Morning Thoughts

Today is the last day. The last day that we have to get up at 5:00 a.m. for morning Lenten services, that is. The practice here at our internship congregation has been to have 3 daily servcies for Advent and Lent - 6:30 a.m., 12:00 noon, and 6:30 p.m.

As for getting up at 5:00 a.m., those of you who know me know that this is a rare feat - I don't do mornings. It is not that I don't do them well, I just don't do them. I am the one who, when I was traveling the world, would sometimes stay up all night when I had to leave for the airport at 5:00 a.m. (knowing that I had a 12 hour flight during which I could sleep). Early mornings just are not my thing.

But there has been something about 6:30 a.m. Morning Prayer that has touched me. There is something about getting up and dressed, and being in the sanctuary as the sun comes up, praising God for the day to come. Morning Prayer at 9:00 a.m. might be just fine, but there is something powerful about Morning Prayer as the sun rises.

It is easy to understand why many cultures begin their day with prayer as the sun rises. It is not something we do often as Christians, except for those who still have a sunrise service on Easter Morning. It may be a practice that we should reclaim more often.

Try it sometime. Get up before the sun rises; take your favorite hymnal or devotional, and have morning prayer as the sun rises (for Lutherans, try LBW p. 161). Morning prayer, or devotions, become more powerful as we witness the wonder of God's creation at the same time. Whether it is watching the early morning rays of sunlight as they penetrate the stained class windows of the sanctuary, or watching them rise over the trees in the back yard, or come in the kitchen windows, pray as the sun arrives.

This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it (Psalm 118:24 , NRSV).

Finally, a new post!

Well, it happened again. I had about ½ of a post written, and then IE shut down on me (I know, I have said before that was going to write the post in Word, then cut and paste it into Blogger, but I was in a hurry…).

As I think I was writing, it is hard to believe that it has been so long since either of us has been able to post anything. I guess it just goes to show how busy Lent can be. In addition to usual business of Lent, we have had lots of volunteers come in (college spring breaks) plus we have both spent some time in Enterprise, AL. For an update on Enterprise and LDR, click here.

While I am sure that we did expect our internship to be somewhat unique, I am not sure that we expected it to be as different as it has been. We have learned a lot about disaster response – on many levels – and have learned a lot about the various organizations that help make things happen. For example, a year ago, I had no idea what VOAD stood for, or that I would have anything to do with it. VOAD stands for Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster and is one organization that we have become very familiar with. We attend both the Mobile County VOAD meetings on a regular basis, as well as the state VOAD meetings. We have even shared our work on Congregational Preparedness at these meetings.

In addition, a group at St. Paul’s have decided to get our HAM radio licenses so that we will have communications in case of another disaster here. We had classes so we could pass the test, bought radios, and now are having classes so that we can operate our new rigs. If you are interested, my call sign is KI4UDZ.

All this adds to the confusion that arises when someone ask, “What do you want to do after seminary?” The first answer is that we will go where God calls us; the second answer is that after this internship, it will probably be somewhere unique (or at least very interesting). Our candidacy committee recently sent representatives to visit with us, and I think they were overwhelmed with what they found here. I can imagine that most anyone would be – disaster response work is never easy. It certainly puts us in unique situation.

For the meantime, we pray for the strength and stamina to get through Easter; then we can take a few days off and recharge. Enterprise is about to enter a new phase where outside assistance such as LDR has been providing will be minimal, so we won’t be spending as much time traveling. On the other hand, internship is on the downhill side and we still have things to finish, goodbyes to prepare for, and packing to do. August will be here soon enough. Then we move and start a new adventure – that of senior seminarians.

Seeing God at Work

A few weeks ago, Ray and I traveled to southeast Alabama to give two presentations on congregational disaster preparedness. One of those presentations was at a LC-MS congregation, Christ the King Lutheran Church, in Enterprise, Alabama.

As we do each time in our presentation, we explained what LDR is and described the work LDR is doing in Alabama, we discussed what kinds of disasters are mostly likely to occur in Alabama, and then talked about how congregations can help their members prepare individually, how the congregation can prepare to care for their members and their facility, and how the congregation can do ministry in the community following a disaster.

Less than three weeks later, we heard on the news of the devastating tornado which struck Enterprise. I know that both of us were struggling with our emotions and our memories of being at Christ the King as we listened to the news reports of the extensive damage to the community and the nine deaths – eight of which were students killed in the collapse of the local high school.

After several phone calls and emails within the LDR staff here in Alabama, I quickly packed a bag and drove to Enterprise to join other staff already on site. On a Sunday morning exactly three weeks after our presentation, I found myself worshipping at Christ the King and attending a special called meeting of the congregation to discuss their plans for ministry following the disaster.

I stayed for a day and a half, helping run the volunteer reception center as over 600 volunteers came into Enterprise to help with the cleanup and removal of debris in the first few days following the storm. I talked with many volunteers as they arrived to help, some from the community and some who had traveled much farther to be there. I also talked with the members of the congregation – especially those who were taking active roles in their newfound ministry to the community.

For this small Lutheran congregation, in the center of town, just a few short blocks from the heavily damaged high school and other devastated neighborhoods, surrounded by many much larger churches of other denominations, is taking an active role in the recovery of their community. While other churches are feeding and housing victims of the storm, Christ the King has been designated by the mayor as THE location for all volunteers to check in, so that they can be registered, receive safety training, and their hours of labor can be tracked, which is crucial to help the city reduce its emergency-related expenses.

While I know that the congregation did not have time to develop concrete plans after our presentation, I also know that our presence and our presentation did help make them more aware of LDR and of ways that the congregation could respond in the event of disaster.

I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to walk with them both before and after this event, and I know that I will be returning to continue to walk with them as the recovery process continues. A few nights spent sleeping on the nursery floor in my sleeping bag, and a couple days without a shower are a small price to pay for the opportunity to see God at work among his people!