When I came to Louisiana 10 years ago the lore of recovery and stories of survival from Katrina and Rita and the role of the Presbytery of South Louisiana were already legendary. In fact I had even been one of the “PDA Blue Shirts” who came to help restore the region! It felt great to be a part of it all. It impacted the faith and the lives of the youth that came with me tremendously, but we had no idea what it was like to be part of a culture where such storms were seasonal possibilities.
Even after 10 years of it, I thank God that Delta is the most closely targeted storm I’ve experienced – apart from the floods of 2016 – and I’m even more thankful that we’ve been able to impact the recovery of the region as partners in disaster recovery with PDA, Rebuilding Together Acadiana, AmeriCorps, and NEHAMA!
One thing I do remember in those calm years in between major storms is that there was a committee in our Presbytery seeking to remain vigilant all along. It was the Disaster Preparedness Response and Resilience Committee (aka DPRR). Unfortunately the name was so long and the threat seemed so nebulous that the committee ended up being one person, Dick Trajeski – may God rest his soul – crying out like Dr. Sues’s Lorax for the restoration of the wetlands.
It wasn’t because he was a nature lover with no sense for industry that he cried out. It was because he understood the importance of the word “resilience” that was part of his committee’s intended purpose. Today, in the aftermath of a storm, is a great time to talk about resilience in light of our faith and in conversation with scripture.
Resilience is a word that seems to have a lot of applications and even gets a little overused sometimes. Personally, I like the way Webster’s Dictionary defines it as, “an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change.
Those who have a bulletin with them will note the graphics on the side that go a little deeper. The first graphic is from the Driven app – a coaching app designed for individuals or groups – which defines resilience as “Advancing Despite Adversity.” Their approach is to say that we should assume changes and challenges are going to happen. Embrace them. Be ready for them. Let your sense of vision and purpose move you through them.
Sometimes that’s easier said than done, but it’s downright impossible if you don’t try. Not only that, It becomes harder by degrees if we try to do it all by ourselves and only for ourselves.
I think that’s why it’s essential to remember that Paul wrote his letter to the church in Rome. Other letters were written to encourage individuals – and this letter certainly encourages individuals in their faith – but this letter was expressly written to explain what faithful, communal living looks like. It was written to encourage Christians facing the most terrible of persecutions, and it was written to answer the question of how to live together in response to the grace of God.
As always, at the center of it, love is the key. Love is the vision that inspires us to embrace change and challenges and even death itself as if it were nothing more than a dance partner.
“Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good;
love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor.
Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord.
Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer.
Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers…”
Paul even includes strangers – or perhaps especially includes them – because the point of the gospel is to remember that no one needs to be estranged from one another! In fact, the larger point of the gospel is the end of our estrangement from God and from one another and indeed from all of creation! In fact, the wetlands and our conflicts over racial injustice and our concerns over economic disparity and everything else that divides us from North Lafayette to the South Side and from Freetown to River Ranch are all tied up in the same reality, and here we are in the middle of it all.
Here we are feeling punch drunk from storms and politics and very real loss – looking for hope – and here we are outside of our building in which we are accustomed to worshiping inside and hope is staring us right in the eyes! All you have to do is look around and you will see the most resilient thing there is. It can’t be contained in a building. It can’t be hidden by a mask (although it is compelling you to wear one right now). It is the love of God in Christ Jesus, and it pulls us from our places of dread and shoves us into the light of the opportunity to be more loving together – that is what resilience looks like in light of our faith. Resilience comes from the opportunity to be more loving together.
Psychologists and educators talk about resilience in terms of systems of care and learning, and I think that can help us understand the “how” of resilience, once we understand love as the “why” of resilience.
Katherine King wrote one such article in Psychology Today about seven essential skills, or principles of resilience that I think dovetails pretty well with today’s reading. I’d like to share with you how they overlap and let you draw some of your own conclusions.
Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good;
Principle 1: Cultivate a Belief in Your Ability to Cope.
Principle 2: Stay Connected With Sources of Support.
love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor.
Principle 3: Talk About What You're Going Through.
Principle 4: Be Helpful to Others.
Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord.
Principle 5: Activate Positive Emotion.
Even after 10 years of it, I thank God that Delta is the most closely targeted storm I’ve experienced – apart from the floods of 2016 – and I’m even more thankful that we’ve been able to impact the recovery of the region as partners in disaster recovery with PDA, Rebuilding Together Acadiana, AmeriCorps, and NEHAMA!
One thing I do remember in those calm years in between major storms is that there was a committee in our Presbytery seeking to remain vigilant all along. It was the Disaster Preparedness Response and Resilience Committee (aka DPRR). Unfortunately the name was so long and the threat seemed so nebulous that the committee ended up being one person, Dick Trajeski – may God rest his soul – crying out like Dr. Sues’s Lorax for the restoration of the wetlands.
It wasn’t because he was a nature lover with no sense for industry that he cried out. It was because he understood the importance of the word “resilience” that was part of his committee’s intended purpose. Today, in the aftermath of a storm, is a great time to talk about resilience in light of our faith and in conversation with scripture.
Resilience is a word that seems to have a lot of applications and even gets a little overused sometimes. Personally, I like the way Webster’s Dictionary defines it as, “an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change.
Those who have a bulletin with them will note the graphics on the side that go a little deeper. The first graphic is from the Driven app – a coaching app designed for individuals or groups – which defines resilience as “Advancing Despite Adversity.” Their approach is to say that we should assume changes and challenges are going to happen. Embrace them. Be ready for them. Let your sense of vision and purpose move you through them.
Sometimes that’s easier said than done, but it’s downright impossible if you don’t try. Not only that, It becomes harder by degrees if we try to do it all by ourselves and only for ourselves.
I think that’s why it’s essential to remember that Paul wrote his letter to the church in Rome. Other letters were written to encourage individuals – and this letter certainly encourages individuals in their faith – but this letter was expressly written to explain what faithful, communal living looks like. It was written to encourage Christians facing the most terrible of persecutions, and it was written to answer the question of how to live together in response to the grace of God.
As always, at the center of it, love is the key. Love is the vision that inspires us to embrace change and challenges and even death itself as if it were nothing more than a dance partner.
“Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good;
love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor.
Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord.
Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer.
Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers…”
Paul even includes strangers – or perhaps especially includes them – because the point of the gospel is to remember that no one needs to be estranged from one another! In fact, the larger point of the gospel is the end of our estrangement from God and from one another and indeed from all of creation! In fact, the wetlands and our conflicts over racial injustice and our concerns over economic disparity and everything else that divides us from North Lafayette to the South Side and from Freetown to River Ranch are all tied up in the same reality, and here we are in the middle of it all.
Here we are feeling punch drunk from storms and politics and very real loss – looking for hope – and here we are outside of our building in which we are accustomed to worshiping inside and hope is staring us right in the eyes! All you have to do is look around and you will see the most resilient thing there is. It can’t be contained in a building. It can’t be hidden by a mask (although it is compelling you to wear one right now). It is the love of God in Christ Jesus, and it pulls us from our places of dread and shoves us into the light of the opportunity to be more loving together – that is what resilience looks like in light of our faith. Resilience comes from the opportunity to be more loving together.
Psychologists and educators talk about resilience in terms of systems of care and learning, and I think that can help us understand the “how” of resilience, once we understand love as the “why” of resilience.
Katherine King wrote one such article in Psychology Today about seven essential skills, or principles of resilience that I think dovetails pretty well with today’s reading. I’d like to share with you how they overlap and let you draw some of your own conclusions.
Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good;
Principle 1: Cultivate a Belief in Your Ability to Cope.
Principle 2: Stay Connected With Sources of Support.
love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor.
Principle 3: Talk About What You're Going Through.
Principle 4: Be Helpful to Others.
Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord.
Principle 5: Activate Positive Emotion.
Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer.
Principle 6: Cultivate an Attitude of Survivorship.
Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.
Principle 7: Seek Meaning.
So far we’ve been talking about resilience as a goal, as an ideal, and maybe even as a way of life. I've tried to give you some Biblically grounded principles and some tools, but I’m going to drill down for a minute into that last verse. For, we are the saints in question, and in some ways we are the strangers to one another, and in all this we make up an organically dynamic system – kind of like our own little biosphere – even as we live in the presence of a threat.
That’s why I shared the Ann Masten, quote in your bulletin, “Resilience is the capacity of a dynamic system to adapt successfully to challenges that threaten the function, survival, or future development of the system.”
The easy way to talk about that threat is money, but that’s also the hardest way to deal with it. In fact, if all we do is talk about money, then we’ll end up like the last graphic in your bulletin. That’s Sisyphus – the mythical Greek character sentenced to roll a rock up a hill for all eternity. I’ll confess to you that I have said before that ministry in a small church feels like that. We get a committee together for vision and purpose, then a storm hits, or a key member moves or dies, and the rock rolls down the hill.
Unfortunately, we do still have to talk about money – not just because it’s time to set our annual budget, but because it’s an aspect of our faith. Not only that, but Jesus talked about money and generosity and so did Paul, and so must we. I don’t presume to know your level of wealth or indebtedness, but I do know that we have come together in faith and covenanted to be God’s people. Right now we are financially sound, but we’ve also had significant personal and financial losses due to members who have moved or joined the church triumphant. Naturally, there are some of us who feel threatened by these financial losses and wonder how we might continue as a congregation.
I want to go back to that first principle of resilience real quick and assure you that we’re going to be ok. A letter will be coming soon to describe a path to financial resilience that we can all be a part of, bearing the weight together. As we each consider the part we play, I hope you will not think of it as an obligation but rather an opportunity.
I hope that you can think of it as a way to call out to others to let them know that we exist as a people who support one another; a people who give one another cause to feel that the challenge of the day is the means for greater love. If nothing else, let the opportunity of greater giving be a testimony that we have survived and we expect to do it again, and again, and again. Let it be a reminder that we not only survive together, but we thrive together!
Do you believe that? I do, because I’ve seen it. This “little congregation that could” has, in the last 10 years been a part of regional recovery from devastating storms. We’ve built a clean water filtration system with international partners in Cuba. We’ve hosted Presbytery meetings and sent commissioners to regional and national councils, leaving indelible marks on the church, the body of Christ, throughout the world, and we’ve inspired hope in people who have come to us broken and who have left with the hope of wholeness.
There is so much more that we have done and will do together, and we know this because of what God has done through us in the past! Now, over the next few weeks, we’re asking you to consider accepting the invitation to make a commitment to give to the ministry of First Presbyterian Church. Please don’t think of it as a bill or a payment for services or a membership due. (Hopefully, none of you think of it like that anyway!)
Think of it as nothing less than a response to God’s grace and a statement to the world that your faith – our faith – is the source of resilience and hope and dynamic transformative love that this world needs – right here, right now!
Believe you will make it. Stay connected to those who will support you. Talk about it with those you trust. Help others. Stay positive. Think of yourself as a survivor, and seek meaning in the love of God that transforms, redeems, and sustains – and in all things, give God the glory, now and always. Amen!
Principle 6: Cultivate an Attitude of Survivorship.
Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.
Principle 7: Seek Meaning.
So far we’ve been talking about resilience as a goal, as an ideal, and maybe even as a way of life. I've tried to give you some Biblically grounded principles and some tools, but I’m going to drill down for a minute into that last verse. For, we are the saints in question, and in some ways we are the strangers to one another, and in all this we make up an organically dynamic system – kind of like our own little biosphere – even as we live in the presence of a threat.
That’s why I shared the Ann Masten, quote in your bulletin, “Resilience is the capacity of a dynamic system to adapt successfully to challenges that threaten the function, survival, or future development of the system.”
The easy way to talk about that threat is money, but that’s also the hardest way to deal with it. In fact, if all we do is talk about money, then we’ll end up like the last graphic in your bulletin. That’s Sisyphus – the mythical Greek character sentenced to roll a rock up a hill for all eternity. I’ll confess to you that I have said before that ministry in a small church feels like that. We get a committee together for vision and purpose, then a storm hits, or a key member moves or dies, and the rock rolls down the hill.
Unfortunately, we do still have to talk about money – not just because it’s time to set our annual budget, but because it’s an aspect of our faith. Not only that, but Jesus talked about money and generosity and so did Paul, and so must we. I don’t presume to know your level of wealth or indebtedness, but I do know that we have come together in faith and covenanted to be God’s people. Right now we are financially sound, but we’ve also had significant personal and financial losses due to members who have moved or joined the church triumphant. Naturally, there are some of us who feel threatened by these financial losses and wonder how we might continue as a congregation.
I want to go back to that first principle of resilience real quick and assure you that we’re going to be ok. A letter will be coming soon to describe a path to financial resilience that we can all be a part of, bearing the weight together. As we each consider the part we play, I hope you will not think of it as an obligation but rather an opportunity.
I hope that you can think of it as a way to call out to others to let them know that we exist as a people who support one another; a people who give one another cause to feel that the challenge of the day is the means for greater love. If nothing else, let the opportunity of greater giving be a testimony that we have survived and we expect to do it again, and again, and again. Let it be a reminder that we not only survive together, but we thrive together!
Do you believe that? I do, because I’ve seen it. This “little congregation that could” has, in the last 10 years been a part of regional recovery from devastating storms. We’ve built a clean water filtration system with international partners in Cuba. We’ve hosted Presbytery meetings and sent commissioners to regional and national councils, leaving indelible marks on the church, the body of Christ, throughout the world, and we’ve inspired hope in people who have come to us broken and who have left with the hope of wholeness.
There is so much more that we have done and will do together, and we know this because of what God has done through us in the past! Now, over the next few weeks, we’re asking you to consider accepting the invitation to make a commitment to give to the ministry of First Presbyterian Church. Please don’t think of it as a bill or a payment for services or a membership due. (Hopefully, none of you think of it like that anyway!)
Think of it as nothing less than a response to God’s grace and a statement to the world that your faith – our faith – is the source of resilience and hope and dynamic transformative love that this world needs – right here, right now!
Believe you will make it. Stay connected to those who will support you. Talk about it with those you trust. Help others. Stay positive. Think of yourself as a survivor, and seek meaning in the love of God that transforms, redeems, and sustains – and in all things, give God the glory, now and always. Amen!
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