"Rebuilding" Sunday Meditation

I received a Valentine from Cara James on February 14th while I was in Mississippi. On it she states that the work I was doing on the Gulf Coast was priceless. Well, the work that I ended up doing on the Gulf Coast was not what I thought I would be doing when I left Pottstown. I was very sure I would be rebuilding houses in Mississippi but the "Master’s Plan" involved a different kind of rebuilding.

Before leaving Pottstown, I found myself drawn to the old testament book of Haggai. Haggai was a prophet who spoke to a despairing and broken people. A people focusing on survival. Their government was in chaos. Their situation overwhelming. They could not see much hope in their future. However, Haggai was encouraging them to rebuild God’s temple, and promising that this rebuilding project would change their lives in a positive way. These were the words that God packed in my mind as I packed my suitcase for Mississippi.

When we arrived in Gulfport, we drove along route 90 to view the destruction. I believe my jaw hung open in awe as we traveled. We came upon First Baptist Church and Gulfport Presbyterian Church and the destruction of these two buildings was so massive, we had to stop the vans and gawk. Truly the temple of God lay in ruins in Gulfport. We continued along trash strewn highways and arrived at Gautier Presbyterian Church where we met Susan, the Presbytery relief coordinator. She told us her sister’s story, how she lost her entire house and all it’s contents in the storm. As she spoke, the sorrow welled up within me and tears brimmed in my eyes. It was a feeling I would experience again and again as I heard the story of each person. Their grief and loss was overwhelming and their struggle for survival was beyond my comprehension, yet in the telling of their story and my listening to the details, I understood that Christ was healing them. Susan had told us that the work was not the dry walling and rewiring of the houses. The real work was the one on one ministry involved in listening to the wounded and grieving person. The work wasn’t rebuilding the houses, it was rebuilding the people. So through out the week, we worked and listened. Marcia Ziegler and I carried drywall at the Swearengins house. Anne Butz and I listened to Magdy Rivero’s stories as we sanded drywall. Thursday evening we gathered all the people we helped for a dinner prepared by Patty Picardi.

On my last morning in Mississippi, I awoke early and I stayed settled on my almost deflated air mattress to reflected back on the previous week in my mind. I had a sense I was still unaware of something. And so, listening to the gentle breathing of my bunkmates, I sifted through the events of the week, looking for Christ. I heard the words of Christ from Matt 25:40 saying, “just as you did it to one of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” I heard that phrase, “you did it to me”, in the most literal way and in one holy moment I understood the full impact of it ….that just as surely as Mary sat at Jesus feet and listened to him, so Anne Butz listened to Christ that week. Just as Martha frantically worked in the kitchen to feed Jesus, so Patty Picardi fed Christ that week. Just as Simon carried the burden of the cross for a wearied and tired Jesus, so Marcia Ziegler carried the burden of rebuilding for a wearied and tired Christ that week. These words that Christ was whispering to me in the early morning dawn meant that I had ministered to Christ himself….what an overwhelming and humbling realization. In Pottstown, Christ had called and offered me a portion of the work. I knew I was to be his hands and feet in the rebuilding. In Mississippi I was yoked with Christ so that the work of rebuilding would not be heavy for me. Now, after our Katrina work relief, I am aware of the Master’s plan, that in some mysterious way, we rebuilt the dwelling place of God and in so doing, provided relief for the suffering Christ. We were sent to the ends of the earth, to a town whose name we could not pronounce, and Christ was dwelling there. Christ is dwelling there still, grieving and sorrowing with his people. He is there, because his people are there. Our work produced hope in a despairing people. We were rebuilding the temple of God.

Second Corinthians 6:16 states “we ARE the temple of the living God as God said “ I will live IN them and walk among them and I will be their God and they shall be my people"." I left Pottstown thinking I was going to rebuild houses, instead I was rebuilding a people, the dwelling place of God. I am grateful to God, and to our church family, for the privilege of caring for the suffering Christ and rebuilding God’s temple in Gautier Mississippi. This truly was a priceless work. Thanks be to God!