Feb. 5, 2010 The Journey Continues ...
Many of you probably have heard the story of the people in an African village who purchased a television set. For weeks all of the children and adults gathered around the set watching it morning, afternoon, and night. But after a couple of months, the set was turned off and never used again. A visitor to the village asked the chief why.
“We have decided to listen to the storyteller,” the chief replied.
The visitor asked, “Why? Doesn’t television know more stories?”
The chief’s response: “Yes, but the storyteller knows me.”
This story reminds me of the undeniable effect that relationship has on the human spirit. You can’t under estimate the power, peace, and potential that is stirred when you know someone and someone knows you.
Two weeks ago, I lost a friend in the Haiti earthquake. The Rev. Sam Dixon was the head of our United Methodist Committee on Relief and one of my key co-workers in our Global Health Initiative. Over the years, Sam and I learned more and more about one another. That knowledge led to laughter and commonality, stories and respect. I knew Sam and Sam knew me.
When word came that Sam was missing in Haiti, my mind began to wander and my soul began to pray. When we heard that Sam and five other colleagues had been found, yet were still trapped, I began to visualize their condition and my soul continued to pray. When word came that Sam had been trapped for 55 hours in the rubble and lost his struggle to survive, my soul began to pray even more, but my mind could not move beyond the visual of my friend dying an agonizing and painful death in a space 8 ft. by 5 ft. by 3ft. I ached and, in some very small measure, assumed a bit of his pain. Why? It’s simple. I knew Sam and Sam knew me.
In this day of mass communication and instant access, it doesn’t take long for the stories of the world to reach the places where we live. In this time when the world is getting smaller every day, the possibility of knowing someone who is victimized by disaster or disease greater every day. It’s one thing to see the saddened eyes of a child walking aimlessly on a Port-au-Prince city street. It’s another to know the child’s name.
Last week marked the end of another year of giving in our Conference. The push to finish our financial year on a positive note is always a frenzied race. In the midst of that final push, we inevitably hear some frustration, comments like “our mission share is too high,” or “we’ve begun to question why we have to give this,” etc., etc. But in the midst of those complaints, we always hear stories of extreme sacrifice and deep commitment to the church and its mission.
One of those stories was about a small membership church in our Conference that divides its mission share by 52 and sends a check each week in order to pay its fair share. Their last check came on the day of the deadline, just in time to reach 100 percent. But inside the envelope was an additional check. It was a $1,000 for Haiti, outweighing the mission share check more than tenfold.
Another church sent in its mission share and attached a check for Haiti. The Haitian relief check was from their reserve funds – all of them. The church emptied their “safety net” reserve account because they believe that God has blessed them with an abundance that they had to share with those who had lost theirs and because they believe they have a far better chance of building up their reserves than anyone does in Haiti.
Those are great stories, but what makes them extraordinary for me is that I know the givers. I know the sacrifice behind their gifts. I know how hard it is for those churches to make it from one day to the next, let alone empty their reserve accounts so someone might have water to drink or food to eat. What makes these stories so wonderful is that they are not pulled out of thin air with no names or situations attached. They are real stories brought to life by real people who long to make a connection with a hungry and hurting world.
Isn’t that the essence of what God did for us when God sent Jesus to the earth. God’s desire was to make a connection with us, a personal connection, through Jesus. He came to show us the way to God, point us in the right direction, and set the compass by which we could find our way into the heart of God. What made that work so brilliantly was that God took on human form and established a relationship with us in a way that could not have been done otherwise.
For centuries, we have been invited to take God up on the offer to be an active part of that relationship. For centuries, people like you and I have responded to that invitation, not only with a simple “yes”, but with a faith that has been demonstrated in actions that do nothing less than transform the world by doing good, doing no harm, and staying in love with God.
When we say “yes” to that relationship, amazing stories of compassion and commitment begin to emerge. When we say “yes,” we ache when someone hurts because we feel their pain. When we say “yes,” we commit ourselves to working tirelessly to play our role in the partnership we have agreed to be a part of. When we say “yes,” we give ourselves away in sacrificial ways that don’t make any sense to a rational mind, but makes perfect sense to those who have placed their lives and work in the hands of the God.
How is that possible?
It’s possible not just because we know the storyteller, but because the storyteller knows us. That’s the heart of relationship.
The Journey Continues ...
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A related Feb. 5, InterLink article offers information on the Feb. 11 memorial service for the two UMCOR staff lost in the Haiti earthquake and mentioned in the Bishop's column:
NYC Memorial Service Planned for Fallen UMCOR Workers
A memorial service for the Revs. Samuel W. Dixon and Clinton Rabb is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 11, at 3 pm at the Riverside Church in New York City.
The two clergymen, both executives with the UM Board of Global Ministries, died as the result of injuries received in the earthquake that struck Haiti on Jan. 12.
The service will accommodate the many people at Global Ministries and the ecumenical community who want to pay their respects to two deeply revered Christian leaders.
Riverside Church is located immediately north of the Interchurch Center, where Global Ministries has offices. Dixon was head of the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), a division of Global Ministries, and Rabb was in charge of the Office of Mission Volunteers.
"This memorial will provide an opportunity for our staff and the many friends of Sam Dixon and Clint Rabb to pay tribute to our colleagues," said Bishop Joel N. Martinez, interim general secretary of Global Ministries. "It will bring closure to our association with each of them. Sam and Clint were much beloved within and beyond Global Ministries."
Dixon and Rabb, along with others, were in Haiti to explore ways to improve health services and the agricultural outlook of the desperately poor country. A group of six humanitarian agency representatives were pinned for 55 hours under concrete when a hotel lobby collapsed upon them. The other four persons survived. Dixon and Rabb were alive when rescue workers found them: Dixon died before he could be physically freed; Rabb died later in a Florida hospital.
Funeral services were held for Dixon in Raleigh, NC, on Jan. 22 and for Rabb in Austin, TX, on Jan. 23.