek the same love for those with whom we have
little natural affinity, for this kind of love is not a welling-up of
emotion, but is a bond founded in their common union with Christ.
Lord Jesus, in Your servant Francis You displayed the wonderful power of
the cross: help us always to follow You in the way of the cross, and
give us strength to resist all temptation, and to You, Lord, with the
Father and the Holy Spirit be all glory for ever. Amen.
++++++++++
Richard Rohr's Daily Reflection
http://cacradicalgrace.org/getconnected/getconnected_index.html
"The Hole in the Soul"
Do you realize with what difficulty surrender will come to a fixing, managing mentality? There's nothing in that psyche prepared to understand the spiritual wisdom of surrender. All of the great world religions reach surrender. Yet most of us, until we go through the hole in our soul - our weak spot in the middle - just don't think surrender is necessary. At least that's how it is for those of us in First World countries. The poor, on the other hand, seem to understand limitation at a very early age. The Third World faces its limitation through a breakdown in the social-economic system. But we have to face our limitation, it seems, in the interior world. That 's our liberation theology. We must recognize our own poor man, our own abused woman, the oppressed part of ourselves that we have, that we deny, that we're afraid of. That's the hole in our soul. It's the way through, maybe the only way, says the crucified Jesus.
from Breathing Under Water: Spirituality and the 12 Steps
++++++++++
From John E. Rotelle, O.S.A., Tradition Day by Day: Readings from Church Writers. Augustinian Press. Villanova, PA, 1994.
http://www.artsci.villanova.edu/dsteelman/tradition/sources.html
Fall in love with true virtue
It is up to us to use the freedom we have been given to choose life or death. So I beg you as lovingly and tenderly as I can to be the sort of flower that breathes out a fragrance before God and for those in your care. Be a true shepherd, ready to give your life for your sheep. Correct vice and strengthen the virtuous in doing good. The failure to correct causes decay just as surely as does a gangrenous organ in the human body. Keep a watchful eye on yourself and on those in your care. Don't think it harsh to root out the thorns; the fruit will be far sweeter than the effort is bitter.
Consider God's ineffable love for your salvation; open your eyes and you see his boundless blessings and gifts. Is there a greater love than to give one's life for one's friends? How much more deserving of praise is the one who gave his life for his enemies! So let our hearts be on the defensive no longer, but let hardness be driven out and let these hearts not be stone forever. Let that binding chain be broken with which the devil so often keeps us bound. The power of holy desire, scorn for vice, and love for virtue will break all these bonds. Fall in love with virtue; its effect is the opposite of that of vice, because sin brings bitterness while virtue brings sweetness and even in this life a foretaste of the next.
Catherine of Siena, (1347 - 1380) served the people of Siena with her good works and the Church at large with her peacemaking.
++++++++++
Today's reading from the Rule of St. Benedict
http://www.osb.org/rb/
Chapter 7: On Humility
The first degree of humility, then,
is that a person keep the fear of God before his eyes
and beware of ever forgetting it.
Let him be ever mindful of all that God has commanded;
let his thoughts constantly recur
to the hell-fire which will burn for their sins
those who despise God,
and to the life everlasting which is prepared
for those who fear Him.
Let him keep himself at every moment from sins and vices,
whether of the mind, the tongue, the hands, the feet,
or the self-will,
and check also the desires of the flesh.
++++++++++
"A QUICK CHANGE IN PASTORATE"AND "ANYBODY AND EVERYBODY"
Today's eMo is really two different meditations on texts that will be read in many churches this Sunday. The first is the usual sermon preparation eMo. The second, intended for preachers who wish to focus their congregations' attention on the Church's service to the poor and those who suffer from the effects of war or natural disaster, explores the ministry of Episcopal Relief and Development. As with all the eMos, preachers and teachers are welcome to borrow, with the usual attribution. No further permission is necessary.
+
A Quick Change in Pastorate
They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.
Luke 4:30
Getting rid of a preacher seems to have been simpler in New Testament times than it is today. Apparently you could just run him off a cliff.
Ours is a more complicated time, though it is no less savage. Once the idea that a pastoral relationship is irreparably broken has taken root, the agenda shifts. Nobody is asking how the relationship might be redeemed, not any more -- all anybody wants to know is how quickly it can be ended. Rich places can run people off cliffs more easily than poor ones can; a clergyperson's early departure can usually be purchased, if the price is right. And, if it isn't, everyone can end up in a secular courtroom for what can be an ugly business indeed.
Sometimes it becomes clear, after a suitable interval of mourning and licking of wounds, that it was all for the best. Nobody was really a villain; the fit just wasn't right, and both parties are the better for having parted ways. Sometimes there really was a villain, and that person will need some major repentance and some serious work before he or she ever tries again, if that day can ever be allowed to dawn. And sometimes it just becomes clear -- for those who have eyes to see -- that the sickness unto death was not located solely in the entrails of the departed leader, that there were demons lounging about the place before he ever arrived, and that none of them have gone anywhere. They are busy now, readying themselves for a season of productive work with the next search committee.
Oh, no, parish leaders think, what if we make another mistake? What if we're blind in some important way that none of us can discern? What if there's a curse, some kind of weird jinx we cannot shake? What if we've become radioactive, famously difficult and doomed, and nobody will ever want to go near us again?
Hey, I thought this was supposed to be a preaching eMo, you're thinking as you struggle with Sunday's sermon. I can't get up in front of my people and talk about running clergy off cliffs. Or about demons lounging in the vestibule.
No, but you can talk about the aftermath of a major mistake. You can talk about picking up the pieces after something has been smashed to smithereens. You can talk about what a painful thing it is to doubt one's own judgment -- but what a cartoonish horror it is never to do so.
You can talk about finding one's way back to the land of the living again, after something like that. You can remind people that there really aren't curses or jinxes in this world, that all we have is the love of God and that we can trust that love. Nobody's magic and nobody's doomed. We all make mistakes and we all can learn from them.
But to get started this week, you're going to have to get up there and make a joke about running the preacher off a cliff. Good luck with it. Remember that Jesus walked away unharmed, and that you probably will, too.
+
Jeremiah 1:4-10
Psalm 71:1-6
I Corinthians13:1-13
Luke 4:21-30
+
And here is the ERD meditation:
Anybody and Everybody
But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian." When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage.
Luke 4:25-28
What made the people in Jesus' hometown so angry? It was his refusal to limit the love of God to the people of Israel. Healing was for everybody, he told people again and again, throughout his short ministry. Everyone will eat, anyone who is thirsty will drink! Look at these cases, he said, cases you folks remember hearing about: miracles worked by God -- in the lives of foreigners! That was hard for those who had always been told that they were the chosen people to believe.
I suppose it all comes down to what it means to be chosen. It seems that chosen-ness for Jesus involved looking outward, sharing the love of God with people besides the ones known and loved. It seems that chosen-ness was for the sake of the whole human family. We don't have to know who they are or who they follow. Need qualifies them, nothing else.
Who knows how many of the farmers whose cattle herds were devastated by the terrible ice storms in central Nebraska were Episcopalians? How many were Christians? Which of the homes without power and the hospitals on emergency generators were Christian ones? Nobody involved in relieving their suffering knew or cared, not when the ice was eight inches thick in places and the power lines were down.
People in and around the town of Holdredge could go to St. Elizabeth's Episcopal Church for vouchers for food, utilities, rent -- all local businesses were closed, some for as along as three weeks, and many people lost their sole income. During the days when radio and television transmitters were out of commission, the church was an information center. Local pastors quickly improvised a program of community meals at another church, opening its doors for lunch and dinner, other congregations taking turns cooking and serving. In two weeks, the churches of the little town of Holdredge served hundred of meals and dispersed vouchers worth $28,000.
We're going to have a big celebration as soon we can, the Rev'd. Jami Anderson of St. Elizabeth's said. Local restaurants will put on the food, see if we can't help them make up for some of the business they lost. We'll open the agricultural center in town and have a reconnection celebration. Not just the reconnection of the electricity, although that will be wonderful -- there's still only one electrical line going into Holdredge, and we all have to be really careful -- but a celebration of reconnecting with one another and with the outside world.
You know, she went on, one of the things we've been struck by is how blessed we are. The bishop and Episcopal Relief and Development have been great -- we're tiny, and we could never have done what we've been able to do without their help. And we've done it! We're doing it! I've been thinking a lot about how rich we really are. Even with all that's happened, we've got it pretty good.
Through the Diocese of Nebraska, ERD helped St. Elizabeth's help. Right away. A tiny church in a tiny town, frozen in the ice out in the middle of the agricultural heartland. Isolated, but not alone. God was with all the people of that rural area, and the Church was there.
+
To learn more about ERD's work, or to make a donation, visit http://www.er-d.org/ or telephone 1--800-334-7626,ext 5129.
Copyright © 2007 Barbara Crafton - http://www.geraniumfarm.org
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