文章基本信息

标题：Bearing witness
作者：Hanson, Mark S
期刊名称：The Lutheran
印刷版ISSN：0024-743X
出版年度：2005
卷号：Nov 2005
出版社：Augsburg Fortress Publishers

Bearing witness

Hanson, Mark S

Nothing separates us from God's love

Resiliency and resolve are a powerful witness to God's mercy

To what does one cling when one has experienced separation beyond human understanding? The question haunted me as we witnessed Hurricane Katrina's destructive power on the Gulf Coast.

"Have you gone back to your home?" I inquired. Silence, tears, then wrenching words: "I have no home to go back to. No earthly possessions except the few things we took with us. Everything is gone." Separation.

"Suddenly our congregation was scattered," a pastor said. "First the terrifying fears that some may not have survived. Then the attempt at contact but cell phones didn't work, land lines were down and e-mail reached only a few. As the days passed I began to find members in North Dakota to Florida, Tennessee to California. Some I still have not found. Bishop, how do I serve as pastor to a congregation in diaspora?" Separation.

Mighty winds and pounding waves tore away the veil revealing what too often we deny-amid our affluence far, far too many are trapped in poverty. Separation.

Repeatedly survivors affirmed the promise that nothing "in all creation will separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:39). Separation was not the singular defining reality. Resiliency and resolve are a powerful witness to God's mercy.

In the breech of separation, Lutheran congregations in Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama bear witness to the healing love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord as they become distribution centers for food, water and life's other daily essentials. Health clinics triage and treat those with labored breathing from growing molds and cuts from clearing mountains of debris.

The phrase I heard most was "by the grace of God." "By the grace of God we have and will survive." For people so weary they find it difficult to pray, there is the longing to gather with others who will pray, for them and on their behalf. Denominational differences give way as people gather in worship to hear the gospel and be renewed for the long arduous journey of rebuilding lives.

Separation and destruction slowly give way to healing and restoration. You are part of God's healing love through your generous gifts to ELCA Domestic Disaster Response. In these ravaged areas I saw what it means to be the living organism: the body of Christ. Where one part of the body suffers, we all suffer together. Thanks be to God for your prayers, generosity, support and witness to the love of God in Christ Jesus.