Hurricane Recovery: How Long, O Lord?

Thursday, September 28, A.D. 2006

It hardly seems possible that just over one year ago we were all watching – or perhaps even living – the horrors of the hurricane season. Not only did Hurricane Katrina indelibly affect this country, so did Hurricanes Rita and Wilma. It is tempting to focus on Katrina alone, but for those of us responding to the needs of these catastrophic events, it is difficult to avoid the long-term needs created by natural disasters of this magnitude. I recall conversations with our pastors in Florida, still recovering from hurricanes that occurred years and years ago. Like the prophet Isaiah we, too, cry, How long, O Lord, how long? (Isaiah 6).

And yet, just as we yearn to know how long, we have also answered the question posed earlier in the 6th chapter of Isaiah, Who will go for us? We Disciples have answered loudly and clearly that we are here! Send us! Our Disciples Hurricane Recovery Initiative is well underway, with work groups traveling to the Gulf Coast region on a regular basis. Together with Disciples Home Missions’ Office of Disciples Volunteering, we are making a difference. We have the mechanism in place to allow us to respond in effective, sustainable, and meaningful ways. The beauty of being church is precisely this kind of cooperation and compassion. Just this week we received a wonderful report from two of our churches in Memphis, Tennessee. Click here to read about the partnership between Lindenwood and New Direction Christian Churches and how they have come together to help rebuild Westside Christian Church in New Orleans. It is so inspiring.

In Need of Volunteers

We are still looking for volunteers – intergenerational groups, women’s circles, youth groups, men’s fellowships – to join us in our Hurricane Recovery Initiative. Be a part of the action. Be a part of rebuilding what so many of us watched be destroyed – and most of all, be a part in a very special way of what it means to be the body of Christ in the world. Embrace who we are as church, as the hands and feet of Jesus Christ in this hurting world. Join us. Please call Tod Iseminger in Disciples Home Missions' Office of Disciples Volunteering at 888.346.2631 or 317.713.2649 for details and scheduling. The WOC Office has a limited number of hurricane work trip grants available. Information and applications can be downloaded from the WOC website - www.weekofcompassion.org.

Blessings to you this week as we continue to respond around the world around the year, crying out, Here we are, Lord! Send us!

WOC Map/Poster

For the latest additions to the WOC interactive map/poster, please visit our website at www.weekofcompassion.org. For a complimentary copy of the WOC map/poster for your congregation, contact Elaine Cleveland at 317.713.2442 or ecleveland@woc.disciples.org. We're looking for stories and photos of how congregations are using the map/poster. Click here to read how two congregations are using theirs. We'd love to hear from you!