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It is 9:20 am on a Saturday. I am sitting behind my desk at the
office because we’re about to hold a memorial service for a member of our
church, and they’ve asked me to play guitar. Not surprisingly, Westminster is a
buzz this morning, people crossing back and forth in front of my doorway almost
every minute. But this morning, the parade of people across my door makes me
some sort of mixture of sad and jealous and excited. For you see, the group
that is here this morning is the team that will be traveling to Haiti in the
not too distant future. They’re packing the incredible suitcases procured at
our rummage sale with desperately needed items for their journey.
I wish I was going with them.
If you’re like me, reading Ray’s blog may occasionally cause you
to ask yourself how you could possibly help from here in the US. You don’t have
the opportunity to travel to Haiti right now. Maybe it’s finances, maybe it’s
family commitments, or maybe you’re even foolish enough to be taking half time
seminary course work. Whatever the reason, they are there, and you are here,
and you wish that you could chip in. I totally hear that. It’s where I am right
now too.
And so I’d like to take a moment on Ray’s Haiti blog to talk
about prayer.
I sometimes wonder what percentage of the Christian population actually believes that prayer works.
Even as I’m writing about prayer for the country of Haiti, somewhere in the
back of my mind is a voice screaming “Yeah, but what can I do?” I want to get my hands dirty, I want to chip in, I want to
paint a school building Pepto-Bysmal Pink
and I want to play kickball with the school kids. I want to participate. I want
to be active.
Prayer as it would turn out is incredibly active. In Genesis, God
informs Abraham that he’s about to blow up the cities of Sodom and Gomorra.
Abraham, being a respectable human being, is not interested in seeing a whole
group of other humans lives extinguished if they don’t have to be. So Abraham,
probably giving himself quite the pep talk before hand, starts to argue with
God. They go back and forth, almost like a used car salesman and his customer.
God starts at if there are 100 righteous people he’ll spare the city, and ends
at if he can find 10 righteous people he’ll relent. God, it seems like anyway, had
his plans changed by prayer. He considered what Abraham had to ask. He took it
seriously.
I’m pretty sure he still does.
I’ve been haunted for a long time by the image in my mind of the
drive from Port-Au-Prince to La Croix. Years after the hurricane that we all
apparently texted dollars of support to, there are still entire tent cities on
the outskirts of P.A.P. To me, this is the definition of injustice. This is the
definition of wrong. And this is what brings me to prayer each and every
morning. While I don’t presume to know what’s going on in God’s mind, I think
he takes me seriously with these prayers. I think he’s listening. And in fact,
I’m also pretty sure he’s acting through people like Ray and Pastor Pierre, and
the team from Westminster that’s headed down right now.
So I invite you to pray. Pray for Ray and the other folks who are
hard at work in Haiti. Pray for the people of Haiti. Pray for those who are so
very desperate for the touch and love of God that they can taste it. Pray for
those of us who wish they could be going, but have to stay home and write
papers. Prayer is not idle lip service. It’s active. It’s participatory. It’s
what God is asking us to do.
But try not to get too jealous of the weather difference...
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