This is Houston

Media coverage of Hurricane Harvey has had me checking on-line to see if the people and places of my Houston days are well.  Is St. Luke’s PCUSA on the south 610 Loop dry?  Is Northwoods PCUSA, on FM1960, up and running a relief effort? (Of course it is.) Familiar street names flash across the screen, and my heart goes back to the humid years of early adulthood.  

Houston is where I weathered miscarriages and disappointments.  It is where I ventured into professional church work in Bellaire.  It is where I learned to “carol dance.”  It is also where I learned what it is to rise above the self and praise God with humility. 

How do we sit with pain, anguish, disbelief, and loss? Even more, how do we help our children sit with this? We do this with prayer.  Prayers that name the pain and confess our need, give voice to hope and affirm the connectivity in Christ. Then, we lift prayers of praise—not in spite of the pain, but in the midst of it.

How does one praise God amidst seemingly unanswered prayer?  Carolyn Bridge taught me that no prayer is unanswered and praise is not a “Thank you note” just for getting what I want.

Carolyn was a soprano in the St. Luke’s Presbyterian Church choir in Houston, Texas.  She was a grandmother and a deeply spiritual soul.  She also had severe back pain for whom walking was very difficult, and she was dying from cancer.  She could not stand up straight, but I must tell you that when Carolyn stood, yes Stood, to sing, “How great Thou art” it was a resounding testimony. She gave voice to the humble confession that God is God, and that God is and was and will be.   She sang of the time when Christ would come and

“take me home.
What joy shall fill my heart
Then I shall bow
With humble adoration
And then proclaim My God
How great Thou art.”[i]

With those words and her brave stance, we were moved by the Holy Spirit to lift our own lives up to God without thought of gain or favor.

The busy-ness of helping and doing can help us through the shock, however prayer can allows us to sit with and to stay present in our everyday lives. We have this gift of being able to raise our voice, to open our hearts, and to give our tears to God.  Teach our children to “come unto me,” said Jesus.  Their lives are fragile, and the way is dark. They will need a light. We must teach our children, and ourselves, that our connection to God is not tenuous.  God will not be absent, even in times of great distress. Please note that Carolyn did not lose her battle with cancer; she was victorious in all things through Christ. Let us give our children the gift of that constant presence even when we struggle to stand in the storm and sing with Carolyn and all of the angels,

“Then sings my soul
My Savior, God, to Thee
How great Thou art
How great Thou art.”[ii]

The destruction and pain of my friends and family in that area is so real.  I could just picture it, if social media didn’t do it for me.  Through all of this I find comfort in the knowledge that my friend who works for the Red Cross in Missouri will be heading down with a disaster recovery team; she will stay after the cameras stop.  My Houston friends who have a sofa are welcoming the stranger.  A man with whom I first led a youth group has already posted:  here’s what I can do…let me know how it can help.  These people are still present, still connected, still standing in a storm.  My first response is, “that is Houston.”

Information about how Second Presbyterian Church is responding to Hurricane Harvey

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[i] Songwriters: Stuart Hine. How Great Thou Art lyrics © Capitol Christian Music Group, accessed 9/7/2017 Google. Online.

[ii] ibid