Letter from the Pastor

As I write this I am sitting in the comfort of my home, while our nation is captivated by scenes of the
devastation in the wake of Hurricane Helene. According to reports this is the second deadliest hurricane to hit
the US in the past 50 years, second only to Katrina. The images on our screens are captivating indeed, and
many are checking updates on the toll the storm is taking on our homeland. How high is the death toll? How
many are still missing? How many are without food, shelter, clean water and power? And how long ‘til some
sense of normalcy can be restored?

While many are content to watch it all from their beds of ease – “after all, it’s not my problem”- many more
are donating cash and/or material goods, hauling supplies, and working professionally or volunteering to seek
out and save those that are ‘lost.’ Local medical personnel, first responders, linemen, military personnel, etc.
– knowing full well that their actions not without considerable risk - are among those rushing to the aid of
those who are in living and dying in desperation. And rightly so. And isn’t that just like Jesus? In 1 John 3:17-
18 John writes, “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how
can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions…” There
is something about understanding the desperate cry of another’s suffering that moves a Christ-follower from
ease to action, and even more so when the peril is palpable.

I cannot help but consider a parallel to another rescue mission to which every believer has been called. The
songs of the people of God in the past called us to action with lyrics like:

“Rescue the perishing; care for the dying. Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave. Weep o’er the erring
one; lift up the fallen. Tell them of Jesus, the mighty to save.”

Other hymn writers - understanding that the unbeliever’s peril is palpable - tell of the urgency of the task in
lyrics like these:

“Facing a task unfinished that drives us to our knees
A need that, undiminished, rebukes our slothful ease
We, who rejoice to know Thee, renew before Thy throne
The solemn pledge we owe Thee to go and make Thee known.

Where other lords beside Thee hold their unhindered sway,
Where forces that defied Thee defy Thee still today
With none to heed their crying for life and love and light
Unnumbered souls are dying and pass into the night.

We bear the torch that flaming fell from the hands of those

Who gave their lives proclaiming that Jesus died and rose
Ours is the same commission, the same glad message ours
Fired by the same ambition to Thee we yield our powers

O Father, who sustained them, O Spirit, who inspired
Savior, whose love constrained them to toil with zeal untired
From cowardice defend us, from lethargy awake!
Forth on Your errands send us to labor for your sake.”
(“Facing a Task Unfinished” – Frank Houghton)

Will we grasp the true condition of those who are ‘without God and without hope’?
Will we follow in the footsteps of Jesus, who came to seek and to save those who are lost?