May 14, 2010
Taking the Time to Make a Difference
Continuing the work of creation
BY PAUL R. LEINGANG
(Listen to Paul read this column | Weekly podcast)
It was like being witness to the creation.
My wife and I were spending a weekend at Lake Barkley, in the Kentucky resort lodge on the eastern edge of what is known as the Land between the Lakes.
It was raining.
It rained most of the evening. It rained the next day. It rained the next evening.
About 3 a.m. on Sunday, I went to look out our window at the lake. Lightning flashed beyond the vague and restless tree shapes on the shore. It was as if, beyond these uncertain shadows, there was even less certainty, no distinction between the lake and the sky. All was one, misty and intermingled, a gray nothingness beyond the moving shadows in the wind and the rain.
Was this an experience of the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth? When the earth was a formless wasteland? When darkness covered the abyss, while a mighty wind swept over the waters?
* * *
The television news in the morning was frightful. The overnight vision of uncertainty was replaced by images of devastation and destruction in Nashville. Rooftops of cars dotted the photos of flooded interstate highways. A temporary classroom building slowly floated over the edge of a bridge and disintegrated in the swirl.
Where is God now?
God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered into a single basin, so that the dry land may appear.” How will this water be gathered into its basin? How will this dry land appear?
* * *
We read in our Sacred Scriptures that Jesus walked on water and calmed the storm. We read that the same Spirit who hovered about the water at the beginning hovered above the new creation.
I believe that those of us who follow this Jesus of the new covenant are called and commissioned to continue the work of the new creation. And that to me means that we too must bring order out of chaos, light to the darkness, comfort to the grieving, security to the uncertain ones, assistance to the needy, yes, and even a challenge to those who disregard God’s creation and might prevent such devastation in the future.
* * *
In Newburg, Joe Hardesty, the youth minister at St. John the Baptist Church, felt the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Hardesty is leading three weekend mission trips to Nashville to help clean up flood-damaged homes. The trips are open to anyone, with youth under 15 to be accompanied by a parent. He is hoping for 40 people to go on each trip.
The volunteers will cut flood-soaked drywall from homes and help with other clean-up as residents sort though their possessions, and try to return order to their disrupted lives.
Hardesty has already arranged for places for the volunteers to stay.
“It usually takes six months to organize a mission trip,” he said. “This took two hours. The Holy Spirit was leading us.”
After talking with Hardesty about his plans, I can say, I know where God is today. I know how the creative effort of Jesus is continuing.
We have met our God and he is among us, and in us, and works through us.
* * *
A Nashville flood relief website offers simple guidance to anyone who wants to help: I have money, I have stuff, I have time, I have the Internet. Each of these categories provides guidance for people who want to serve our brothers and sisters in their time of need.
These are the same ways everyone can be helpful – whether the need is Nashville or some distant city. There are many ways to make a difference.
Call Joe Hardesty at St. John the Baptist Church in Newburgh, (812) 490-1000, or see the parish website, www.sjbnewburgh.org and click on the youth ministry heading.
Comments are welcome at office@cfm.org or the Christian Family Movement, P.O. Box 925, Evansvsille, IN 47706-0925