pray without ceasing

Several tragedies have hit across the world over the last week: in India, hundreds were killed by monsoon storms; the uneasiness in Iraq is so real, so palpable that a suicide bomb scare resulted in a stampede killing a thousand or more people; and in the southern United States, Hurricane Katrina brought widespread devastation. There is much pain and grief around the world and my prayers go out to all of these people.

While it is still too early to know the impact of Hurricane Katrina (because nearly all communications with the area have been cut off and because people fled far and wide), it is not too early to help. A number of people are already asking, What can we do in response to Hurricane Katrina? The most important thing any of us can do right now is continue to pray: pray for the victims of this violent storm; pray for those who are grieving the loss of loved ones; pray for those who are desperately searching for, or trying to contact, friends and family; pray for those who have been displaced, lost homes and belongings, and who can’t go back.

Pray – and put those prayers into action. Only emergency personnel are allowed in the worst-hit areas, but through financial gifts we can help send those personnel, we can help equip them, and we can help send supplies for those in deep need. Many good organizations are already responding; we especially commend Week of Compassion, which is the Disciples emergency relief organization. From their web-site, one purpose of Week of Compassion is to “provide emergency and long-term assistance to people in the aftermath of hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, droughts, civil war and other natural and human catastrophes. In a typical year WOC responds to a disaster about once every two days.” WOC anticipates that this may be the largest humanitarian disaster they have ever responded to in the United States. WOC has already sent $18,000 on behalf of all Disciples to help first responders. A number of Disciples churches are in the affected area, and Week of Compassion is working to contact these congregations to find out how they have been affected; unfortunately, communication is extremely difficult and they have little news to share at this time. WOC assures us that all gifts will be used in their entirety for hurricane relief and recovery. Giving is easy! On Sunday, you can leave a check in the offering written to the church and designate “Week of Compassion” on the memo line and we’ll send all gifts together. More information on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and how Disciples are responding can be found from the Week of Compassion web-site.