Our senior pastor, Doug, is on vacation this week, so I had the opportunity to preach at the Wednesday noontime service. I outlined the sermon on Monday night. I planned to talk about the wedding at Cana, this week’s gospel text, and how Jesus’ first miracle is to bring joy. I started off by talking about the YouTube laughing baby, how maybe as adults we’re a little jealous of that kind of mirth. But such joy is possible, even for us: Jesus works to make the ordinary things of our lives, the jugs of water we already have on hand, into joyful new wine. At the end I brought it all home by referring to the “laughing baby” in the manger and the glad tidings of great joy to all people. Sermon, check!
But then the world changed. On Tuesday night, of course, a catastrophic earthquake struck Haiti. For me, the severity of this event didn’t really sink in until Wednesday morning, too late to start thinking about a new sermon, so I went ahead and preached the totally inappropriate homily about joy at the noontime service. Not a strategy I recommend to all you readers out there. In retrospect, it would have been better just to light candles and say prayers and be together in silence.
Tomorrow morning, though, there’s no excuse not to face the earthquake and the inevitable question it poses: where is God in the midst of such tragedy? I don’t think children are too young to be asking that question. In my children’s sermon, I aim to tell the story of the earthquake in terms the kids can understand, drawing on the experiences of our Global Ministries missionaries, Kim and Patrick Bentrott, as described in their excellent blog, Adventures in Life. I have never met Kim and Patrick and hope I do them justice here; in case you two ever read this, thank you for sharing your story, and thank you for your service.
This is Kim and Patrick, and their son Solomon. Kim and Patrick are missionaries. Do you know what it means to be a missionary?
A missionary is a person who goes to live far away to help the mission, the plan, of God. God’s mission is to make sure that all people have enough to eat, that all people have safe places to live, that all people are cared for when they are sick, and that all children can go to school. Kim and Patrick are from Kansas, in the United States, but now they live in Haiti, an island in the Caribbean Sea. The money that we give here at our church to One Great Hour of Sharing helps Kim and Patrick do their work.
Kim is a doctor, so her work in the mission of God is to help sick people. In Haiti, she takes care of the sick and also teaches people who want to be nurses. And Patrick is a teacher. His work in the mission of God in Haiti is to teach young people and also to teach people who want to be ministers. Solomon is only a baby, so he doesn’t have a job yet. His work in the mission of God is to grow up to be strong and faithful and ready to help others.
This week something terrible happened in Haiti. There was an earthquake. The ground shook so much that houses and schools and hospitals and churches and other buildings fell down. Many people were hurt. Many people lost their houses and all their things.
Kim and Patrick and Solomon were not hurt in the earthquake, but many of their new friends in Haiti were hurt. The nursing school where Kim works fell down. The school where Patrick teaches fell down. The apartment building where they live fell down. All of the places where people lived and worked and studied in their town were crushed into a pile of bricks and dust.
On the night of the earthquake, people didn’t have houses to go into or beds to sleep in. They slept outside in the park. Kim said that you could see the stars so much more clearly, since all the bright electric lights were not working. People were scared and sad, so they didn’t fall asleep right away. Instead, they started singing. The song they sung was called “How Great Thou Art.” It’s a song that says how good God is.
God is good. God promises to be with us and to love us always, even when terrible things happen. In the Bible, we read, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea.” God will always be with us to help us, no matter what, just like God is in Haiti right now to help all the people there. God’s love never ends. And we can be part of God’s love by praying for people in Haiti today. Let’s say a prayer together now.
Dear God – You are good – even when times are hard. – Thank you – for helping us – in times of trouble. – Thank you – for Kim and Patrick and Solomon – who work to do your mission. – Please be in Haiti – with all the people – who need your help. – Amen.
oh Liddy. thank you. thank you so much….
Thank you, Liddy! I do believe I will be borrowing this today! Thank you so much!
Thank you for this. I had read Kim and Patrick’s blog, and planned to incorporate it in my children’s sermon…..to connect with hygiene kits for CWS…I used some of your words…and when I told them about singing “how great thou art” I started to sing it, and the entire congregation sang it with me. It was a moment of grace and solidarity I will never forget.
Peace to you,
Karla
Thanks for sharing this. My church financially supports the Bentrotts (who have now returned to the U.S. with their adopted son and other orphans). Our children’s message last Sunday focused on their son Solomon and all the people that are trying to help children like him in Haiti right now.