September 4, 2005

Now is the Time

by Julianne Stokstad

"Catastrophic damage feared from Katrina"
"Katrina's fury-scores die, over 1 million lose power"
"Race Against Time: Crisis, Chaos, Casualties, Evacuees, and Cost"
"Anarchy, Anger, Desperation"
"Troops in New Orleans Bring Hope for Relief"

Reading the Chronicle's headlines this week, one can't help but see the increasingly horrible images of human helplessness in the face of a major disaster. This is a major national emergency, a major national tragedy and a major national disgrace. The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina washed away the façade of our society revealing ugly underbelly realities for the world to see. Scenes were reminiscent of disasters in third world countries, exposing the ugly realities of the richest nation in the world.

This news has shocked and overwhelmed us all. My first response was to make a personal connection. A former biology student of mine is now a doctor in New Orleans. I called his mother and heard their dramatic story. He, his pregnant wife, their two girls and three dogs all piled in their car on Sunday evacuating to a friend's home in Northern Louisiana. In the last hours of their trip, his wife overdue with their third child went into labor and their baby was born at 7 AM Monday morning, two hours after they arrived at their destination. A dramatic story but it ended well and for that I am grateful.

Many stories have not ended so well. We have no idea yet how many people have died. We have never seen an evacuation on this scale before in our country. We have no idea when the city of New Orleans will be dried out. In many ways the city of New Orleans, a city of free wheeling spirit, carefree life and jazz, joy and freedom represents the spirit of our nation. Our self-image is now forever sullied with the reality of what else was there that we did not choose to see or to acknowledge.

Alan and Barbara Miller lived in New Orleans 1957-1960 and wrote in an email how deeply affected they are, "lamenting the loss of people and the city. We are also angry because we know that the responsibilities for safeguarding the city have been shirked on many levels."

Anger is certainly one of the major feelings that come out in the face of tragedy and such a vast amount of human suffering, violence and lawlessness. It did not have to be so bad. We can all think of the what-ifs. If we have suffered, then seeing others suffer can remind us again of ours and pain and grief can reappear. If we were ever abandoned or betrayed by those we trusted to take care of us, then once again we feel angry and find it hard to trust. The pictures of our new refugees show such extreme hopelessness and helplessness, my heart breaks. I am angry at the chaos, the breakdown of our basic civilization and unimaginable human suffering. In the face of the raw power of extreme natural forces, we feel so small, powerless and vulnerable. Most of us spend much effort to insulate ourselves from such a loss of control. It is easy to turn immediately to finding who's to blame. In this case, there are no terrorists, just the worst possible case natural disaster coupled with a large number of human failures including a major failure of our American society, a hard look at ugly face of the poverty statistics.

With such destruction and then the flooding of New Orleans, some probably blame God, even feeling God was punishing the sinners. Even if this were true, which it is not, then God must be punishing people for being poor because it is the poor people who are suffering the most. They have no resources, few options. While the hurricane blows where it will, and all those who lived along the coast suffered losses, the devastation of life has been born more by those who had not the means to leave or to live on higher ground. God does not cause natural events to happen, they happen and the choice we have is how we respond. So where is God in this tragedy?

In such a time as this, God has no hands but ours. God acts through us, the body of Christ for good. Paul speaks about how a crisis provides the nudge to wake up to God's call to us. This is a crisis time for our nation. This is a time for us to recognize the deep inequality poverty creates. It is in these times that we can be inspired to lay aside our selfish interests, our sinful ways and to love our neighbors, especially our poor and vulnerable neighbors.

It is in times of crisis when the usual boundaries that separate us fall down, and humans reach out to help one another. In these times, more people understand the interconnectedness of all people. In times of crisis, hearts are opened and we see the true common humanity of all people. There are no rich or poor. There are no black or white, only people. These are Americans suffering. We want to help.

How can we do that? First, send money. Give what you can and then some more. At this time, that is most needed. If you decide to give through the UCC, write a check to our church marked Hurricane Recovery and these will be sent to Conference Office and then on to the National Office. 100% of our financial contributions will go to direct aid through UCC Wider Church Ministries. As of August 31, UCC OGHS sent $25,000 through Church World Service, more as more is given. On the ground, the money will be used through CWS to deploy up to 11 people known as disaster response and recovery liaisons to the areas affected by hurricane and provide relief through some 20 local interfaith disaster recovery groups in the area. To learn more, we are asked to check the UCC website. If you wish to give for more immediate relief, check the newspapers and give to the organization of your choice.

Let's not get stuck in blame, but get on helping victims and our wounded nation. We must document all leadership failures at all levels, and then we must demand accountability from all our leaders. We live in a democracy, and I pray we will not again become distracted. We have elections and our votes go to those whose actions matched their talk.

As we look to the tragedy, it seems important to me that we recognize we cannot pay for such a huge rebuilding without sacrifice. We have been told that we as a nation can wage an expensive war and not have to sacrifice anything. We see now what a lie this is. Of course we must sacrifice, and as always some pay more than others. Now we see their faces. If we are to help the poor and help the rebuilding, we must recognize, we have to pay for it.

I've been thinking about what we can do as a response to this crisis besides give our donations. We ourselves have to begin to act responsibly and reduce our consumption. We can conserve energy. Make a point of driving less, taking public transportation or sharing rides doing it consciously. As we reduce our consumption of energy, we become aware our actions make a difference.

What lessons can be learned here? First, while it is easy to see the failures in New Orleans, we must remember that San Francisco area is the second major risk area for natural disasters. How are we prepared here? How right here in this church? How would we connect, help each other?

We will endure. I hope we will do better than that. There is a great opportunity now for an important change in the priorities and actions of our country. In every crisis we see more clearly God works through us. God works through our generosity, through our awareness of the need for change and our acting to help that change happen. The tragedy has happened, but the story is not over. This is an opportunity to change direction and become responsible to all people, especially the vulnerable, the sick, the poor. Jesus asks no less of us as his followers. Amen.