As the heartbreaking news began pouring out of Haiti last night and this morning, I was struck at how many stories there were about missing missionaries. I knew the Episcopal Church had a large and active role in development there--many friends are in dioceses with companion relationships with Haiti, including our neighbors next door in Lexington. (Read this archived story from Young Adult and General Convention Deputy Bungee Bynum on his experience there.) I knew from my work with Episcopal Peace Fellowship that they were partnering on peacemaking work there, and of course I knew of Episcopal Relief and Development's ongoing work on the ground in the Western Hemisphere's poorest country. Not to mention that Haiti is the largest diocese of the Episcopal Church.
I knew all of those Episcopal connections, but was impressed that so many other American Christians had also been called to work in a place so in need of helpful partnerships. I wondered about, and prayed for, our own missionaries there, particularly the members of the Young Adult Service Corps. YASCers are 21-30 year olds who spend a year working in various places of need around the world, in partnership with our fellow Anglicans. They participate in a discernment process. They raise $10,000. They learn new languages. They convince their parents it's a good idea to live half way around the world for a year. They serve.
That's what impressed me today: that so many folks are transformed by the good news that God chose to be born into a world when there was no room for Him that they'll give up all our cozy American conveniences and move to the poorest country on this side of the globe. They'll risk their lives to serve people that maybe the world likes to think we just don't have room for.
Then I hear that Pat Robertson--once again--proclaimed that people in horrific suffering have simply asked for it.
The Gospel is God's good news, God's glad tidings. People in comfortable lives give up everything to come serve you when the world falls apart? Sounds like good news to me. A (very) rich old white guy with a cable TV show proclaims God's curse on a now homeless nation? Not so much.
My Christian brothers and sisters--let's not let the world think only Pat Robertson represents Christianity. Get yourself to work. Tell someone some good news. Serve somebody. Be Hope.
Learn more about the Missionaries of the Episcopal Church here.


