I was well into writing this column when the earthquake in Haiti struck. I originally thought to write about the season of Epiphany and the Wise Men who came to see the Christ Child.

 

I was going to talk about the Christmas lights on homes as an outward sign of our inward desire to have more light, especially here in this grey and northern climate. I was writing about our longing for hope.

 

Then the earthquake hit, and what I was saying seemed trite in the face of the devastation the people on that small Caribbean island are facing.

How do we respond to such devastation? How do we take it in, especially as there are still so many who are still trying to sort out the devastation from Hurricane Katrina, the attacks on 9/11, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

 

My son is working as a teacher in New Orleans, and he has many stories about the prevalent post-traumatic stress that he sees on a daily basis in his students and their families – this on top of their extreme poverty.

 

When one’s home, livelihood, whole life is completely destroyed by hurricane or earthquake, there is no quick fix. If you have ever had a fire destroy your home, or lived through losing all your possessions in a flood, you know something about this.

 

What is our response in the face of such devastation? President Obama has promised over $1 million in aid. People want to go down physically to help. In addition to the relief workers, money is starting to flow in from all over the world.

But what is our real response? Not just how we take action, what happens within ourselves and our souls?

 

There has been so much devastation in the past 10 years, both natural and manmade, that it is too easy to become numb, to turn our heads away and imagine that it all goes away quickly. After all, we can simply change the channel and watch some dumb TV show and forget all about Haiti.

 

On the other hand, it is equally possible to spiral into apocalyptic anxiety, such as that espoused by some that a kind of divine wrath was being taken out on Haiti because of their “sinful” way of living. Or the kind of weird anxiety that is currently being sensationalized through movies such as 2012.

 

I completely reject the notion that a God who created us in love and for love would torture us. As a Christian, I believe in my soul and bones that Jesus Christ demonstrated that God instead calls forth from us compassion and reveals hope. I believe that God’s justice is revealed in how we respond to each other.

 

So I think that we have a better, completely different way to respond to Haiti – and to any other tragedy that strikes in our lives. Not only do we offer our support, send our dollars as we can, maybe even make a mission trip when and where it is appropriate, but we allow this event, and others like it, to transform our souls.

 

Rather than become numb, we allow ourselves to see and know the devastation. We grieve, openly, for the loss of lives and livelihood, and we rejoice for the lives saved. In other words, we respond, knowing that our lives are linked with the lives of those who have been destroyed.

 

We take action knowing our souls are connected to each other – as others experience loss and hope, grief, pain and survival, so do we.

In the Christian scriptures, Paul writes a letter to the people of Corinth. In it he says that we are all part of the same body. The foot cannot say it is not part of the body, nor can the eye say to the hand that it has no need of it.

 

All parts of the body are necessary (1 Corinthians 12). It is in bearing one another’s burdens that we are transformed. Bearing burdens with each other is where we experience hope, and love.

 

This is ultimately the story about Jesus, he who bore our burdens to the cross and redeemed them in the resurrection.

 

In this season after Christmas, what the Christian church calls the season of Epiphany, sharing burdens together is ultimately the story about Epiphany and the Wise Men who came from the East to be part of the gift of the Son of God.

I am proud of my congregation and all of you who have given as much as you can to stand with and help the people Haiti.

 

And I am full of hope that we have the courage to continue to be with the people of Haiti, and New Orleans, and the Sudan, and in our own neighborhoods, helping to bear one another’s burdens, being the people God created us to be.