Nor'easter

Last week the coastlines of the Mid-Atlantic states experienced heavy rains and flooding as a nor’easter compounded by the affects of Hurricane Ida came to visit. There has been considerable damage to beaches, roads and homes. Some of our churches have experienced some water damage and our Disaster Response teams have done an excellent job in responding to the crisis. I send my personal thanks to all who took part in this effort, and for those who will yet be lending aid to the clean-up. I encourage folks to also contribute monetarily to help as well.

Two weeks ago at the Council of Bishops there were bishops from all over the world, including those from the Philippines. They have experienced a typhoon this summer and there was a huge amount of property and human loss. The photographs that were shown to us of the devastation were sobering. Then one of the bishops from the Philippines said “A typhoon is an opportunity to re-order our life.” This statement hit me like a bomb. He said it was passion and faith. His faith was such that he believed that God was going to work some good from this unquestionably terrible disaster.

We may experience nor’easters and typhoons of sadness and heartache in life. It may be the death of a loved one, an illness, a financial struggle, an interpersonal difficulty. May we have the faith to trust God in the midst of it all and believe that God is re-ordering our lives for good. God’s ways are higher than our ways and God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts. Though we cannot always understand the suffering we experience in life, we can trust our creator to work all things together for good. May we see how God’s amazing hand can re-order our lives and use it for God’s will and purpose.

Bishop Peggy A. Johnson