President's Blog

Somehow, I went to bed on Tuesday night in denial.  By Wednesday morning that was over.  I had that awful feeling in the pit of my stomach.  It was the same feeling I had after the tsunami and the same feeling I had after Katrina.   I could tell immediately that this is going to be a long haul for many years: a marathon, not a sprint.

It is important to remember that all disasters have a life cycle:  “The Three Rs of Disasters.”

Right now, we are in the “Rescue” phase.  All hands are on deck to save lives and property.  This phase involves finding and treating the immediate medical needs of survivors and stabilizing ongoing hazards, such as shifting buildings. As such, it is best left to the heavy lifters - government and military search and rescue teams. These groups also have heavy equipment that can clear roads and debris, as well as large specialized operations with mass distribution systems that have pre-positioned warehouses.   The “Rescue” phase typically lasts a week, but with the extraordinary logistical hurdles being faced in Haiti, it may take longer.

The next phase is the “Relief” phase, where the focus is on creating temporary safe and sanitary conditions.  As I saw in Katrina, the church is often one of the first places people go to seek assistance and shelter.  We have already heard that in rural and outlying areas around the earthquake zone, existing clinics are seeing patients who have been able to get out of Port-au-Prince. Some of these clinics are expanding patient care to schools and church buildings.  The “Relief” phase typically lasts a few months.

Finally, we get to the third and final phase: “Recovery.”  During recovery the emphasis shifts to restoring services, rebuilding houses and buildings, and returning, to self-sufficiency.   The Diocese of Haiti has a very large and vibrant social infrastructure and we fully expect that Episcopal Relief & Development will be there for the long haul supporting their important and vibrant ministries. 

The challenge of the “Recovery” phase is that most of the television cameras have moved on, but the human suffering has grown.  It is a chronic state, not a crisis.  However, it is the phase that Episcopal Relief & Development and its partners excel at, because we work with churches that are part of the communities and know the needs best and how to meet them.  This phase will last years.   The unmet needs in a place like Haiti - which already struggles with immense, chronic poverty - will be monumental.

Right now Episcopal Relief & Development is focused on preparing for the “Relief” phase and securing the resources for the “Recovery” phase. 

Please pray for our brothers and sisters in Haiti.

For more information on the Haiti earthquake and on Episcopal Relief & Development’s response, please visit www.er-d.org/HaitiCrisis.

Photo courtesy of United in Christ Church

Okay.  I’ll admit it:  I’m a snob about crèches.  It seems very unlikely to me that Jesus was born under any of the circumstances represented by most of crèches that you see today.  Why do we insist on representing his birth in such improbable settings?

Recently my snobbery was sorely put to the test in Rome.  One of the highlights of Rome this time of year is the myriad of crèches in each church.  In fact, there seemed to be a bit of a competition regarding who could have the most elaborate crèche, although no church dared to take on St. Peter’s Basilica. It stopped just short of a full-blown Disney production.

On New Years Day, more to take refuge from the rain than from a sincere interest, I happened upon an exhibition of over 100 creches. Many embassies in Rome had contributed to the exhibition, as had towns and villages throughout Italy. 

There were numerous crèches from Africa, including one depicting Jesus and the Holy Family as Maasai, and crèches from Latin and South America showing Jesus and the Holy Family as indigenous people.  There were crèches from around Italy showing Jesus as a chubby, cherubic baby of the Renaissance.  There was a crèche showing Jesus and the Holy Family as Eskimos in an igloo attended by flocks of penguins rather than sheep.  I have to say, I loved that one.

Believe it or not, there were even a SpongeBob SquarePants crèche and a sock puppet crèche. 

However, the most moving crèche was from the children of L’Aquila, an Italian town that had been severely damaged during an earthquake last year, showing Jesus and the Holy Family in the midst of the destruction of their village.

That’s when I got it.  A crèche isn’t meant to represent an historical account of the birth of Jesus.  It is meant to show us how God is made incarnate through Jesus in our everyday lives—by being born in the hearts of the children of L’Aquila after an earthquake and in an igloo attended by penguins.

As Christmas gives way to Epiphany, and crèches are packed away until next year, perhaps you’d like to share ways in which God is made incarnate in your life?