We all have been hearing a lot on the news these days about who should be doing what to help the victims of hurricane Katrina.  It is a typical political argument and an important one.

There are Christians on both sides of any political argument.  And it is true of this one.  Some of us feel that the government is responsible for the welfare of its people in good times and in bad.  We usually vote for taxes to support programs to do so.  Other good Christians believe that we care for our neighbor through private charities and churches.  They usually are more fiscally conservative about public programs.

But all of us as Christ know that it is our commission to care for God's people.

While the arguing goes on, work is being done.  It is being done by the government and by  charities and churches.

For example the churches in Houston will be feeding the refugees in the Astrodome who have been evacuated by government workers and set up by the Red Cross.  Various denominations will be assigned different weeks to do so.

Whatever our political persuasion, we are all doing  whatever we can to help.  I can argue all I want about what the government should be doing, but if I have money in the bank that my brother or sister in need can be cared for with, then it rightly belongs to them.

And those who have supported the idea system of private charities is better for caring for the needy than public programs are surely sending all they can.

I keep thinking of the collections for the saints in Jerusalem that we find in the book of Acts and in Paul's letters.  That was being done in the midst of disagreements.

As I said to my own congregation the other day, I have been saving a little for a rainy day.  Turns out it was not my rainy day but my neighbor's that I was saving for.

Lord,  We pray for all those who are hurting and waiting.  Be with them and open our hearts and our pocketbooks so that we can be your hands in their care.  Amen.



 Copyright (c) 2005, The Rev. Dana Reardon. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Email her at mspastor@aol.com.
 

The Rev. Dana Reardon is pastor at St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church, Warwick, RI.  A lifelong Lutheran, she came to ordained ministry after 21 years in nursing, mostly in pediatric intensive care.  She graduated from Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia in 1998 and served 4 ½ years in Upstate New York before becoming a New Englander.  She is still trying to understand the accent.  While in the Upstate New York Synod she chaired the Stewardship Team.  That began her fascination with what makes stewards -- and more, what makes for generosity. She has three amazing daughters: Pastor Reardon says much of what she knows of life she learned from them.