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RSSOctober 10, Proper 23
by the Rev. Barbara Cawthorne Crafton for ERD
10/10/2004
Ruth 1:(1-7)8-19a
Psalms 113
II Timothy 2:(3-7)8-15
Luke 17:11-19
"And as they went, they were clean." -- Luke 17:14 (NRSV)
This was a miracle—lepers sent to show themselves to the priest who would certify them clean and readmit them to the fellowship of the non-leprous, sent before anything had changed in their lives, and then miraculously cleansed before they even got to the temple. A miracle performed by Jesus, to be sure, but also a miracle of faith, trust and courage on the part of the lepers. He sent them to claim a healing they had not yet experienced. It took immense courage and trust to set off down that road. And, as they went to claim it, they got their healing.
Atafe is a young teenager in a neighborhood Bam, leveled by the powerful earthquake in Iran last year. A tent now stands where her house was, and the family has lived in it since last December—except for her sister, who was lost in the quake. Nothing is as it was, including the village health house that used to be across the street—lost, along with everything else, when the earth split open and swallowed everything. The clinic was important in the neighborhood: everyone went there for everything, from serious illness to a Band-Aid. But never had there been such devastation as this.
Episcopal Relief and Development is rebuilding the health house in Atafe's village, as well as those in several other rural communities around Bam. It will be bigger and better than the old one was. People in the village watch the progress of the building approvingly, inspecting it daily, and the hearts of the people take comfort in the return of this symbol of safety and healing.
"We still live in a tent and have many problems," Atafe says. "Some days I am so sad I cannot bear it. I wonder how we will ever survive this and come out the other side. But then I just open the tent door and look across the street and see the health house and I know that things will get better. It may take time, but it will get better."
Bam is so far away from us. Alabama is closer, and Florida, and the Dominican Republic and Haiti: those neighbors, too, stand this week amid the wreckage of the familiar and count their dead, weep and wonder how they will ever come out on the other side. But we are in all these places through the ministry of ERD, with the visible signs of our love—medicine, food, money—to assure the people that they do not face their devastation alone, and that by God's grace and our willingness to help, it will not always be like this. This we affirm, while they are still on their way to it.
Episcopal Relief and Development saves lives and builds hope in communities around the world. We provide emergency assistance in times of disaster. When the immediate crisis is over, we rebuild devastated communities and offer long-term solutions in the areas of food security, health care, and HIV/AIDS.
