In her pastoral letter concerning Katrina, General Minister and President Sharon Watkins asks for our prayers, our financial contributions through Week of Compassion, and long range planning for responding to the damage (planning mission trips for the next two summers), as well as celebrating the generous outpouring of relief aid through and among Disciples congregations and regions in the affected areas. She also makes a crucial point for those of us not in Katrina’s path: this is a time for us “to look to the needs in our own communities. The people in the worst shape in the aftermath of Katrina are those who were most vulnerable to begin with – the poor, the sick and the elderly. We have grown too comfortable with the poverty that exists in our own towns and cities. While we wait to act in support of Katrina’s victims, we can act already to improve the lives of our neighbors nearby.” One way to reach out to our “neighbors nearby” is our ongoing effort to stand with victims of the “Blunt Trauma” of Missouri’s Medicaid cuts. Another emerging issue where we can “look to the needs of our own communities” is Columbia’s planning with regard to the public housing on Park Ave. near downtown. At Waste Watchers, we considered how, as persons of faith, we can stand with residents seeking to save their homes from “development” that pushes them even further to the margins of society. There will never be a shortage of ways that Christ’s disciples can partner with the poor, “the least of these, Christ’s brothers and sisters.” Shalom, Maureen |
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Pastor's Corner