On June 1, the small Town of Southbridge, Massachusetts was hit by an F3 tornado that left several sections of the Town devastated. While we are used to snow and ice storms and the occasional hurricane, a tornado was something that most, if not all, residents had never seen in their life. Although tornadoes are rare in Massachusetts, on June 9, 1953 a tornado ripped through the City of Worcester and left more than 9 dead in its wake.
I was not directly affected by the June 1 tornado but several of my parishioners were. Thankfully everyone is alright and we pray for those who were injured and for the four who lost their life. The recovery will be long and sometimes frustrating but we will rebuild.
The Sunday after the tornado as I took the pulpit to preach to my flock I really was not sure what I was going to say. I decided that what I had to talk about was thankfulness and so that became the topic of my sermon on what I called the 1st Sunday after the Tornado. (A little liturgical humor there)
I have been involved in disaster relief at one level or another for more than half of my adult life. I have the ability to process what I am seeing and keep a professional distance from it all, but when it is your neighbors and your town it is a very different story. Standing there on that afternoon looking at the destruction brought it all home. People were climbing out of their windows injured and dazed in what looked like a scene from the movie Twister. Not long after the sky started to darken again and the most terrifying four words I have heard came over the fire department radio, "Tornado on the ground" a second one was inbound to our location. We all took shelter and soon the danger passed.
I started to hear from parishioners from the affected area that all was well. They were a little shaken but they were fine. It is at these times that I am reminded of how precious life is and how the little disagreements that we tend to get ourselves involved in really does not amount to much. I am reminded that in an instant life can change forever and do I really want to be mad at someone because of something that happened years ago or just yesterday. In the big picture these are not the things that matter. What matters most is family and friends and, of course, our faith.
In the days following the tornado the church I served decided to open its doors as a collection point for donations for the neighbors that had been affected. This grew into a donated warehouse in town as the generosity of people overwhelmed our small parish hall. Neighbors have been coming in to drop things off and others have been coming in to pick up items that they need. Some of them are embarrassed to have to rely on others for help but they soon feel welcome by the wonderful group of volunteers that are there to help them.
Since that day that I will not soon forget, I have given time to exactly what I am thankful for. I am thankful for each person that I have come into contact with during this emergency. I am thankful that my faith in humanity has been restored as I witness the outpouring of support and neighbor helping neighbor. I am also thankful for family and friends, the ones that we always take for granted and those who will be there when we need them. I am thankful for my parishioners and for those who have come before us that through their sacrifice left us the church and the faith that we hold so dear.
I ended my sermon that Sunday with a question of where we go from here. What do we do now and how do we do it? How do we keep that sense of neighbor helping neighbor.
We have been studying the letter of St. James in our weekly Bible Study. St. James writes that a faith without works is a dead faith. Our faith, if it is genuine, requires us to put that faith into action and that action is t help our neighbors. If we are unwilling to do that, then St. James would say our faith is useless. There is something we all can do no matter what your station in life. At a minimum we can all pray for those who have been affected by disasters and for those who work with them in recovery. Prayer is a powerful tool and is something we can, and should be doing for each other.
As I stand and take stock of the loss, and let me tell you the loss is great, my thoughts now turn to how thankful we are for all of the small miracles in life. These events have given me a chance to really think about what is important. Let us lay aside all of the hurts of the past and decide that we are going to move forward from this point loving one another. We can do more together then we could ever hope to do apart.
I asked each of my parishioners to ask themselves what they were most thankful for. I asked them to promise themselves to do something for someone else this week and I would ask each of you reading this to do the same.