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Who would have thought that our Stewardship Emphasis theme, “The Neighborhood Church” would end up being so very relevant to our life and ministry right now? Because of the tornadoes that struck Central Illinois, we have a very real opportunity to be the Neighborhood Church. The following is an excerpt from my sermon last Sunday outlining just how we can serve our neighbors in the weeks and months to come:
This year, there are too many of our neighbors who do not have a home to celebrate in or a table to gather around. There are too many neighbors who have spent all their available cash on emergency food and shelter. There are too many neighbors who are worn out from simply trying to make it through these last few days. This is a bittersweet scripture to consider today. There are too many neighbors who won’t have a pilgrimage homecoming because there is no place to come home to. This is where we come in. Our job for the next many weeks and many months will be to help our neighbors regain a sense of home—physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
Some of this will be immediate hands-on work. We will be called upon to move rubble, bag trash, sort through mounds of debris with eyes ready to spot buried family treasures. We may not know where we’ll be called or when—which means that this is standby time. We need to be ready whenever the call comes in. So watch your email and watch Facebook. When we learn of a need, we will send out information for how you can help and where you can help. This is the work that needs to be done now. We mustn’t wear out or put blinders on. It is easy to respond right after a crisis; it is much harder to sustain the call to action. But Neighborhood Church, this is what God expects of us right now. We have been called in this place and in this time to help our neighbors regain a sense of home out of the rubble of their streets.
Now some of what we’ll be doing in the next few weeks is laying a foundation for long-term recovery. The edge of winter could not be a worse time for Mother Nature to send us a freak tornado. Little rebuilding will happen for the next few months. While that is surely frustrating, it also gives us time to put an entire structure in place for when the rebuilding will occur. We have already begun meeting with the Red Cross to formulate a long-term recovery plan. In two weeks, representatives from Disciples Volunteering, our hands-on mission ministry, will be here to explore the possibility of opening a Mission Station in Central Illinois. Mission Stations receive work groups from all over the country who will come to help with the rebuilding efforts. Given our proximity to Washington, I am certain that we will be called upon to help with this ministry. For summer groups we make an especially convenient and enticing location because of the housing options at Eureka College. Which means that we may very well be hosting dozens, perhaps hundreds of people from all over the country this spring and summer—providing meals and offering logistical support.
This is long-haul time. We need to be in it for the long haul. If all this comes to pass as I suspect it will, I can guarantee you that we’ll be pretty tired come July, but this is what Christians do. This is what it means to be the Neighborhood Church. You’ve been asking all week, “What can we do?” To be sure, there are some things we can do right now, but I want to prepare you that our big effort is coming. When the weather is warm enough and groups start to arrive, we will be called into action. And youth, you may have heard me mention Louisville as a possible location for next summer’s mission trip, but I think we need to consider doing a “stay-cation” and working here. Think about it. Talk to your parents. Know that we’ll still make it fun. And tell me what you think.
It is Thanksgiving, and we have much to be thankful for—not the least of which is the opportunity to serve the Christ in our midst by serving our neighbors.
