Youth notes to Nambale School

The youth of St. Francis wrote notes to the youth at the Nambale School in Kenya. These notes will go with the books that are for the school when parishioner Ed Happ visits in March. The youth at Nambale will be writing back to our kids. Some of these are priceless. Best, M

Parish party

This is from Martin Marty and his weekly post "Sightings." It is excellent food for thought: Cultural Disruption -- Martin E. Marty     This week we reflect on issues posed in a thoughtful piece by Leon Wieseltier in the February 18th New Republic, titled “Aftershocks.”  A question it inspires:  Is there a framework in which to place the fights-of-the-week that made news on the “religion and public life” front in recent days?  We refer to publicized fights over suspect sponsors of prayer breakfasts, trafficking of children in Haiti, pop-culture churches that sponsor “extreme fighting” in the name of Jesus who is billed as an extreme fighter, and the religious fight of the century, don’t ask, don’t tell (about sex, of course).  All of these disturb and disrupt the healing messages of religious bodies of all sorts everywhere.   Wieseltier finds a framework in talk about realism, which can help counter the mere fatalism that is so culturally current and widespread.  He takes off from responses to the Haitian earthquake, which include silly and cruel theodicies like one voiced by the Reverend Joseph Lejeune in a tent city at Port-au-Prince:  “Life is not disaster.  Life is joy!”  On the other hand he is suspicious of more serious attempts to avoid the questions of theodicy among those who fault only the human causes of Haitian misery.  The new-atheist uses of the event to “prove” the non-existence of God are also unconvincing.   Wieseltier’s conclusion relates to humanisms:  “It is just not the case that the less you believe in God, the more you believe in man…Whether or not God exists, we do, and much of the time – though not now, as the planes clog the runways in Port-au-Prince – we are terrible.” We are terrible.  Give Wieseltier credit for wrestling with the bigger questions of the human story.  He is at least focusing properly.   It is time to haul out the passage from José Ortega y Gasset that has guided my own cultural-religious inquiries through the decades.  Reporting on wars, after earthquakes, financial crisis, et cetera is one thing, but “decisive historical changes do not come from great wars, terrible cataclysms, or ingenious inventions:  ‘It is enough that the human heart incline its sensitive crown to one side or the other of the horizon, toward optimism or toward pessimism, toward heroism or toward utility, toward combat or toward peace.’”  We can substitute other terms for Ortega’s “optimism,” “heroism,” and “peace,” so long as they signal alternatives to the presently dominating nihilism, political “no”-saying, polarization, cynicism, and pop-cultural escapism   Stories of positive alternatives tend to be overlooked and even buried.  Wieseltier finds one of these exceptions symbolized by the planes bringing relief to Port-au-Prince.  Those who look closely can also see how many humanizing and healing efforts are rooted not in the publicized contributions of celebrities, though there are good reasons to applaud even their short-lived efforts, but in sacrifices and gestures made by people in overlookable places such as local voluntary associations, congregations, parishes, synagogues, scout troops, and families who regularly go about their business.   Those who make up these bodies and units and agencies do know, as Wieseltier reminds us, that “we are terrible,” but terribleness is not the last word.  Politicians, broadcasters, bankers, and marketers often disdain those who help “incline the sensitive crown of the human heart” toward longer visions, incentives, and actions that might profit us and our not-always and not-only terrible contemporaries.  But Lincoln’s birthday Friday might call to mind a leader who invoked “the better angels of our nature,” or, if talk of “human nature” makes us uneasy, then the better angels of our story. Reference: Ortega is quoted in Karl J. Weintraub, Visions of Culture (University of Chicago Press, 1966).   Martin E. Marty's biography, current projects, publications, and contact information can be found at www.illuminos.com

Pastor Sony's Letter

Hi all, The following was forwarded by Julia Wade. It describes the work of Pastor Sony (whom we have supported in the past), and his work in helping with the recovery in Haiti. It is powerful. The letter follows:

Letter from Haiti

Pastor Sony’s travels

Saturday, January 30, 2010 Pastor Robin called me (Tabitha) this afternoon and dictated to me the details of an email she wanted to have sent to you. It is hard to type a lengthy email on a BlackBerry, so she decided to do it this way instead. They landed in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Wednesday morning. There was still much daylight and God opened the door for them—Pastor Sony (a dear friend and Haitian pastor), Pastor Robin, and Sara (a young sister in the church)—to travel to Port-au-Prince, Haiti. As they traveled across the D.R., they noticed a lot of things that reminded them of Haiti. The buildings looked the same, the plants looked the same, the topography of the land was the same, yet the D.R. was much cleaner, the roads better, and the level of poverty not as steep. It seemed to Pastor Robin that the Dominican Republic is the country Haiti is supposed to be. When they crossed the border it was like entering into a whole different world. It was well past evening before they reached Port-au-Prince. They are staying at Pastor Sony’s sister in law’s house. The house’s patio has become the sleeping quarters, because the government has asked the people not to sleep inside, should another earthquake take place. They were not able to go out and see the rest of the city that night. On Thursday, they saw Pastor Sony’s house and church in the Delmas 32 area of Port-au-Prince. Pastor Sony’s house is beyond repair. The structural damage is so great that it would cost more to repair it than it would be to rebuild. The houses that were in the same neighborhood as Pastor Sony’s house are demolished, with the dead buried in the rubble. The stench has gotten to be so bad that the people find holes in the rubble and throw fire down into them to burn the bodies. The houses were so close together in this area that it is doubtful that anything will be done to clear out the demolished buildings. Throughout Port-au-Prince the mountains of rubble containing the dead have come to be called “new cemeteries.” After viewing Pastor Sony’s house and the destruction surrounding it, they went to his church in Delmas, Port-au-Prince. The church is fine, thank God! They provided food for families and distributed money to the family leaders that Pastor Sony knew and trusted. This is not a long term situation, but this is one area of many that is without aid or relief. As they were on their way home the met with some of the church leaders of Pastor Sony’s church. Friday morning lead them to the “tent cities.” Each tent city they went to was comprised of what looked like over 100,000 tents. Better than 90% of the tents were sticks with sheets or cloth of any kind stretched out across them. The tents protect them from the sun, but there will be no protection from the rain for them. A common attribute of Haitians is resiliency. They have incredible instincts for survival. This has shown to be true amongst the suffering and devastation they now endure. While walking through the tent cities they saw a woman with a sign outside of her tent charging a dollar for pedicures and manicures. Although she lost her home she still had some nail files and set up a makeshift business for any consumers that might have a dollar to spare. They also saw a man who had a solar panel and was charging a dollar to charge cell phones. As they walked on they saw numerous little “stores” that the people set up. Pastor Robin and Sara were introduced to a lady that Pastor Sony knew; her name is Nicole. They discovered that she had a deep tissue wound in her leg. They said it looked as if someone had taken a fist-full of flesh out of her calf. Needless to say, it was full of infection. They treated and wrapped it. A little while later they met some doctors that had come from Germany. Although people are doing the best they can, many are still without aid. Most of the attention goes to the tent cities, leaving those not in one without relief of any kind. As they were walking Pastor Sony met some of the leaders of churches in different communities. They all agreed that the people of God needed to unite. On Saturday they took Nicole to get looked at by the doctors. She is on antibiotics and will be treated for the next three days. They hope to save her leg. We hope with them. Pastor Robin described how very precious these doctors were. They worked non-stop both days that they saw them with sweat pouring from their bodies due to the Haitian heat. Lines of people were outside of their tent at all times. The grace of God was on the doctors as they ministered healing to the people with gentleness and compassion. They understood the trauma the people were experiencing. In one case, they observed a little girl, about two or three. The top of her foot was missing and was white with infection. She was terrified and screaming with pain. The doctors worked on the little girl with patience and love. We are praying that God restores her foot. Life in Haiti is hard. We cannot even imagine how difficult the loss of a foot would make it. Later in the day they rode through downtown Port-au-Prince where all the government buildings were. Pastor Robin said it looked like atomic bombs had struck this area. The smell of rotting corpses was not as strong in this there. Fires were everywhere burning the dead. The Haitians love to see photos so Pastor Robin took some photos of her family, ministry, and her last mission trip to Fiji. While in Fiji last August, she was a part of a team that was redeeming the land for Christ’s kingdom. The Haitians were so interested in this.

In 2003, Pastor Robin knew that part of her work in Haiti was to redeem the land and had talked to Pastor Sony about this. The doors to do this never opened, besides, Haiti was still under her two-hundred year covenant with satan. This Saturday, as Pastor Robin began to speak to the Haitians about redeeming the land, the Spirit of the Lord fell and people began to come forward. They wanted the anointing to serve God and bring in the harvest. They are very aware that this is Haiti’s time to return to Jesus. There are many testimonies of the miracles that happened during and after the earthquake took place. I’ll share two of them with you: Pastor Sony’s nephew, Wana, is about 23 or 24. He is a very brilliant student speaking 4 different languages fluently. He was at work in a bank on the 5th floor when the earthquake took place. When the building started to collapse he dove out the window and somehow landed on the roof of the very same building he was in. He had to be dug out of the rubble, but he was found safe and well. A pastor in Pastor Sony’s church in Delmas was out of the area when the earthquake shook Haiti. His wife was on the roof of their home (In Haiti, many people work on the flat, cement roofs of their homes where it is much cooler.) and her two children were inside. As the house began to go down her two children suddenly appeared beside her. They rode on top of the house as it slid down the side of an embankment into a river. She and her children were miraculously kept safe. God-willing we will keep you updated on the work God is doing in Haiti.

Blessings. Mark