Meditation for 27 January 2010
From The Rev. Peter A. Munson
2 Corinthians 11:22-27
22Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. 23Are they ministers of Christ? I am talking like a madman—I am a better one: with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless floggings, and often near death. 24Five times I have received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked; for a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from bandits, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers and sisters; 27in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, hungry and thirsty, often without food, cold and naked.
Suffering and Faithfulness in Haiti
Paul had a very stormy, up-and-down relationship with the church that he founded in Corinth. At one point, there were other Jewish-Christian missionaries who came to the church in Corinth and evidently waged a smear campaign against Paul. There were all sorts of factions in the church in Corinth – factions based on whether people saw themselves as “belonging” to Paul or to Apollos or to Cephas (Peter). To address this situation, Paul wrote the wonderful lines, “Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?” (1 Cor. 1:13) At several points along the way, it seems that people questioned Paul’s credentials as an apostle. Paul answered those charges by defending himself as both a faithful Jew and as one who had a calling from Christ that was no less than that of the twelve apostles. He also drove home the point about his faithfulness to Christ by listing – against his better judgment (see his own characterization, quite sarcastically, of himself as a “fool” in 1 Cor. 11:17) – all of the hardships that he had endured as a follower of Christ.
And he rattled off a list of sufferings that go way, way beyond anything you or I have every experienced as followers of Christ. Those sufferings are found in the verses above.
This list of sufferings makes me think of our brothers and sisters in Haiti. Did you know that the largest diocese in the Episcopal Church is the diocese of Haiti? Did you know that it is also the fastest-growing diocese? Did you hear some of the same stories that I have heard? That after the terrible earthquake on January 12, many Haitians were outside, singing hymns of praise to God through the night? That they returned to church the next Sunday, even when their former church buildings had been leveled, and worshiped God anyway? That those who were rescued after a week buried in the rubble usually said something like, “It was just me and God, and I talked to God the whole time”?
What if you or I were to make a list of the sufferings of the Haitian people? It might read something like this: Many, many years of an oppressive dictator; much damage suffered from hurricanes, even in the last two years; deep poverty (half the country living on less than $2 a day), much illness, many suffering from AIDS, and many orphans; very poor infrastructure; a long way to go with respect to education; an average life span of around 45 years.
Just weeks ago, couldn’t we have said, “How much more can Haitians take? What else can happen here?” And then the earthquake happened. And surely each person left alive in Haiti could have quoted Psalm 60 and cried out, “O God, you have rejected us, broken our defenses; you have been angry; now restore us! You have caused the land to quake; you have torn it open; repair the cracks in it, for it is tottering. You have made your people suffer hard things…” (Psalm 60:1-3a)
It would seem that most of the people of Haiti have not done that. Instead, they have gone to work helping each other through, once again. Instead, they have been singing hymns in the streets. Instead, they have been going to church and praising God, going to church and praying for those who have died. Instead, they have continued to hold onto hope, a hope that they know is based totally on who God is, a hope that is founded on the kingdom of God that breaks into our world with the coming of Christ – Emmanuel, God with us. Instead, they are keeping the faith.
The vast majority of us who are followers of Christ in the United States have not undergone any kind of suffering that compares to what the people of Haiti have been through. If you have, my brother or sister, may the peace and healing and comfort of God be yours. But all of us can offer something to our brothers and sisters in Haiti. All of us can pray. All of us can take whatever unique gift is ours, and figure out how to offer it in a way that benefits the people of Haiti. And all of us can give money that will help provide the food, the water, the medicine, the shelter, and the rebuilding and redevelopment efforts that are needed over the long haul.
Episcopal Relief and Development has been working in Haiti for a long time. They are one of the many faithful and dedicated organizations who will be in Haiti for years to come, supporting our Haitian brothers and sisters as they keep the faith and rebuild their country. You can make a donation to ERD at their website, at www.er-d.org. Click on the place where it says “Haiti Fund”. You may also want to click on a link to a Wall Street Journal video interview with the Episcopal Bishop of Haiti, Bishop Duracin.
Like Paul, the people of Haiti will ultimately triumph, because they know the One who has won the victory over death. And so, they cannot keep from singing. What about you? No matter what has happened to you in your life, are you still singing? Good for you! And thanks be to God, “who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor. 15:57)