The staff
Kudos to the staff of the University Church of Christ: staff elders, ministers, secretaries, janitorial staff — everyone. The last few days have been tough, the power has been out, the Internet has been down, and yet the staff has performed remarkable work in contacting all our members to make sure they are okay, working with relief agencies and other churches in town, receiving material donations, and helping us all get through this mess. I’m truly impressed and appreciative, and I hope the other members of the church have adequately expressed their appreciation.
Sunday morning
We normally have two services on Sunday, with Sunday school in between. This week we omitted Sunday school and combined services. Members were encouraged to come in work clothes, ready to work. Shon, our preacher, spoke briefly, expressing gratitude that none of our members was killed or seriously injured — a truly amazing fact — and reflected on the great tragedy.
Immediately after the service, members went to various volunteer efforts — sorting donated goods, making deliveries to shelters, helping people dig out, feeding the homeless and relief workers. It was amazing to see so many people organize themselves and throw themselves into selfless ministry. It’s a different kind of worship, but it’s a very true kind of worship.
We had a lot of visitors. Some had traveled great distances to come volunteer. Some were from other churches that had lost their buildings. We lent our chapel space to a Baptist church that lost its building. (I didn’t see CNN.) This coming week, the Central Church of Christ preschool will use our elementary classrooms for their Monday through Friday preschool, sharing the facility with our own preschool but in separate classrooms.
It wouldn’t surprise me if we hear from another church or two that needs a place to worship, and we’ll accommodate them the best we can.
(Frankly, I hope many of the destroyed churches are never rebuilt. Really. Many could easily merge with existing churches, producing much stronger congregations and freeing up the insurance proceeds to do much more good than building a church building. Victory isn’t rebuilding. Victory is overcoming the powers by becoming more like Jesus. Jesus serves others and is united.)
Getting back to normal
We’ve canceled Wednesday night classes for the rest of May. We have so many families busy recovering from tornado damage or volunteering to help their neighbors that we just can’t get the volunteers we need to run the children’s program. We’re going to struggle pulling off a full-fledged Sunday morning program, too, just because it takes so many people to run the children’s program, to teach classes, etc. — and the greater need is to help our neighbors recover. And if you think about it, what greater lesson would the children learn than helping their parents serve strangers? That’s better than fifty Bible classes!
But our members will quickly need the comfort of normalcy of church. With holes in their roofs, trees across their driveways, and no water, power, or cable, they’ll appreciate having one part of their life that is familiar and comfortable. So we need to get back to normal quickly — but with sensitivity to the urgent needs of our neighbors.
The new normal
Nonetheless, we need to get used to the “new normal.” Digging out and recovery will take a long time, and volunteers will be needed for many months. We were already being pushed by the Spirit toward greater service and involvement in the community. The push has now become a shove. We need to get the message. We’ll always be a beachhead of the Kingdom, a place where even enemies are loved, where the widow and the orphan are cared for, and where the hungry, thirsty, and naked can find relief.
We need to be careful not to let our staff and volunteers become overworked. This is hard, stressful, even painful work. It takes an emotional toll. We all have to remember to take breaks. It’s okay to spend a weekend at the beach to get away from the destruction. We need to share child care and otherwise keep any one family from being overburdened.
Reader Dwayne Phillips thoughtfully forwarded me an article from the Christian Chronicle. A surprising number of Churches of Christ in the New Orleans areas split following Katrina. Different reasons were suggested: burn out, overworked elders, depression, post-traumatic stress, and conflicts between “long-term disaster relief efforts [versus] more traditional church ministries and priorities.” Now, that last one sounds like coded language to me. My take is that some members got tired of relief efforts and wanted to go back to church as usual, while other members wanted to continue to pour themselves into relief efforts. And that conflict sounds all too typical of the worldliness that besets many of our churches.
Yes, we should quickly get back to routine services, so that children and adults can enjoy the comfortable rhythms of normal church life. They have enough disruption at school and at home. They need some normalcy. But we also need a better normalcy, a normalcy that sees service to others as the normal, ordinary walk of every Christian — not as a box to be checked but service arising from transformed hearts that leap in joy at the opportunity to give of ourselves.
(Isa 58:3-12 ESV) 3 “‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers. 4 Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high. 5 Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the LORD?
6 “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? 8 Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. 9 Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, 10 if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. 11 And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. 12 And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in.”
Verse 12 sure sounds like Tuscaloosa.
So how do we avoid splitting?
* Those who are most active in relief efforts must be very careful not to look down on those who are less so. After all, those who are at the shelters may have sick parents or children to care for, serious health issues of their own, or other very good reasons not to volunteer. There must not be a hint of condescension or superiority.
* No one should hold up his ministry as holier than someone else’s ministry. We should all have a passion for what we do — but we should never let that passion cause us to look down on others. We have different gifts and different callings. There are many, many ways to serve.
* We must all be careful to remember that people’s feelings are on edge. People are tired, worried, and frayed. Give each other the benefit of the doubt — and walk on eggshells. Tired people often don’t react in the most healthy way. The most innocent comments may be taken poorly for no reason other than exhaustion. Choose your words carefully.
* Just so, if someone says something that sounds offensive, go to him or her and talk about it. You may have misunderstood, just because you’re worn out. They may have misspoken. Tired people do that. Don’t be the person that forces others to walk on eggshells.
* Show affection visibly. Hug people outside your ministry area. Be excited about other people’s stories. Listen, and don’t just wait so you can have a chance to talk. Their story matters. Be there for others. Presence is important.
* Show respect for the foundations on which we’re building. Earlier generations were flawed — but this is true of all generations. The Spirit was active back then, too, and he accomplished some great things. Give credit. As Isaac Newton said, “If I have seen further it is by standing on ye shoulders of Giants.” Our children will, I pray, see further than we do. I hope they see us as the shoulders they are standing on, not as people to be looked down upon. We should show the same spirit toward our older members.
* Be thoughtful about change. Crisis is not an opportunity to introduce worship changes.
* Get back to the normal rhythms of Sunday and Wednesday night meetings as soon as you can without interfering with ministry efforts. When people are living in hotels and their bank has been destroyed, they need a moment of normalcy in their weekly routine.
* Preach Isaiah. Preach James. Preach Jesus. But preach with gentleness and love. Just remind us of what we already know. Being generous, self-giving people is hard. We need reminders, but we don’t need to be made to feel like dirt. Rather than preaching guilt and shame, lift us up to the heavenly heights.
