DISASTER

What irony for us to go through a shakeup with the recent earthquake and to see three days later the most hideous imaginable collapse in Haiti. The way neighbors checked in on each other here is multiplied in thousands there. More than that, it’s multiplied in millions in the way the whole world responds to crises like this one.

Even here, we began a discussion immediately as to whether we should reroute our Mexico trip or send a separate detail to Haiti, although our excellent resource people in the United Methodist Church family are not telling us yet when people going there will be as valuable as our money going there first. That will be the primary question we ask.

Two things to remember: first, for all the existential angst about where God is when horrible things happen, something profoundly spiritual happens in our world when all of us know from our depths that we must get involved with others’ healing and recovery. When most of the nations of the world send Haiti relief, we must note the very hand of God in that act.

Second, the best disaster responses are coordinated ones, and the major agencies of world charity and non profit work are working that ballet as they do with most emergencies (though some organizations work with others better in different situations). Remember, the United Methodist Committee on Relief’s response focuses more on long term recovery. They were the very last relief agency to leave the area after the floods in the Chico/Yuba City that we went through in the mid ‘90s. They will send water and doctors and supplies to Haiti, but they will be there long after the immediate response is over, building buildings and lives.

This commitment to long term relief means UMCOR work goes on for years in some places (yes, they still solicit teams of volunteers for the area hit by hurricane Katrina, and Eureka UMC sends a team there each year even now). May God bless every relief agency and team member, and all the survivors in Haiti. And may we as United Methodists take our role in that blessing by committing to remember the people there for years, not weeks.