is time fast or slow

I bought my daughter a car this week. How did this moment get here so fast! Time seems to be slowing down around the hurricanes and their results. Time seems to be speeding up around my family growing up. Why is "time" so different? Its slow for a friend who is experiencing confusion and frustration around some issues that other folks are throwing in the way of her professional life. It is fast for those of us around Nancy Fisher as she comes closer to her end of life here on earth. I want my retirement age to hurry up and get here so I can access my pension and then really do and say what I want to in ministry and not worry about whether the institutional financial viability will enable my salary. The "beginning" of creation seems so ancient and yet when I read the story of Adam and Eve it seems like it is really my life story.

what of the city?

As the blaming continues to escalate on why people and particularly poor people and African-American people were left behind in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, I have my hunch why. The U.S. urban cores have become essentially an enclave for the poor. While the people in the suburbs and of higher economic classes got the hell out, there was no cohesiveness to the entire metro setting of New Orleans. The balkanization of our urban metro centers which is often reflected in the disparity of school systems became even more stark at the moment that evacuation orders were presented. New Orleans was left to itself...like every other city or village or parish settings. BUT, N.O. first had a more vulnerable population and second it really had less resources in proportion for its population than these other settings. Once you take into account the resources of individuals in those other settings, sure the government bodies there could take care of the rest. This is simply a reflection but greatly heightened of what is happening in all of our central city settings around the country.

disaster relief page

Our church now has a regularly updated page on ways we are involved and others can too with the disaster relief effort.

read this for times like these

Here are two articles I think in the midst of "all this" is helpful for those of us who are called as disciples and servants of Jesus Christ. Our mission is to share the Good News, no matter the time or condition. Or another way to put it, "when you are up to your ass in alligators, who is going to drain the swamp?" Who will share the Gospel when the world around us is in catastrophe?


Hope in the Face of Loss by Walter Brueggemann. "What happens when your world collapses, when the foundations of your faith crumble and dissolve? Biblical hope -- running through both Testaments -- points the way to courage and confident. It is a gift the world cannot give."



The Christian Challenge in a Postmodern World by N.T. Wright the wonderful author, New Testament scholar, and Bishop of Durham (England) where I visited 4 years ago. I heard him give this similar talk a year ago in person.

pictures from Back Bay Mission, Biloxi

Here are links to web pages with pictures from church work camps organized by the Back Bay Mission, and what they accomplished in Biloxi.

http://www.stmatthew-ucc.org/biloxi01.htm
http://images.cotangent.org/biloxi7_03
http://www.stpaulsucc.net/backbay2002/backbay.htm

The Back Bay Mission was really one of the originators of church work camps in the early 1950's. They became a leader nationally in training other folks on how to form and lead work camps. Both the mission and the probably many of the people they served are now gone!

we can help!

Now is not the time for recriminations among us who are outside of the immediate areas of the devastation. Now is our time to help, encourage, cajole and offer help to our leaders who are responsible for helping the present victims in their dire and catastrophic conditions. The following is from the United Church of Christ of ways we can help in the long run:

Hope Shall Bloom is the name chosen for our UCC hurricane recovery initiative as a sign of our commitment, as the United Church of Christ, to walk with the survivors of Hurricane Katrina on the long, long road to recovery and restoration.

A goal of $1 million has been set for the Hope Shall Bloom-UCC Hurricane Recovery Fund.... Basic infrastructure systems (roads, bridges, utility lines) have been heavily damaged - which means it is extremely difficult to get in touch with our pastors and congregations in the impacted areas. The South Central Conference, which includes Louisiana and Mississippi, is working diligently to get what information they can about our churches and institutions which we will share as it becomes available. We do know that UCC congregations in Texas are providing food and shelter for disaster survivors.

Dr. Evelyn Hughes, President, and the senior staff of UCC-related Dillard University of New Orleans are working from a variety of locations to plan for the recovery and restoration of this historic African American institution. The UCC Council for Higher Education is exploring avenues to partner with Dillard in this process.Church World Service is trying now to get its Disaster Response and Recovery Liaisons deployed into the disaster area. Once they are in place, we will be able to provide more information about relief and recovery efforts and the best ways we can respond.

Many offers for housing have been received from across the UCC. We are exploring options to see if there is a way we may match people in need with those offering hospitality.Financial contributions are needed for hurricane relief and recovery. The UCC has already made grants and pledges from the One Great Hour of Sharing offering to the South Central Conference ($10,000) as they identify emergency needs within our churches; to Back Bay Mission ($5,000); to Dillard University ($5,000) and to Church World Service ($25,000). This is only the beginning of what the UCC will offer.

... For sure, we will have a number of church facilities damaged, perhaps even destroyed, and many of our families will be homeless. ... you can be certain that 100% of your designated offerings will be used for hurricane relief and recovery. This is possible because your gifts to Our Church’s Wider Mission (which is part of our Outreach Mission portion of our offerings which you can designate what percentage of your offering will go to via your annual pledge or with each weekly offering you give) cover administrative costs.There will be a time when volunteer work groups are needed. But that time has not come. Right now it is highly skilled volunteers experienced in search and rescue, medical personnel, etc., that are needed. Contact Mary Schaller Blaufuss, Executive for Volunteer Ministries, blaufusm@ucc.org, to have your name added to a list of potential future volunteers. As for material donations, Church World Service is sending blankets and Gift of the Heart kits and will be issuing an appeal to its member communions for those resources.