Rector's Reflection
5th Sunday After the Epiphany, Year C
February, 7, 2010

I began writing this reflection in my head last Sunday night as I drove home from the "Hope for Haiti" prayer service that was held at Main Street United Methodist Church. The eight of us pastors who meet for Bible study every Monday had, two weeks earlier, determined that we had to do something in the face of the utter devastation caused by the Haitian earthquake. We weren't sure what we were going to do, but as we studied the 12th chapter of 1st Corinthians we kept seeing more and more clearly Paul's language about the body of Christ, not as a clever metaphor but as an assertion of the undeniable and irrevocable kinship we share with people around the world. As Paul notes, "If one member suffers, all suffer together with it..." We knew we weren't physically there amid the death and destruction, but we were there by virtue of our baptisms, to acknowledge the suffering and, in some small way, help ease the suffering.

I will tell you now that I was not prepared for what I experienced. I have been a part of memorial services and awareness/fund-raising services, but the experience at Main Street was unlike anything I have ever experienced. The congregation was inter-generational. It was multi-racial. It cut across socio-economic distinctions. It brought together dramatically different worship styles. But what transcended all of the differences was the unabashed and unapologetic proclamation of God's grace and salvation through Jesus Christ. That is not always the case at ecumenical functions, but what was quite clear to those of us who planned the service – and ultimately to those who attended the service – that hope for Haiti is virtually impossible absent the Holy Spirit.

It is impossible for me to pinpoint what I think was the "best" part of the service (although the $8100+ collected was pretty remarkable). The scripture readings could have been written specifically for Haiti, but they were powerful reminders of the timelessness of God's Holy Word... and that tragedy and devastation have long been a part of the human condition.

The prayers, both corporate and individual as memorialized on prayer cards that will be sent to Haiti, evoked tears, but the tears were in the context of hope. The photographic images that washed across the screen could not be described except in the words of prayers, most of which began with "Oh my God."

And the music... Contemporary songs blended with Taize settings blended with hymns straight out of the Methodist hymnal, each song... each hymn a prayer in itself. I can't say for sure there wasn't a dry eye in the house, but mine certainly weren't dry, especially when we came to "It Is Well With My Soul."

This is not a hymn from my youth but one with which I have become familiar over the years. Its origin is a tragic sea disaster that took the author's children; his wife alone survived. (The whole story is well worth reading.) The lyrics are moving and do not attempt to avoid the issues of evil, devastation, and loss... sin, trials and tribulations... and yet, Horatio Spafford writes, "it is well with my soul." It is well with his soul, not because he doesn't grieve or wonder about God's purposes or shake an occasional fist at the sky. It is well with his soul because he knows that God is faithful. He knows that God is good. He knows that God is the creator and not a destroyer. He knows that God does, indeed, redeem all things.

As I looked at the images of a city for which there seems to be no hope, I reflected on Phillip Reynold's recitation of an observation made by Desmond Tutu at the worst part of apartheid, that"we are Christians; we are prisoners of hope." It is only in Christ that any of us finds hope through the darkest nights of our souls. It is only through Christ and his gathered body that Haiti has hope.

And for that reason it is well with my soul.

Susan+