The metropolis is devastated. Many towns are still under water. Many have died. Hundreds are missing. Thousands are injured. Food and drinking water are scarce. Electric power is still intermitent.
In areas where floodwaters have receded roads are covered under three feet of mud, decked with fallen poles, debris, wrecked cars piled over each other, dead animals- dogs, cats, rats, birds- and human cadavers lying on the street. The stench and the site were unbearable. I couldn’t help but cry over the sheer devastation. Many sections are inaccessible and unsafe. I walked back home in tears.
My dad’s house is beyond recognition. It was the house my parents saved for to be built, and the house where I spent most of my growing up years. The roof has signs of having been covered with water. Inside, the house is a total wreck. None of the furniture or appliances may still be used. Everything is covered with thick mud. Memories of our 50 year old family (my parents married in 1959) all gone! Family photos, important documents, the piano with which I learned how to play and everything my family ever owned are gone. That’s just one story among thousands. There are those who find themselves in much difficult situations. (WARNING: The last photo is quite disturbing)
Wednesday afternoon, I went to church to prepare for midweek service, when I found people seated on the floor repacking rice, canned good, water, coffee, clothes among other items; men were loading trucks with all that have been packed, ready to be deployed to deeply affected areas. The volunteers are themselves victims of calamity but they have chosen to go to church and help. Christian unity and love diplayed so beautifully. I wanted to join the team for deployment but I knew my resposibility was to stay and prepare for the night’s worship. Instead of going, I opted to help in the kitchen brigade preparing food for volunteers. (Photos by Ian de Ocampo)
In the news, a new super typhoon is on its way to the Philippines with an estimated landfall this weekend. We have barely arisen from the devastation and here comes a new and stronger storm. People are afraid. But there are people committed to stay and help. People willing to be tangible expressions of God’s love to those who need it.
Authentic love can never be coerced. It can only be invited, or offered. Coercive power has a proper role in establishing protective boundaries from the worst human behaviors, but it can never insist on love, humility, forgiveness, or faith – the highest and holiest human attributes.
Here’s something I believe: authentic love is the defining characteristic of Christian community.
None of us lives this love perfectly, of course. I surely don’t. Often I don’t even know what love looks like in a given circumstance. But still, I claim that this principle is what shapes our ministry and defines the boundaries of our Christian identity.
Now, all of us have boundaries. If we didn’t we wouldn’t possess an identity. We have boundaries personally, and we have them corporately in a variety of ways – with our family, jobs, associations of friends and so on. GCF has boundaries. We’re Christian, not Hindu nor Buddhist. In both latter theologies, people do things for a self-serving result- a better life after the one they live now. In Christianity, we do things NOT to attain heaven for it has already been secured for us BUT because we love God who loved us first. That’s the motivation. We listen especially for the spirit of Christ and work out the depth of the spiritual life as it has been passed down for centuries by others who have also listened for the spirit of Christ, albeit imperfectly.
The Philippines is in great need of help. So do Indonesia and Samoa. Would you be Christ’s love for us and help us recover?
(sbauman.jonlas)
