Gustav

[Mike Rinehart]

Dear Gulf Coast Leaders,

 

Writing from New Orleans this morning. One of my favorite albums as a teen
was Kansas' Point of No Return. By far not the most interesting song on the
album, however certainly the most popular was Dust in the Wind. This song
echoed through my mind yesterday as sat and saw. Sat over scotch with Pastor
Ron and Deborah Unger (Christ the King Kenner) who lost everything the owned
in Katrina, and nervously packed up and evacuated last week. They only lost
a few trees and plants in their yard this time around. Saw entire
neighborhoods in Baton Rouge with trees down on power lines still laying in
yards. Trees down on houses. Trees down in the middle of the road still.

 

Gustaf took a swath in between Rita and Katrina. They didn't even evacuate,
and were clearly the hardest hit. The amount of work to do here is
staggering. You can see some of our photos at
http://www.gulfcoastsynod.org/Gustav.htm. I'm not much of a photographer,
and the photos don't really capture the scope of it all, but there you go.
It's overwhelming. Not Katrina overwhelming, but overwhelming. Consider
sending volunteers to come and help for a couple of days. They are going to
need lots of help here. And the visits have even more emotional value. It
says, "We're not alone. People care."

 

I've been thinking that being a church in a hurricane zone (most of our
synod) might mean having a ready supply of non-perishable foods, as I
deliver a van loaded with non-perishables to a shelter for returning
evacuees that Pastor Pat Keen connected me with. What if families are
constantly doing in-kind offerings of canned goods, granola bars, peanut
butter crackers and the like. Then every few months it is donated to a local
food shelter. That way the congregations always have food in an emergency. 

 

The early church was about feeding. Jesus' feeding of the five thousand was
a model for God blessing the multitudes through the body of Christ. After
Eucharist, leftover bread was taken to the poor. In I Corinthians 8-9,
Paul's Eucharistic community manifested itself in an outpouring of gifts for
the poor. The Macedonian's abundant joy and extreme poverty overflowed in
generosity on their part. Remembering Christ, meant remembering the poor and
needy. It meant embracing the economy of God in the face of the economy of
the world. Jesus says to the disciples of every age, "You give them
something to eat."

 

The predominant name for worship in the West was the Mass, from missa,
"sent." The last words of the mass (and oldest of the Roman formulae) were
Ite, missa est. "It is sent." What is sent? Some believe it was the bread,
to the aged, orphans, and needy. In the mass, God bakes us into one loaf
with our neighbor. There is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or
female. We are one. One of the new ELW post-communion prayers reflects this
understanding, "...turn our hearts toward those who hunger in any way..."
One of the new, yet old dismissals says, "Go in peace; serve the poor..."

 

The offering in worship, and the gifts given by generous sharing are both
political acts. They interrupt the world's economy and allow the economy of
God to break in, says Gordon Lathrop. The Eucharist should never be
celebrated without a collection. 

 

Not only is the offering sent to those in need, but then so is the community
itself. To pray is to engage in a kind of remembrance that leads to action.
It is to be a voice for the voiceless. It is to stand with the poor. It is
to work for justice. Speaking out against violence. Giving our lives away.

 

Giving and serving are not the Kingdom of God, but the give the world a
taste. A foretaste. It's like leading a horse to water. You can't make him
drink, but as T. D. Jakes says, "I don't have to make 'em drink. I only have
to tell them how good it tastes."

 

Enough sermonizing for the morning. Thus endeth my devotions. Please keep
the people of BR in your prayers.

 

Much love,   

 

Mike Rinehart

 

Michael Rinehart, bishop

The Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

12707 I-45 North, Suite 580

Houston, TX 77060-1239

281-873-5665

www.GulfCoastSynod.org <http://www.gulfcoastsynod.org/> 

 

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