Because the world is so closely related, we find at Salem that we are
grieving the devastation in Haiti in a more personal way that we ever
imagined. One of our own, a young seminarian at Wartburg, was doing
mission work with his wife and first cousin right there in Port-au-Prince.
His wife and cousin made it out of the building that tumbled and shifted.
He did not. The last sounds that his wife heard was him singing.
Singing! Can you imagine??? “God’s peace to us we pray” were his very
last words. 25 years old with a marvelous future as God’s servant and now
he is gone. And his body may never be recovered from all that rubble. Oh
the aching; it goes on and on.
As someone said, you can’t imagine 150,000 people dead but you can imagine
one dearly beloved person. We are all related.
Because the world is having such economic troubles, we find at Salem that
we are losing one of our valued staff members. We don’t have the income
to support a fulltime Family Life Ministry coordinator. We had her for
two years and got new direction, new visions, new dreams from this
dedicated, hardworking person. She leaves a big hole in our lives
together. When she came on board, we couldn’t and didn’t imagine that
this day would come. We know that people get laid off; we just didn’t
think it’d be so close to home. We are so sorry. We are all related.
Years ago, I had a book titled “Family of Man”. It was a wonderful photo
book of people, just people, from around our globe, doing ordinary things.
Men plow in Russia much the same way as they do in Northern Illinois.
Pregnant women look the same whether Asian or South American. Children
play with the same energy and vitality the world over, no matter where
they go home for supper. Everyone needs food and shelter. People in
foreign countries may seem strange, unknowable, not like us. That’s not
true. They are second or third cousins, that’s all. They are family,
just family we haven’t met yet. Open your heart please. Pray for all the
suffering ones in our precious world. They need our prayers, they need
us, just as we would need them if we were in their shoes. We are all
related.
Amen.
Judy Bergeson
Diaconal Minister
THIS WEEK AT SALEM:
At our 8 AM service we bid farewell to our Family Life Ministry
coordinator and invite everyone to the Hospitality Hour after the service
to celebrate her work with us. A card basket will be available.
Our Annual Meeting is this Sunday, January 24th. Come to the luncheon
after the 10:30 AM service and stay for the meeting. All are invited; all
are needed!
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