Prayers for Haitians and those who go to help them



Disasters the size of the one that hit Haiti bring us face to face with our
own vulnerability. Such events also draw out our compassion and often make
us feel compelled to do something. Most of us cannot go in person to offer
aid and comfort. Indeed, volunteers who come rushing in with inadequate
training, and without connecting with an officially recognized disaster
response organization, can unintentionally do more harm than good.

The news and images in all the media are tough enough to absorb. Actually
seeing the mountains of debris and the hundreds of wounded and stunned
people, accompanied by the smells and sounds of disaster, can traumatize
those not prepared for such situations.

However, we can respond through our prayers and pocketbooks. There are many
avenues available to send financial support. Any of them would be grateful
for the help and put it to good use.

Recovery from a disaster of this magnitude in a country this short on
resources will take a very long time. It will unfold in three phases. After
a few weeks the media will move on to other news; but the needs of the
desperate will continue for years.

Right now disaster response efforts are in the first phase: rescue. Hundreds
of men and women trained in search and rescue are arriving in Haiti to do
the gruesome work of sorting through rubble, hoping to find more people
still alive. This will no doubt continue for several days. Their work is
handicapped by lack of communication and adequate facilities to receive
planes and ships.

The second phase will be the relief phase. First responders are arriving to
set up temporary shelters with safe drinking water, food, clothing,
medicine, and other basics. These temporary shelters will become home for
thousands of Haitians for months-maybe years. Some of the people displaced
from their homes by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 were still living in
trailers more than a year after the storms. Many still haven't been able to
return home.

Eventually humanitarian aid workers will start to set in place plans for the
third and final phase: long term recovery. Most likely thousands of
volunteers working through any number of governmental and non-profit relief
organizations will to work clearing out the rubble and rebuilding the homes,
schools, offices, hospitals, worship centers, and other structures.

If there is any silver lining in this tragedy, it is this: The story is
global news. The response is already well underway and catching the
attention of millions of compassionate people around the world. Haiti has
suffered tremendously in the past. May this latest burden usher in new
sources of hope and help that makes a long-lasting difference.

I made my contribution to the recovery effort on line via our Evangelical
Lutheran in America Haiti Relief fund before I posted this blog. I urge you
to contribute whatever you can via whatever organization you choose. Every
dollar makes a difference.

I also invite you to offer you prayers for those who are suffering and those
who do the work of rescue, relief, and long-term recovery. I do not
understand why such tragedies befall those who already suffer from extreme
poverty. However, I believe Micah 6:8 tell us what to do in response: act
justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God. Let us pray:

"Dear God, there is so much we do not understand about how the world works.
Why must those who had so little now experience even more pain and
overwhelming loss? We do not understand, but we ask that you be with those
who suffer. Bless and provide the strength and resources to those who offer
aid and assistance. May our prayers and our gifts be a sign of hope and a
path to healing for these your beloved people."

It's Still the Christmas Season:





One of my goals for this web site was to provide a place for others to offer
an encouraging word. The blog below was sent to me by a new acquaintance I
met on the Stewardship Key Leader trail when I was doing a capital campaign
for a congregation in Arkansas. I thought his thoughts about Christmas worth
sharing with others. In Church time, it's still Christmas for a few more
days. Writing to encourage you. . . .

Kathy Haueisen Cashen.



The Supply Pastor's Christmas Letter

By The Rev. Carlos Summers, Rogers, Arkansas



Greetings in the name of our Saviour, Jesus Christ,

I'm feeling the need to confess: I find it harder to get into the Christmas
spirit than I used to. Naturally speaking, I'm a person who doesn't always
run with the crowd and sometimes I even run against the crowd. This is not
new for me, and has always been my nature. I have been psychologically
tested like all ministers of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and
these issues of mine are within normal range and do not pose a danger. Even
so, perhaps they help provide a reason why I don't go with the season so
well but there are other reasons too. The hustle-bustle, the traffic, and
the traffic, and also the traffic, with its anxious people driving too fast
and too afraid not to because of all that has to get done.

So, for me, especially in recent years, Christmas season is almost over
before it sinks in that I really love those Carols and most the time even
hearing them on elevators (usually the chewing-gum version of them.) And, I
love the lights and decorations of city streets and malls and houses and I
love that chill that helps to deal with my allergy problems. And mostly, I
also can't help but love the expectations in the eyes of most the children I
see. As I've aged it seems like more and more the children all look like
grandchildren to me and are therefore even more precious in my sight even
when they're acting out in the store and their mom or dad seems ready to
pop. Even then, I realize that Christmas is for kids and at heart I am one
of them. it's then I realize that the Christmas season is for me too.

However, the "season of Christmas" which is our cultural experience is not
the same as Advent. I am a part of the Church that is always ready for
Advent and find every Advent bigger and better than any before. Advent is
the beginning of the Church's year and the celebration of our birth as
Christians even as we celebrate the birth of Christ. I know sometimes it
seems that the season of Christmas drains all the energy we have so that
when it ends we are ready to rest during that cultural new year of football
and party time. However, like it or not, the Christian New Year is well
under way already and during this time the energy of Advent is brand new and
it is now we realize that the church is undergoing a birth process of
struggle and labor and finally incarnation. Again, we are just getting
started. As for me, I'm really turned on by the new and renewed people who
come to church during Christmas even if it's to bring the children and/or
out of some feeling of guilt. Who said that Lutheran guilt is a bad thing?
And the bigger the crowd, the more I love to preach, teach, and sing.

Behold, the Church is awake and alive and God is present in our worship and
we, the people of God in Christ, are in the business of transforming the
Christmas season into an experience of Advent. So, if you'd like to
experience the Holy Spirit of Advent that is living in God's people and most
appropriately felt whenever we get together, or if your Lutheran guilt is
getting too burdensome for you, I invite you to Church. The Bells are
ringing, the Choirs are singing, and God's People are streaming in so they
may hear and know afresh that God's love for the world is made manifest in
Jesus Christ our Lord.

I pray this posting finds you hoping and waiting for the revealing of Christ
both in you and working through you for the sake of all that God has given
you to do, believe, and to feel. May the Lord, the Prince of Peace, who's
name is Wonderful, Counselor, Living God, be with you.

Christmas, 2009



Maybe it's my age. Maybe it's the fact I'm writing from the southern
hemisphere so everything seems backwards to me. Maybe it's the current state
of world affairs - wars, global climate change debates, multiple natural
disasters, politicians posturing on health care reform ideas, too much news
coming in from many sources about too many truly tragic situations.



I don't know. But it seems the Christmas season has lost a lot of its luster
in recent years. I got a note from one woman who admitted this is a tough
season for her. It triggers many sad memories. There have been two deaths in
her family around this time of year. Plus other memories she'd like to
forget, but can't because they're so tied to the holidays. This is a tough
time of year for many people. For some, it's an emotional mine field through
which they tiptoe until January arrives and a new calendar year begins.



It seems to me we've gone overboard on the holidays. I'm not a Scrooge who
wants to forget the whole thing. I love the music, the opportunity to send
and receive annual greetings to friends and families, the special events,
and even the gift getting and giving when it's kept to a sane level. I love
the many plays, books, and movies inspired by the story. I love the impact
it sometimes has on people who offer more help, humor, and hope to strangers
than usual.



Nor am I writing about how consumerism has become the main focal point.
Retailers have to make a living somehow. We're free to drop out of that race
anytime we've had enough of it.



All of us seem to be going overboard--even churches, which try hard to get
us refocused on the "Jesus is the reason for the season" theme. Church staff
and dedicated volunteers alike work themselves into a frenzy at this time of
year, trying to make the season Christ-focused, profound, meaningful, and
beautiful. Noble goals-but exhausting for many.



I wonder if we've somehow missed the child in the manger. If so, this
wouldn't be the only baby we've overlooked in our race to . . .where? Where
exactly are we trying to go as citizens of the global village in the 21
century? Is anything sacred in this millennium? Governments and churches
alike render opinions on when and how many children women should have. Some
babies get to be born into unprecedented levels of luxury and future
opportunities. Others are born to mothers in cultures that cannot possibly
provide them even the basics of food, clean water, adequate shelter, and
opportunities to grow up to become self-sufficient contributing member of
society.



Does this bother anyone? It does me. So, it's Christmas. Years ago I had a
song on a record (so that will tell you it was a loooong time ago) with the
phrase, "every time a baby's born, God tells mankind, 'Take it one more
time.'"



We're about to celebrate the birth of a baby. We've been given another
chance to do something good, kind, helpful and useful.



Maybe the reason for the season is to remind us to reflect on what that
something could be in the New Year. Merry Christmas.



Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can,



Kathy

December 8, 2009



The Shed.



No, this blog isn't a takeoff on the hugely popular book, "The
Shack."

It's a tradition in Australia that every man have his own shed.
Husband John has hired a local jack-of-all-trades to help him redo his shed.
They are creating a room in part of the shed John will use to re-establish
his amateur radio operation. The rest of the shed will store all the things
one usually stores in a garage.

It seems to me we all need some sacred place where we can just
be-free of all expectations, assigned roles, and tasks demanding attention.
Our "shed" might be a corner of the house. It might be a garden. It might be
a special place we go when we've had enough of what life is offering up at
the moment.

Having moved many times in my life-too many to bother to count
any more-I've learned to create these personal "sheds" wherever I land. At
the moment I am fortunate to be living in the country with many trails
nearby leading to places few others go. It is relatively easy to find
solitude and resting places to observe the world without the many
human-designed improvements.

It's not always so easy. Libraries help. Having been raised by a
librarian, I feel very much at home in libraries. I love the stacks of
neatly arranged books, the imposed "Shhhh" code of stillness, and the rows
and rows of magazines to read.

Parks also make great get-a-ways. It's wonderful when they're
located along water. The lapping water against the shore is soothing indeed.
I once heard the leader of a workshop on dreams suggest beaches are where
the spiritual and the physical worlds connect. I have no idea if that is
true, or how anyone else would know-but it's a pleasant thought and makes
sense.

The point is-we all need a shed of some sort. A place to review
the many memories we tuck away. A place to ponder without any particular
agenda or deadline. A place to mentally meander for a while. Such a place
affords us the privacy to perhaps shed some misconceptions we've clung to
for too long. Such a place allows us to process and dream of what the future
might bring.

There are many advantages to living in the age in which we do.
We enjoy modern conveniences that boggle the mind. We benefit from
innovations ranging from indoor plumbing to controlled temperature to
instant communication around the world. All these make us much more aware of
happenings in distant places than any previous generations could be.

However, there is a downside to all these improvements. One of
them is that it is increasingly difficult to ever really experience
solitude. Cell phones, e-mail, instant messaging, social networks-noise
everywhere-these all make it difficult to be still and know God. They make
it difficult to be still and know ourselves.

Sheds. We need them perhaps now more than ever.

Cooking in a foreign land



I didn't want to skip Thanksgiving just because I'm in a
country that doesn't have this tradition. So I boldly invited my husband,
John, and myself to a friend's home to prepare our family's version of the
traditional feast for her family and a few others. The offer was eagerly
accepted. "Easy!" I thought. I've been on the Thanksgiving cooking and
cleanup crew for over a half century now.

However, it occurred to me after it was too late to back
out-I've never done this cooking in metric and centigrade. Hm. This might be
a bit more of a challenge than I anticipated. Well, no worries, as they are
fond of saying here. I can do this. After all, they speak my native English
language. Although they call things by different names, John translates that
for me.

I solved the metric vs. non-metric challenge by purchasing a
bi-lingual cookbook I found at a new book exchange and tea shop. This little
gem gives measurements and temperatures in metric and centigrade as well as
pounds, ounces, etc. and Fahrenheit.

I really don't really need recipes for this meal anyway.
It's the same menu every year. I've got most of it memorized. The only time
I refer to a recipe is when making my mother's pumpkin chiffon pie.

Apparently, I am her only descendent who actually likes this
pie. This reality does not deter me from making the pie every late November.
It is one of my favorite comfort foods. I make it every year to honor the
memories of the many Thanksgiving meals Mom and I prepared together. Also,
because it was my mother who did the extensive genealogy research to make
the connection between our family and those at that first Thanksgiving
feast.

Helpful husband John warned me Australian grocery stores
might not stock some of the ingredients for the pie. No problem. I packed a
can of pumpkin and the basic spices in my luggage. Then, standing in line to
go through customs, it occurred to me the inspectors might think the white
powder in a zip lock bag in my checked luggage was not really "cream of
tartar." Apparently I didn't appear very threatening, as custom officers
quickly waved me through.

So, the day of preparation arrived. Oops. I forgot the
ingredients for the crust. No problem. The little IGA just up the road will
surely carry gingersnap cookies. They did. But I also forgot to import the
Knox gelatin. I really need Knox gelatin to make the whole thing set
properly. What to do; what to do. How badly could it go wrong to use the
gelatin mixes they did have available. What flavor Jello goes with pumpkin
for heaven's sake? And how much should I use to substitute for one
Tablespoon of Knox? Hm. Time for another adventure in cooking. I decided on
"Aeroplane - Original Port Wine Flavour - Australia's Favourite Jelly."

The crust turned out beautifully. One of the best I've ever
made. Mom would have been so proud. The filling tasted great too and did
indeed set up properly. The imported spices totally hid any taste of
Australia's favorite gelatin. Too bad. I'll have to give that another go
some day. I think I've successfully pulled off another of Mom's pumpkin
chiffon pie. I do hope so. I want to offer these Aussie friends a right and
proper U.S. Thanksgiving dinner. It is a US tradition I'm proud to export.

This year, I am very thankful to be an American with our
long history of celebrating Thanksgiving Day. I am thankful for that
original cross-cultural dining event back in 1621 that inspired the current
Thanksgiving Day tradition.

I love Thanksgiving. What a great idea. It's a "can't blow
it" kind of holiday. If it comes out right, folks enjoy the day, the food
and the company. If it comes out all wrong, well, we just add those stories
to family memory chest.



Until we meet again, start where you are, use what you have, and do what
you can.



Kathy

I arrived in Australia for my third, and longest stay, on what would have been my father's 96^th birthday. This is significant to me because 40 some years ago I was freshly graduated from college with a new degree in Journalism and a plan to come to Australia. Back then the Aussies were offering to pay airfare to get here. I wanted to try it out. Two things got in the way. One was a father who pointed out, "You'll notice they aren't offering to pay your way back. "No, you can't move to Australia." When I was growing if fathers said "no," their offspring actually took "no" for an answer. The other thing that happened was I got engaged; then married and then moved into to motherhood. The going to Australia dream wasn't even on the stove of my life any more.

           
Two children, six grandchildren, and a second marriage later—to a man with dual citizenship in Australia and the States, the Australia plan moved back to the stove. After two visits, the loving in Australia idea made it to the front burner. So it has come to pass that I now have a home in Australia in addition to  Texas.

           
On the way here I got homesick for Houston. This is really ironic since once upon a time I moved out of Houston, never intending to return. Just as sometimes love is better the second time around, so, it turned out, has been living in Houston a second time. I've come to really enjoy this sprawling hot humid city of 4 million.

           
So here I am down under meeting the neighbors, setting up housekeeping next to a rain forest, and launching a web presence in the 21 century world of internet communities.

           
Stay tuned. For the moment it's off to get the car registered so I can practice driving on the other side of the road.

           

 

 Until not very long ago I thought a web was what spiders wove at night. I figured a site was the land on which people put up buildings or made parks. Eventually though I ventured forth into this virtual frontier called the World Wide Web and web sites.

At first I was a closet user, secretly learning obscure facts about places and people I'd never heard of before. After I learned how to electronically retrieve data, book flights, buy and sell things and look up addresses and directions I had a sort of conversion experience. The web is definitely quick, doesn't require sacrificing trees, is portable and truly worldwide. That impressed me.

However, browsing web sites is a far cry from actually personally having one.

The biggest hurdle in creating my own web site wasn't the technology. I'm surrounded by techies eager to share their knowledge and enthusiasm. Indeed, they are more eager to give tech support than I am to receive it.

The real hurdle to having a web site was the "why?" of it all. Why a web page? Who needs that?!  Especially why would this maturing wife, mother, grandmother, pastor, writer, gardener, and seamstress person need a web site? I've lived six rather productive and content decades without one.

I remained unconvinced, even when people kept asking for my web address, assuming I had one. However, when editors started asking for my web address I decided it was time to get one. Apparently the internet craze isn't a fad.  Rats. I had so hoped it would be. I realized that if I want to write and publish in the current century, which I do, I have to add internet communication to my life. Do we ever get to quit learning new things? Apparently not.

Along the way I met—and ultimately married—a retired fellow who loves to travel—anywhere and everywhere you can get to by plane, train, ship, boat, car, or on foot.  Given he's one of the computer enthusiasts in  my life and  given he takes  his computer everywhere he goes, it occurred to me that with a web site I can go anywhere in the world and still be tuned in to life back home. I liked that idea. So I took the plunge and set up this web site.

Now I can boot up, hook up, and connect with people and places from anywhere at any time. This appeals to me.

I still prefer a leisurely face to face chat over coffee or tea, but here we are. At the dawn of another century. Connecting via computers.

The need to connect to others remains the same. How we connect is changing. I can't recall the last time my family came over the river and through woods in a horse drawn sleigh for a visit. As long as we stay in touch, I see hope for this high tech World Wide Web era in which we live.

Thanks for stopping by. Add your thoughts and come back often.
 

Until we meet again, start where you are; use what you have, do what you can.

 

Kathy

 

Discussion Question: What impact has internet communication had on your life?