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I’VE BEEN THINKING…

…about the crisis and response in Haiti. So many emotions; so many issues.
Firstly –we have cleared a pathway to give through your church. Simply write Haiti, on the third line (labeled ‘OTHER’) of an envelope, and mark the amount you want to send to Haiti relief. Your cheque should be made out to Wellington Square United, and our treasurer will collect and send one cheque to Church headquarters. This will be spent through our ministry partners already on the ground in Haiti (the Methodist and Mennonite churches). There are many channels to give (Red Cross, World Vision etc,) and your church is another, where your givings are recorded and tax receipts issued.
Beyond that, most of us are gobsmacked by the vast devastation, suffering and sorrow we see. What can we do? What can we even pray? My daily Bible reading brought me to a verse that described our situation. “…the Spirit helps us… for we do not know what we ought to pray for, but that very Spirit intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will with sighs too deep for words.” (Romans 8:26&27)
Allow your mind to reel, and your heart to ache, and pray with any emotion that bubbles forth –distress, anguish, helpless frustration, quiet hope, grim determination. God’s Spirit comes to us, hears, accepts the cry of our heart, and translates and expresses it in a prayer deeper than words our minds could form.
It is heartwarming to see the great humanitarian unity toward helping Haiti. The media are coming together for telethons and fundraisers, aid groups and government agencies are working together, all for the benefit and recovery of the victims. I am grateful to the likes of George Clooney and many musicians who are mobilizing the fundraisers, while at the same time wondering if we have become such an entertainment driven society that many people are only motivated by celebrities.
I am grateful for all the efforts, while at the same time I do pray that followers of Jesus are those who have adopted a permanent lifestyle of living below their means, toward a lifetime of radical generosity. This year it is Haiti; six years ago it was the tsunami. And always there is famine, poverty and development opportunities. Please give generously to Haitian relief; and may we choose to live more simply, in order that others may simply live.
Blessings & love… ORVILLE

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