New Year
January 26, 2010
Well, the new year has begun. How are you doing? Did you make any resolutions? Are you keeping them? Did any of those resolutions have to do with your faith, with your relationship with Jesus Christ, with God? I hope so. For when we grow in our relationship with Christ we grow in our relating to our neighbors, in our compassion for others. And that is after all what we are called to do. Put the Lord our God first in our lives and from the love God pours out to us love our neighbors as ourselves.
Such a heart has certainly been called out in this last week. With such a devastating earthquake hitting Haiti, a country already on the edge of life, it is pulling on our hearts, our compassion to reach out and make a difference in their lives. And it should. These are, after all, our sisters and brothers in Christ. And they need our help. Scripture tells us that when one part of the body is hurting the whole body is hurting. (1 Cor. 12:26) Well there is a lot of pain in Haiti right now.
I am so proud of our congregation who in the first week has taken up a significant offering to go to the people of Haiti and their relief. We are also, through our Young Adult’s group, gathering up supplies for Health Kits that will be sent through UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief) to the people of Haiti. These simple kits will give individuals a few things like soap and toothpaste with brush and towels to take care of simple hygiene. For the majority in Haiti they have not had these luxuries since the earthquake. They are still waiting for water and food and medical care to reach them.
It is important that as we go about our daily living we remember these people who are hurting so deeply and lift them in prayer regularly. It is important that as we can, we do our part to help them through our gifts, to rebuild their lives and eventually their homes. It is important that we trust our God in heaven who is bigger than any of us can imagine, to be present with those sisters and brothers throughout this horror, carrying them, holding them, comforting and healing them moment by moment until they can stand on their own once again and we pray better than before the earthquake. God does this in part, through you and I reaching out to these people. Through the rescue workers, those people on the ground bringing aid and medical help, through the Holy Spirit in prayer and hope.
As you move through your day and through this year may you find the courage to daily spend time with God in prayer, speaking but then also listening so that you can be reminded of who you need to reach out to today that their prayers may be answered, that your spirit may be enriched through the divine encounter with our risen Christ. Have a blessed New Year.
In peace,
Pastor Karen
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