
I’m sure everyone knows and is well aware of the damaging and horrifying earthquake that hit Haiti this past week.
Yesterday in church, I was reminded how we need to be loving sacrificially…something I’ve been thinking about for awhile now. For me, it is so easy to love my friends and people in my life. But I recognize that a lot of that is just comfort. We always use the idea of building community to be an excuse for exclusivity (at least I do!), I justify in my mind that I work for an organization that demands a lot of my mental and heart space (and I even sometimes believe that that is enough), I tell myself that I’m doing all I can…but really, when I get what I want, love who I choose, and besides emotional heart-ache and pain (not to invalidate that) I have faced very few hardships in my life…where does this leave me?!
In my small group on Tuesday night, I was reminded and pain-strikingly so, that we live in a messed up world. And I’m constantly plagued with the hurt and dissatisfied heart about what I’m doing about it. Sometimes it can seem so daunting, the mess of this world versus, ME…little old, ME. What the discussions and experiences of this week have been for me though, is a constant reminder that my spirit moans with others…that I’m not alone in this pursuit of imagining a better world.
Like I said, yesterday in church, I was reminded that living out love REQUIRES sacrifice, requires danger, requires relinquishing our privilege and rights, giving up our comfort. I realize this can look so different for so many people, but I think of the man who gives me the example of how I’m to live. I think of what he said about giving drinks to the thirsty, clothing to the naked, food to the hungry…I think about when he says GIVE UP EVERYTHING and follow me. Further, I think about the example he gives us to follow. Reliance on his people, YES, but he rebelled against a lot of other cultural norms of the times. What does that mean for my life?
I know that a lot of people argue that The Meeting House is this big, rich, mega church. I know it’s not perfect. But yesterday, as I sat in church, I listened and saw people that make up the church responding to need. Bruxy reminded us, that YES, the earthquake in Haiti is horrifying…and that we NEED to be doing our part, giving up our comfort, giving up our resources to help people in the country survive. BUT, how sad is it that it’s taken a natural disaster to get this world to respond? How sad it is that it’s taken this natural disaster to wake up the eyes and hearts of North Americans and moved them into action? He reminded us that everyday 6000 people die in South African countries from HIV/AIDS. He mentioned that the math works out to over the course of 33 days, that totals the death toll of the Haiti earthquake. The unbearably sad part about this though, HIV/AIDS doesn’t end after 33 days of 6000 people dying. It then resets itself and begins again.
Yes, we need to be responding to Haiti, we NEED to not be blind with privilege but have eyes to see the pain. But it is my prayer, that I am aware of this, day in and day out…that I don’t use the resources and things in my life in vain.
Soooo, why am I writing about this now? Why here?
Well, as mentioned above, I know that a lot of people have beef with the mega church that is The Meeting House. However, I sat humbled and awe-struck at my computer today when I read about how my community is responding to this crisis. There are number of people who are going down to help provide relief to part of our family who are already there, but more than this, to assist AID workers in the clean up, the distribution of people, and medical needs. There is also a team who has gone to provide people from the DR help to continue transporting goods and materials to Haiti. There has also been a number of people who have donated.
Below are some links to reputable organizations to donate money to. I know that it’s a common North American thing to write a cheque and forget about it…but it is my hope that that is not the case. I hope that we can write and cheque as a way to show that we care yes, but also to serve as a constant reminder that we NEED to be sharing our resources, our money, and ultimately, our love. I have also included a link where you can read about one of the teams that has gone down from TMH, this team is made up of 6 people, 3 of which are the husband and sons of a really important woman in my life. I hope you will think of them and pray for them.
At the risk of ending this like every other commercial or advertisement urging people to give, I really hope you do. I hope that you don’t just read this and close the window, I hope that you don’t just think about what a horrific event happened, but that you will want to do something, I hope this isn’t just something we talk about and shake our heads at how sad and unreal this is.
I hope that you, like me, want a different world.
Links:
Mennonite Central Committe:
http://mcc.org/
The Red Cross:
http://www.redcross.ca/article.asp?id=000005&tid=003
The Haiti Team from TMH:
http://haitireliefteam.blogspot.com/