Haiti

“Great crowds came to him, having with them the lame, the blind, the deformed, the mute and many others. They placed him at his feet and he cured them.” Matthew 15:30


My heart is weighted down with the visions of Haiti today. How can these things happen? I look to God for answers. The answers I get are less than satisfactory. They sound like this: “your indifference has allowed this to happen,” “these are your brothers and sisters, but do you know them?” “How else can I get your attention.” Now I know that God is not speaking to me and that it is my own guilty conscience that is forming these answers. But they are worth reflection since my conscience is formed within the word of God. My stomach churns at the idea of people who started out with very little to begin with should be victims of such horror. I look for reasons and for answers. I ask God to open my heart.When I read the statistic that 80% of the population was Roman Catholic I was taken aback. Eighty percent?? What are the literacy numbers…is there a connection? Have we allowed people to live in these dismal circumstances using the old standby “as Christ suffered?” Have we, as a church glorified the imbalance of wealth in the world with Haiti as a victim? Eighty percent blows me away. What also disturbs me is that it won’t be long before we “tire” of Haiti and it’s need for our help. It won’t be long before we decide this really isn’t our responsibility. But we have a redemption moment at hand. We have an awakening within our reach if we can, as a Body of Christ, do what the quote above says. Imagine the glory if we could truly be part of the healing and the transformation. There is no transformation without healing. This is our time as a church to be with, entirely, our brothers and sisters. I think it is time to address the systematic problems of the third world, ignorant obedience is not faith. It is lack of knowing anything else and I am willing to wager that at least subconsciously there is a benefit to keeping people in oppression. But it is morally wrong. It is not the way of Jesus Christ and if we are to follow him, we need to live the words he gave us by loving God with our whole minds and our whole souls and loving our neighbors as ourselves. We don’t have to be there to make a difference.So today, I welcome you to pray with me; “Lord, shock me out of my complacency, ignite my outrage, help me to energize the Spirit of Christ within me that I may be evidence of your love to all of my brothers and sisters, Amen.