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I’ve been praying for California in the aftermath of the fires, all while wanting to do so much more than pray. So I watch the news in order to understand the science more, in the hope that some nugget of knowledge will prevent this disaster from happening again, or at least give me someone to blame it on, as if some final judgement from me in Michigan will bring care and closure to California. If you’ve ever tried this particular self-soothing tactic, you know that it makes nothing better.
So now I’m going to start preaching to myself by saying that I hope you can also experience the comfort of knowing that in the United Church of Christ covenant, by sharing your church budget through the Michigan Conference to Basic Support, your dollars are already there on the other side of the country, meeting practical needs and showing Christ’s love, through the national church that holds those gifts and is ready to share those gifts on the ground when needed.
As a Conference Minister in Michigan, I am in touch with my Conference Minister colleagues around the country about what they need when disaster strikes, and what they do not need. What they do not need are a million requests from a million missions committees via email inquiring about how to donate to a very specific thing someone saw in the news, with a long list of questions and caveats about how exactly the funds will and will not be spent, with so many strings attached they feel like tug ropes to the little boat that’s already sinking.
What my Conference Minister colleagues do need and truly appreciate are the covenantal gifts that come through your local church’s Basic Support, from funds carefully set aside by our national setting for these times of need, released through Church World Service when and where disaster hits, but also reserved for the long haul of recovery. Your gifts are already there.
And yet, there are also those times when God may use a particular disaster to crack open your God-constructed compassionate heart in a moment that inspires more generosity than you knew you had. I get it and I feel it. So if you, like me, are tired of talking back to the talking heads on TV as they second guess the first responders and pander to the pundits, click here to donate to "California Wildfire Reponse and Recovery," as together we live out the wideness of God’s mercy.
Generosity in all forms beats hollering at the news on all channels.
Trust me, I’ve tried them both.
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