I honestly don’t know what to say. I’ve finally got my eye’s off of the trivial issues with my church organization to follow the tragedy that is the Katrina devastation.
Wow.
The chaos and anarchy of the Superdome.
Thousands living like animals in the convention center.
Dead lying in the streets.
Murders. Looting. Shooting at rescue helicopters. Even the police are on the run, reduced to defending their stations overnight instead of protecting the streets.
The national guard sent in with orders to shoot to kill.
But then there are the heroes.
Nurses and doctors refusing to leave their patients behind, carrying them down seven floors of stairs, in the dark, to evacuate them.
Dozens of offers from out of state for families to come and stay indefinitely, enroll in schools. No price tag.
Houston opening the unused Astrodome, filling it with cots. A local Papa John’s Pizza shop owner putting up $25,000 and sending in his employees to feed the ‘refugees’ as they come in.
I just watched the Mayor of San Antonio on CNN. They are preparing to accept some of those now homeless. Asked how many they are prepared to accept? As many as they send. If it’s 25,000 that need help, then that’s what we’ll take. Where will they put them? Among other things, they are busy, overnight, air conditioning a large building on a former air force base to prepare to house 7,000 or so. They are prepared to welcome the kids into their schools. How will they pay for it? The mayor and the city council have opened the city’s pocketbooks. They should get much of it back, but they aren’t waiting for those assurances to help. He said they want them to know that they are loved, and to restore some of their lost dignity. They are welcome in San Antonio.
It’s an amazing, infuriating and heartbreaking situation. Keep praying for safety, order and hope.
Month: September 2005
More From LA on Their Statement
From ICOCinfo, I’ve learned that LA has released a FAQ of sorts regarding their statement.
They didn’t answer my one-word question, though. 🙂
I think that the first question speaks volumes:
1. What exactly are you asking us to sign up for?
A: We are simply calling for those churches that are unified on the statement of beliefs, practices, and brotherhood to begin the process of rebuilding a stronger and more unified brotherhood.
So, all you’re asking is to say that you believe in, stand for and will practice those 2 pages (containining, by my count, some 39 individual items) of beliefs, practices and brotherhood? (My rewording of question 2, listed in the Q&A simply as “That’s it?”)
A: That’s it.
Yes, I’m being a little sarcastic here, but let’s look at the whole picture, please. It’s not as simple as that answer tries to make it.
To be fair, there is some good clarification in there, most of it regarding the nitty gritty operations of the steering committee. They do say they are not looking to define who’s in or who’s out or to exclude folks based on the unwillingness to sign on, and I believe them. But in practice, I don’t see how this will not lead to some level of isolation and division. Perhaps it won’t be catastrophicly divisive, but it will, by it’s nature, divide the larger group for the sake of some unitiy – or unifomity – in a smaller group. Just as the creation of the ICOC did to the COC, just as the various beliefs of the COC (one cup or many, musical instruments, kitchens in church, etc.) have divided it and just as individual denominations over the centuries have done (ever counted how many flavors of Baptist there are, just to mention one?) over and over again.
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