A Long Journey Of Faith: Walking With Joplin's Peace Lutheran Church

I got home around 11:30 last night (May 25) following a trip to Joplin, Mo., and a visit with members of Peace Lutheran Church in Joplin, a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). I serve as bishop for the ELCA Central States Synod in Kansas City, Mo.

I guess pictures never fully capture and convey what a situation is really like, and that's how I felt driving into Joplin and then seeing Peace Lutheran Church and the neighborhood around it. The May 22 tornado destroyed the congregation's building. The destruction is unbelievable, the landscape nothing but rubble. I heard one national disaster worker say this is the worst destruction he's seen since Katrina.

Those who experienced the tornado said it lasted so long, just kept blowing, sucking, destroying. I've never been in a war zone, but I've a feeling tornado-damaged Joplin is as at least as bad as the worst of war zones. One looks at the total devastation in awe of what kind of sky-borne monster could possibly have wrought this destruction.

What the city will do with all this debris is a huge question. But clean up cannot begin until the missing are accounted for. I understand the state has released a listing of more than 200 missing. Search and rescue teams were working their way through the neighborhoods.

I spoke with some young people on the parking lot of Peace. Two were from homes totally destroyed, as was their high school one block from Peace Lutheran. But their real sadness was in not knowing the whereabouts of a close friend. I thought of them later as I saw a rescue team crawling in and inspecting one of the hundreds of overturned and mangled autos.

Peace Lutheran will worship somewhere on Sunday, the place yet to be determined. Bill Pape, an ELCA pastor, and some leaders want badly to worship in their parking lot. But access might be limited, traffic moves extremely slow, and the visit of President Obama on Sunday will present other logistical problems. But worship they will, somewhere. Janice Kibler of my staff will be there with them and again bring words of comfort and support of the larger church.

No members of Peace were killed though several (four to six) had homes totally or partially damaged. One, Kathrin Elmborg, 82, was featured in a Kansas City Star article yesterday. She lives across the street from Peace, and survived in an interior room. She's a hearty soul and her story is one of the mysterious and miraculous wonders of these disasters, how one is taken and another lives.

About 30 or so people from Peace gathered for the 6:30 meeting at Missouri Southern State where Congregation President Judy Stiles works. After I led them in prayer, we listened to their stories and experiences, all varied, all moving. But then the conversation shifted to the future clean up, rebuilding, next steps. I expect there will be much more grieving in the weeks and months to come as the magnitude of the loss, the reality of the situation and the challenges before them sink in. The folk were deeply grateful for our visit.

Governor Nixon has been onsite as have been some national FEMA officials. The challenges for Joplin are enormous, a community where suddenly 3,000 homes no longer exist, 500 businesses no longer exist, and a high school and four elementary schools no longer exist. Gov. Nixon, a United Methodist member, expressed his own sense of this burden and need for strength from beyond.

We had magnetic Lutheran Disaster Response signs on the side of our vehicles. People noticed, and one driver gave us the thumbs up as we passed along the street.

I made a quip last night comparing our work to long distance running, not realizing that also was Lutheran Disaster Response. But that is how Kevin Massey, director of Lutheran Disaster Response, describes the work. Lutheran Disaster Response will be the last to leave. Last night was just the first step in what will be a long journey of walking with the people of Peace Lutheran Church and the city of Joplin.

 

Comments

[whirlpool]

06:38 PM on 06/01/2011

It is nature that is beautiful and terrifying sometimes at the same time. We are all better off trying to understand nature, predict storms and develop the science of meteorology but then this requires a great deal of hard work, education and discipline.

[kaltu]

10:50 AM on 05/31/2011

Cathedrals and churches smashed in Haiti, New Zealand and Japan by earthquake and now in Missouri by tornados, Methodist, Catholic or whatever. All destroyed, often with their congregations, without regard to any human consideration. Faith and Fate continue to look uncomfortably alike. The 'Panglossian' rationals that follow from the religious struggling for an explanation as to why their faith has so little merit before God are unconvincing. There is little reason or purpose to speak of a omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God when religion offers no means to access those resources. And these events continue to make a nonsense of those religion 'claims' to speak in the name of God. If there is a message from all this such destruction, it must be that humanity has yet to successfully comprehend the mind of God. That the all too human theological construction of tradition has missed the mark by a wide margin. Fate, conflict, injustice and death continues its rule. What of humanity? All is vanity, all is chasing after wind. http://www.energon.org.uk

[MrBwood]

11:34 AM on 05/29/2011

"Kathrin Elmborg, 82, was featured in a Kansas City Star article yesterday. She lives across the street from Peace, and survived in an interior room. She's a hearty soul and her story is one of the mysterious and miraculous wonders of these disasters, how one is taken and another lives."
There aint nothin mysterious or miraculous about it, it's called dumb luck

[jweider]

06:06 PM on 05/29/2011

Or maybe God wanted her to stick around but wanted the church gone.

[MrBwood]

11:32 AM on 05/29/2011

Isn't all this death and destruction just part of the "end days" and therefore welcome? Get it straight.

[Hillbilly49]

09:50 AM on 05/28/2011

As a recovering Lutheran I would like to ask; if there were a god, why would he let that happen.

[nofriendofrepublicans]

03:28 PM on 05/28/2011

It's that works in mysterious ways answer.

[Christyn]

08:45 PM on 05/28/2011

Lutherans don't necessarily believe that God "let" this happen. We have free will and thus live in a very flawed world.

[thinkingwomanmillstone]

09:18 PM on 05/28/2011

What does free will have to do with an F5 tornado...you have no control over it. If God can save you, he can save everybody...wait I have a better idea..he can not cause the F5 tornado in the first place. Free will in the face of a disaster is as much use as a rabbit's foot.

[Trydecency]

10:20 PM on 05/27/2011

The response of religious people to tragedies such as this underscores the fact that religion is merely tribalism with a dash of superstition thrown in. No matter what bad thing happens, the god is not held responsible. Blame falls on the victims, who must have been doing something wrong or somehow unworthy of divine protection. However, when something good happens, the god gets all the credit. And those who question the fairness of such an arrangement are accused of being sinful for pointing out the paradox in the first place. It's the same old razzmatazz that has been used so successfully for thousands of years. Of course, those poor folks who have been brainwashed into believing religious fantasies are incapable of thinking logically about these issues, so reasoning with them is of little value. Whether Moonies or Muslims or Baptists or Catholics or whatever, they are doomed to forever appeal to imaginary friends in the sky and blame themselves when those appeals do no good. It's really a sad spectacle.

[allardkent]

06:53 PM on 05/28/2011

Cicero wrote about Diagoras, a non-believer in the gods, who was shown painted tablets and was told that they were portraits of grateful pilgrims who professed to being saved when their ship sunk in a storm by praying to the gods. “I see,” answered Diagoras, “but where are the portraits of those who prayed and drowned anyway?”

[oldwarhorse]

10:15 PM on 05/27/2011

While in the US Coast Guard I assisted in many rescues of those in peril. I don't remember one person who questioned my faith before I rendered help. My brother was in Viet Nam and came to know the Lord during a firefight in which his position was overun by the enemy. He never once blamed God for his predicament, but blamed man ( ie. politicians ) for starting the conflict that almost ended his life. It is amazing to me that so many responders on this website troll the religious areas when they don't believe in God or organized religion, why should any of this matter to them. Go help the folks in Joplin and start by helping rebuild this church, after all it is just a building.

[watchingduck]

07:05 PM on 05/28/2011

Amen.

[thinkingwomanmillstone]

09:16 PM on 05/28/2011

I will donate to any disaster relief cause that doesn't have to do with rebuilding a church or religious programs. When the religious right keep their hands off of the civil and criminal code, out of the government and lose their tax supported status through their exemptions, then if there is extra time and money and everything else is done...I'll help rebuild non essential buildings such as churches, social clubs and amusement parks.

[jthinker]

09:45 PM on 05/27/2011

It's so odd to me, that people look to a deity for support and sustinence, the same deity they also hold responsible for the terrible storm that caused the suffering in the first place. "You are required to love me, but I will rain suffering and terror down on you, regardless."

[feliznavidad]

09:39 PM on 05/28/2011

Nope. That's not what we believe. We believe the material world is subject to the laws of physics. God does not "cause" the tornado. Winds do. God set it all in motion. Even saints eventually die. If your only prayer is to be immortal on this planet, you will surely be disappointed.

[fds]

11:02 PM on 05/28/2011

Why was god's initial plan so flawed, if, of course, the object is to protect "innocent" lives.

[Felixio]

06:02 PM on 05/29/2011

Like I said, pretty naughty guy.

[sunshine14]

09:00 PM on 05/27/2011

Always in my heart, thoughts and prayers. Asking God to give all, his strength to carry them through, such great sorrows and sadness.I love all dearly -God Bless All

[Felixio]

06:05 PM on 05/29/2011

I don't need any blessing, keep it for yourself and the others. Thanks

[knightoftheroundtable]

08:49 PM on 05/27/2011

As an Atheist I will say a church has the means to do much good for the people of a community in a disaster such as this and I do commend Peace for there outreach. Many organizations are needed in such disasters and I will praise all, regardless of personal beliefs who give a helping hand. Now is not the time to be beating each other up for having different beliefs, now is the time to stretch your hand out and help the unfortunate no matter belief, race or political beliefs. Come on folks, we can all help the unfortunate.

[MamaBird62]

01:47 PM on 05/28/2011

Thanks for that mature and thoughtful response!

[Christyn]

07:18 PM on 05/28/2011

Thank you, Knightoftheroundtable, for your mature and well-written comment. As an ELCA Lutheran, I think that yours is the first comment by an atheist that I find respectful and logical. I wish we could all be as one-minded, using our "differences" as tools for conversation rather than hatred.

[feliznavidad]

09:40 PM on 05/28/2011

Nice post, fellow ELCA Lutheran. Welcome aboard. Glad to be your first fan!

[Ami Toben]

08:16 PM on 05/27/2011

If religious faith cannot predict what is going to happen, cannot explain why things happen the way they do, cannot protect people from danger, cannot save them during danger, and cannot make sense of what just happened and for what reason, then what purpose does it serve beyond being a mental crutch or anesthetic?

[feliznavidad]

08:56 AM on 05/28/2011

It teaches people radical love as demonstrated in the life of Christ. You need to let go of your fourth grade view of the world and of religion. It's not about simplistic cause and effect.

[Ami Toben]

10:27 AM on 05/28/2011

Fourth grade indeed - believing in ancient tribal middle eastern legends about a demi-god who preformed miracles. Grow up!
As for it teaching people about love, there are two important things to consider: 1) looking at the history of Christianity, a very different picture is revealed. 2) There is no act of love (or any other act of morality) that a Christian can preform which a non Christian cannot.

[daffey]

06:58 PM on 05/27/2011

Part of any natural disaster now is coming to this website, seeing a member of the faith community try to use their own faith tradition to make sense of the horrible, the terrible, the unthinkable when such disasters happen. And then reading through all of the non-religious faithful who jump in to mock, ridicule, sneer, and laugh at. Nice. Real nice.

[SkreetGil1]

05:54 PM on 05/27/2011

God must not like that church. Since he destroyed it.

What did you do to upset god like that?

[bayonet division]

06:51 AM on 05/28/2011

If you really wonder about this, read the book of Job.

[annedyth]

06:07 PM on 05/29/2011

Bayonet division, Well said!

[SkreetGil1]

10:06 PM on 05/29/2011

No thanks. I was being sarcastic.

Read something REAL fro a change!

[markingtime4now]

04:35 PM on 05/27/2011

Why not turn a negative into a positive? Last year marked the 10 year anniversary of ELCA, the Methodists, and Roman Catholic leadership signing a substantial "theology and practice in common" statement. Ecumenical efforts in this situation are an obvious choice: Peace Lutheran would do well to worship in tandem with another congregation whose building was not demolished. The church need not be a "house divided", especially when there's so much to gain and learn from each other.

[Baanrit]

03:48 PM on 05/27/2011

Also, among churches the ELCA is quite gay friendly as well. They allow for married gay clergy, Bishop Hanson did a message for "It gets better," and when my father in law was the president of a local church council they pushed out a pastor for refusing to baptize the adopted child of one of the lesbian members. Overall, this has led to the denomination hermorranging it's more conservative congregations. So, yes, these people have faith, but it doesn't inhumane or close-minded as seems to be such the fashion with American religion these days.

[feliznavidad]

08:59 AM on 05/28/2011

Thank you! As a Lutheran myself, I must say I get discouraged when the only version of "christianity" is the Anti-Jesus, pro-republican right wing schlock presented in and by the media. Thanks for mentioning our struggle to be more like Christ -- demonstrating radical love, especially for those rejected by society. Proud to be your first fan.

[askandtell]

10:14 PM on 05/28/2011

I am also an ELCA Lutheran member which is considered the most liberal synod. But my alliance has been tested recently with some churches, such as mine, resisting gay clergy. But my congregation has now accepted the change and is again aligned with my belief of acceptance of all.

[Felixio]

06:14 PM on 05/29/2011

This is what churches should be about, open minded, I'm not a believer but I'm willing always to relate and do things with normal people regardless of what they are.