what can we do?
Dear First Pres SLO Family,
Grace and peace to you in the name of God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is this God who came in the form of Jesus of Nazareth to show us how to live, and to give us a glimpse into the divine heart. Isn’t that amazing?
August has shaken us from our focus on our own problems and crises. The earthquake and suffering in Haiti breaks our hearts. The chaos and sense of failure in Afghanistan makes us feel ashamed. Both disasters feed a sense of helplessness—what can we do?
It’s important to remember that neither of these events happened suddenly, not even the earthquake. Haiti is an unstable place not because Haitians are innately unstable, but because the history of Spanish and French abuse, followed by years of corrupt leadership, leave it weak and defenseless in the face of natural disasters.
Afghanistan is an ongoing tragedy of which our country is just one part. Nations with grand ambition keep trying to conquer it, only to fail. Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and now the United States all tried to tame this complicated place, and that’s just in the last century or so.
In other words, the problems of today have roots in the decisions and mistakes and even the sins of yesterday. While we pray and offer assistance today, it’s equally important to make and support good decision-making in our leaders so that we aren’t faced with new preventable problems in the future (the unpreventable ones will be bad enough!). All of this applies to church life, too. Setting aside the unpreventable things, we can all do better to make healthier decisions now, so that we avoid predictable problems later.
For today, though, we can look for the groups who are doing good work on the ground, and support them. International Rescue Committee is doing solid work in Afghanistan, and our own Presbyterian Disaster Assistance teams are working hard to serve the people of Haiti. Money isn’t always the solution, but supporting good organizations in times like these might just be the best and most we can do.
In other news…
I’ll be announcing a new message series for the fall in the next week or two. We’ll be restarting the Bible in Community groups, an opportunity to reflect on sermon texts ahead of time. Let us know if you’re interested in joining or starting a group!
I’m teaching a new midweek class on Thursday, September 30th. It’s a New Theological Seminary of the West course called “A History of American Evangelicals”. The first hour will be streamed live on YouTube and available to First Pres SLO. The second two hours will move to Zoom for the degree students and auditors. You can find more information here.
We have a new person joining our First Pres staff. More details coming next week!
Stay tuned for more details about our fall ministries. In the meantime, stay safe and healthy!
Blessings in Christ,
Pastor John