On Doing What We Do

On Doing What We Do

It was a few weeks ago Friday evening and the water had risen.

Gathered in prayer for the healing and recovery front of us, the United Methodist Preachers planned and prayed for two hours. There were tears; there was support and an overwhelming feeling of God inspired resolve.

The water crested and began to subside. Tuesday morning, block by block the neighborhoods were being opened for folks to see what was left of their material lives. From the middle of it came a phone call, it was a colleague who simply said; “can you please come to my neighborhood.”

For years those were her people, the people of another neighborhood on the other side of the river with whom I and my congregation had little if any connection. That Tuesday everything changed. Her people – the whole neighborhood became what they always should have been – our people.

We quickly trained teams of pastors to go house to house offering an ear, shoulder, presence and prayer to those who had lost much of their “everything.” Simultaneously our volunteer structure was ignited and men and women with trucks and trailers began helping people move their possessions to storage places. Almost immediately tents were set up on the church lawn where water and refreshments for the already wearying workers could be given. Within half a day “muckers” from every manner of church, volunteer organization, circle of friendship and kinship began the process of removing the “muck” from homes.

No one knew the future – only the present seemed certain, people needed help and the Christians were there to offer it in voluminous ways. Why?

Steve Sjogren once wrote: “We love, we serve and care for others because that is the normal behavior for people who are filled with God’s Spirit. We are Christians. Christ was the ultimate servant. We can’t help but serve because the Spirit of the Servant has filled our hearts. When we serve, we are just being who we are naturally.” For me this has always been the essence of why we do what we do as individuals and as the body of Christ.

The opportunity before us is long and arduous. The opportunity before us has been mapped out by the Servant Master of us all who is willing and planning to walk it with us. There is much to do, much to pray for, many to be served all because it rained too much in Iowa this spring. We are committed as Christians to do what we do for however long it takes to heal our cities and state because simply; we are the Christians and for the time being, that is what we do.

In Greatest Expectation,
Rev. Mike Morgan
First UMC, Marion

Flood Helps St. James UMC Live Out It's Mission

Pastor Beth Straw pointed out that the flooding has actually enabled the St. James congregation to live out its mission, by enabling the congregation to get outside its walls and into the community, building stronger relationships with the people who live in the neighborhood surrounding the church. St. James has a makeshift “Hospitality Center” in the front yard where area residents can come for bottled water, masks, flood buckets, gloves, first aid kits, homemade cookies and brownies and just about anything else! Across the first tent, there is a banner that says: “Swimming Together” along with the God’s words: “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to give you a future with hope!” (Beulah Potter, a member of St. James and mother of UMC pastor Marlene Brown, shared this particular verse with Pastor Beth when Beth visited her in the hospital last week. Beulah’s house was later destroyed by the flood, and she passed away from cancer on Thursday morning. Her last legacy, however, was the proclamation of God’s presence and promise to the neighborhood in which she lived and which she loved.) St. James is proclaiming this promise of a future with hope in both word and deed. Even as they empty the contents of their own building, members are moving through the streets of the neighborhood, praying with people, distributing water and other needed supplies, and listening to stories.

They are beacons of hope!

Jon Gaul, in the North Central District Newsletter

Tornados, floods and so many disasters worldwide have really hit hard this spring. It can be seen by some as a test of faith. I was really encouraged this morning to hear a national news reporter comment that the flooding in Iowa seems to have strengthened people’s religious faith rather than weaken it. The report then ran a video clip of a flood victim who said God didn’t cause this to happen, but that God would help them get through it.

I am of a similar mind and belief. I believe God created this world to operate in an orderly pattern. We need to understand and respect that pattern, which includes storms, tornados, earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, and the list can go on. The occurrence of these phenomena can have disastrous effects, especially when they hit populated areas. However, I do not believe God causes these storms to punish us or even to teach us a lesson, although we should and do learn from them. They are a part of God’s naturally occurring creation and we need to respect them and minimize our risk of being affected by them. However, we cannot do away with all risk. Anywhere we live in this world, we can be affected by one or another of these occurrences. When they do occur, what we need to do is be ready to respond by witnessing to our faith and helping out in any way we can.

We have a number of churches in our district doing this. I tagged along with members from the Ogden church as they helped out in Parkersburg on June 10. It was an unbelievable sight to see the devastation there. You may wonder what difference a few people could make. But as they say, “many hands make light work,” and it will take many more hands to rebuild that community. Much of the big debris had been pushed into piles. Our job was to pickup the small pieces of debris that were everywhere. We started out at three house sites in a neighborhood that had been totally flattened. As we finished up and were getting ready to move on, one of the home owners happened to come by and then we knew it was worth it. He expressed such appreciation and was especially touched by the flowers the Ogden group planted in his yard to bring some life back to the area.

From the Bidwell-Riverside Center...

Our primary needs at the moment are for our Early Childhood Development Center—we lost two of our childcare rooms and all of the equipment and supplies for them. Also, our kitchen is gone, so we are doing the best we can to prepare food for 42 children out of a small kitchenette with a microwave! We have no reasonable way to wash dishes, so we are using LOTS of paper products. We are working hard to get back to normal, but my guess is that it will take most of the summer, so we’ll be needing supplies for awhile. These are the most needed things. Thanks for all your help.

We always need paper products, especially paper towels. Toilet paper is a close second. We currently do not have our dishwasher, so we are going through LOTS of paper products for meals (plates, 5 oz. cups, plastic spoons & napkins).

Our food pantry was also in the basement, so any canned vegetables or fruits. We are using a lot of the individual fruit cups for the children right now also.

If anyone wants to get something more for the children, we never have enough washable markers, this is a favorite of the children over crayons or colored pencils. We have been spending some extra time outside due to lack of central air, so outside toys would be helpful also (bubbles, sidewalk chalk, buckets, shovels, sprinkler, etc.)

As always, we will be buying extra things to “make due” for now, so money donations will be needed also.

Blessings,
Robert Crandall (rcrandall@bidwellriverside.org)
Executive Director, Bidwell Riverside Center

(The Bidwell-Riverside Center is located at: 1203 Hartford Ave, Des Moines, IA 50315 Phone: (515) 244-6251)

Helpful Reminders in Disaster Relief Response

I was able to work with a crew cleaning out at a house on Saturday and several things came to mind from a pastoral care perspective that I wanted to share. This is not anything new, but thought it just needed to be shared, especially with crews beginning to come in from out of town and out of state.

Taking photographs – Pictures are being taken by the team leaders for the purposes of documenting what is being done at each of the homes we are working on. Caution should be exercised by other members of the team in taking photos for their personal use. This could be perceived as an invasion of privacy, particularly if the pictures are of the home itself and the photos are taken without the permission and knowledge of the homeowner. Teams should be asked to use discretion, and if possible, ask the homeowner before taking pictures.

Handling what comes out of the house – Enthusiasm abounds when it comes to tackling the cleanup, but it should never be forgotten that these are people’s homes and their possessions, and though we see water-soaked furniture, mud-covered dishes and clothing, it also represents a lifetime for many of these folks and we need to handle things respectfully at all times. Side note: the gentleman we helped on Saturday had just lost his wife of many years the week before the flood. As I was walking back to get another load, I found a garbage can that someone had filled with items of clothing, shoes, etc., that were most likely his late wife’s. This 89-year-old man will never be able to go through the healing part of his grief by going through his wife’s things and deciding for himself what to keep and give away. That decision was made for him by the flood. So, teams need to put themselves in the homeowner’s places and handle things as respectfully and lovingly as possible, given the conditions.

Casual remarks – Again, enthusiasm abounds, but care needs to be taken so that off-hand remarks are not taken the wrong way and seem insensitive to the homeowner’s circumstances. Something said off the cuff may be a light-hearted attempt to alleviate some of the pressure of the situation, but may be very hurtful if overhead and misconstrued by the homeowner.

-Vicki Standley, Director of Pastoral Care, First United Methodist Church in Marion

Ways to Get Involved

Many persons have asked “how can I be physically involved in the clean up in Palo, Olin or Cedar Rapids?” A good and direct way in these early stages is to call 319.377.4856 (First Church in Marion) which is working with many UM local churches and groups coming on mission trips as the first response hub to organize and direct the projects. A four stage plan is in place for volunteer workers.
1) Move out “saveable” items.
2) Move out that which is damaged beyond repair.
3) Muck out the home/bleach and do mold kill
4) Begin deconstruction.

Deconstruction, the removal of drywall etc. is on hold to some extent because of city decisions regarding building permits and electricity. We will proceed with this work when given go ahead by local authorities. In a few weeks there will be opportunities for persons who have skills and abilities that do not include those things listed above.

As you volunteer for a day or longer period of time, please be ready to provide the name of your church, pastor’s phone and when you are able to come. More than a day’s notice is MOST helpful if you desire to be put to the most useful and effective work with the teams in place. Further, we are hesitant (because sadly of what we know about the world today) to take any “lone” volunteers, so groups, even of two or three are best.

We are organized early and ready AND need some empathy on the part of the eager helper to accomplish the most for the kingdom. Everyone in Cedar Rapids appreciated the love and prayers of God’s people.

-Rev. Mike Morgan

Update on Flood-Damaged Church Buildings in the Cedar Rapids Area

The Palo United Methodist Church reports that electricity has been restored, and they plan to worship in their sanctuary on June 29, 2008. Their basement, which received eight feet of flood water, has been mucked out and dried, and reconstruction will begin soon.

The St. James United Methodist Church building is heavily damaged. Extensive clean-up has been—and is—underway. The congregation is awaiting word from the city about whether building permits will be issued before any plans for reconstruction can be developed or efforts begin. St. James is currently worshipping at St. Mark’s UMC.

The Salem United Methodist Church building is heavily damaged. At this point, the future of the building is uncertain. Salem is currently worshipping at Lovely Lane UMC.

The Trinity United Methodist Church buildings consist of a sanctuary building which has housed the Matthew 25 Hub in the lower level, and a Christian Education/Office building which houses the Trinity Lane pre-school and Harley Steele Hall. At this point, the sanctuary building has been sealed off, and a private contractor has been hired to clean up the Christian education building. Trinity is currently worshipping at Asbury UMC.

The Matthew 25 Ministry Hub is temporarily relocated to the Sharon UMC, and will eventually move back into the Taylor neighborhood, likely with offices in the Harley Steele Hall at Trinity UMC.

Thanks to all who have volunteered, donated money and supplies, provided hospitality, and prayed for relief efforts in the Cedar Rapids area!