I’m not a church-goer; I’m not even a believer. But I was wondering, as I sat in my dry, air-conditioned family room here in Dade County, still surrounded by low flood waters and felled trees (Spouse is doing a remarkable chainsaw massacre on them.), watching last night’s late local news showing refugees landing at the USCG Air Station in Opa Locka, what are Americans going to hear from their pulpits Sunday?
“Why?” you’re asking yourself, “are refugees arriving in Miami?” Good question. Upwards of 40 were set down on the tarmac yesterday afternoon. They range in age from 7 to 70+, many suffering from heat exhaustion and dehydration, a young man with a gunshot wound in his leg, and some diabetics who’d gone too long without insulin are the typical cases. About double that many are expected before nightfall today. And the next?
But what might religious leader be telling their congregations? I’m especially curious about those who just a week ago were virulently identifying themselves as compassionate conservatives, or right-to-lifers, or lovers of the brain dead, and otherwise morally superior to anyone not within kool-aid range.
I’d like to read replies to this quesion in the thread.
Today’s Miami Herald has this to say about what I watched on TV last night.
The effort was part of unprecedented national rescue operation coordinated by the American Red Cross and the Miami Veterans Administration Medical Center to relocate those victimized in the devastating aftermath of the storm that wiped out the Big Easy.
The patients will be distributed among several area hospitals in both Dade and Broward.
But the truly interesting part of the story is in the last couple of paragraphs. [Emphasis added.]
Indeed, many of the victims arriving in Miami had gone untreated for days, due to the horrific conditions caused by the storm, according to organizers.
Chaplain Phillip Binnie, lead chaplain at the VA in Miami, said he offered storm victims spiritual support — and plenty of attention. ”These people feel like they have been ignored by the government,” he said. “They have felt they are not important.”
My hat is off to the good padre who truly understands the nature of the real disaster here. Yet, beyond his true compassion, I admire his eloquence even more as he explains where God is in all this tragedy in a way so that even this heathen can comprehend.
“People may ask how can God let this happen. My answer, God suffers with them.”
You’re so right, padre. God didn’t let this happen. Too much of their real suffering was visited on them by a criminally negligent cabal of venal incompetents. So foul and evil is their maliciousness to be sufficient to make God agonize at their deeds.
So, what was the lesson learned by the faithful in houses of worship across America today — besides ‘please donate’ and ‘put them in your prayers’? If we’re the godly Nation so many whould have us to believe, it better have been more than that.
I hope many learned about ‘recognizing true evil when it walks among us and how to combat it’ and ‘compassion is what comes out of your pockets, hands, and by the sweat of your brows, not just your lips and hearts.’
I hope congregants were asked, ‘What would Jesus do?’ And upon being reminded, they began to leave church and do it.
