Help for the Helpless

Like most of you, I have been amazed by the tragedy and devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. I have been nearly equally amazed at the length of time it has taken for aid to reach those most affected. On the brighter side, I have been moved to tears by the outpouring of love and graciousness demonstrated by so many around the country and especially in my city, Houston.

Right now over 20,00 people are setting up temporary shelter at the Astrodome. Many more than that are being housed at churches and houses of worship and healing around the city. My only regret is that my congregation is home to a pre-school so we cannot house people ourselves.

This Sunday our faith community will be taking a special contribution. I know our people well enough to know that they will respond with overwhelming generosity. I was wanting to take some of our Jr. High and high school students to the Astrodome to help, but those in charge have alerted us that volunteers are overflowing and it's beginning to get hard to manage, so they're not asking for any more people. That's the kind of faith communities are here in Houston, they are trampling over each other to help. These are the times when Christians can reach beyond the rhetoric of politics and right and wrongness and be the hands and feet of Jesus.

Though we can't go to the Astrodome this weekend, there are ways to help if people have eyes to see them. My neighbor, Chandler, is housing about 5 cars worth of relatives. They will need food and clothing and all kinds of other things. Rochelle and I have agreed to help with whatever we can. I'm not sure how long they will be here, but I know it will be a long ride back to wholeness, for them and thousands of others.

The Church

I'm not anti-church, though some people think I am. I can see why, sometimes I say and write things that aren't very complimentary of the church. I saw an ad for a congregation that was looking for a preacher several years ago. One of the "qualifications" was "someone who is not critical of the church." Now those of us from a church of Christ heritage know exactly what this congregation meant by "THE CHURCH"--but I thought that was a funny qualification to have for a minister.

Something about that qualification suggests that there is nothing wrong with the church and the problem lies with those who criticize it. Believe me, I don't think criticism is an enviable trait. We shouldn't go out of our way to be critical, but there are times when someone, somewhere needs to hold up a mirror to the church and force it to see itself as it really is. My experience has been that churches become overwhelmed with being the institution of "the church" and dismiss being the body of Jesus to the world. When I am critical of the church, other Christians, and even myself, it is because I have been re-awakened to the vast difference in how people responded to Jesus and how people respond to church.

John Eldredge puts it this way: "Common folk tear roofs off houses to get to him (Jesus). They literally trample each other in an effort to get closer to this man. I've never seen anyone acting like this in order to get a chance to serve on some church committee or to hear a sermon on why dancing 'is the devil.'"

Instead of trying to recreate the 1st century or cut and paste the slivers of information we have about the Christian churches in the New Testament (most of which are pretty bad churches), perhaps our churches should re-commit themselves to simply living in the way of Jesus? Maybe then people might rush to us too.