Open Letter from Haiti

March 5, 2010] The following is the Lenten letter from the Rt. Rev. Jean Zaché Duracin, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti.

‘The earthquake has not destroyed our hope in the future’

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

Seven weeks after we were hit by the 7.0 earthquake on the Richter scale, the situation is still very serious in Haiti.

As you know, many people were killed, perhaps as many as 300,000. Thousands and thousands of others have been injured. In the Church, we have lost many people. Millions of Haitians have no place to live; many are sleeping in the streets in tents, and some of them still have not found any shelter at all. All the infrastructure of the country, as well as all the key institutions of the Diocese, have been destroyed, especially in the capital of Port au Prince. The situation is very difficult.

Many of our famous churches are gone, especially Holy Trinity Cathedral, which was not only a place of worship, but a place of culture. The Cathedral was a very important institution for the whole country. Yes, it has been physically destroyed, but our faith is still here and our communities are still alive. The earthquake has not destroyed our hope in the future. Despite the difficulties we face, many of our parishes have grown larger since the earthquake, because more and more people trust our Church and are turning to us for help spiritually, socially and morally.

We are still a strong Church and we will continue to work with you in partnership to be able to build up the Kingdom of God on earth through evangelism, education, health care and our development programs. We will work together to preach a holistic Gospel so that human beings may become more fully human in the face of God.

We will have to rebuild all of our communities. We in the Diocese are working very hard to have a Master Plan to replace the physical structures of the Church, so that we may continue to serve Haitian people with the same love, the same care, and the same support that we have always shown. Our mission will not change. We pray that God will continue to give us strength to do all this work despite so many difficulties. We ask you to please be patient and wait for our guidance as we put together this plan so that we can determine how our resources can be used most effectively. Once we have made our decisions, we will announce the plan. To assist us in using all of our resources in the best possible way, and to provide the best accounting of donations, I ask all of our partners in traditional programs to resume sending donations through the Partnership Program. The fastest and safest way to do this is by wiring the money into the Partnership Program account; the Rev. Kesner Ajax, Partnership Program Coordinator, can provide that information to any who require it.

I am grateful for all of the support and assistance of the Church Center and especially of the Presiding Bishop and Primate, the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori. Her visit to us in February, even though it was short, gave us great strength here in Haiti, and I am deeply thankful for our time together. We appreciate very much the willingness of the Church Center to continue to work with us in the Master Plan to rebuild the Diocese.

In addition, I give thanks for the visit of the Rt. Rev. Pierre Whalon, Bishop Suffragan of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, who is visiting right now on the Presiding Bishop’s behalf. I also give thanks to all of the bishops and dioceses of The Episcopal Church for their prayers and support, and for telling our story. Some of them have been directly involved in supporting me and my wife, Edithe, during our difficult time; all of our family is especially thankful for this.

Special thanks must be given to Episcopal Relief & Development; all of us are grateful for its assistance and work in providing us food, shelter, water, medicines and all other forms of support to help us survive these difficult times.

In addition, it was very good to receive the Most Rev. Thabo Cecil Makgoba, Primate of Cape Town, and the Rt. Rev. Laish Boyd, Bishop of Nassau and The Bahamas, who are visiting at this moment. I also give thanks to all other bishops and archbishops of the Anglican Communion who have expressed their support to us.

The earthquake of Jan. 12 was our baptism; now is our new creation. In this new creation, we pray to all work together, and we ask that you give us the time we need, first to care for our people, then to rebuild the Kingdom.

In this Lenten season, the season of repentance, conversion and intense prayers, we ask you to remember our Diocese and all the people of Haiti in this difficult moment. We also ask you to continue to support us by your prayers and your gifts, so that by Eastertide, we will be able to sing together with great joy, “Alleluia! He is Risen!”

I bid you my blessings for this holy season.

Bishop Jean Zaché Duracin

Episcopal Diocese of Haiti

Jesus Said

Jesus said, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I tell you?”

(Luke, Chapter 6, verses 46)

Ouch! Why does Jesus always have to be so blunt – especially with the truth? What would be so wrong with a little sugar-coated helpful suggestion once in a while? But, thanks be to God, that’s not in God’s nature. For if Jesus is to be Lord of my Life, not just lord of my liking, then I must give myself to him in all things. I don’t get to pick and choose what I want or like about Jesus and ignore the rest.

Jesus is the complete Word, not just several letters. He is Redeemer of my sins, not the excuser of a few indiscretions. He is the Savior of my life, not the rescue worker of a fleeting distress. If I truly desire to give my life to God, to call Jesus ‘Lord, Lord,’ then I am nothing but a fool if I ignore what he tells me, shows me, and invites me to do in his Name.

Jesus, Lord of our lives and Savior of our souls, have mercy on us as we strive to follow you without exception or fear. Amen.

The Rev. James Bimbi, author.

My Friend Alex

This is a picture of my friend Alex Tyree preaching about the Big Love at my church, Sts. Andrew and Matthew. Alex spoke often about this Big Love being expressed on earth.

Back when Alex was 17, he had Hodgkin's Disease and recovered after a year of chemo and radiation. In 2008, he was diagnosed with late stage Gastric cancer at 49. Through his blog, Alex wrote about having this disease from the perspective of middle-age, as well as having over 18 years as a hospice professional. He wrote about his life continually deepening through this experience.

Alex's last blog entry on February 19, 2010 at 10:09 PM, contained stories about the days visitations from family, his stops at the local coffee shop, Brew Ha Ha, and about his wife Cheri's first day of short-term medical leave. He wrote about the sunset that he could see through the trees from a window in his house. This is his last paragraph:

All I have been recounting in this message is about relationships and how they convey the kind of comprehensive healing power that one needs at this time. It is not necessarily dramatic, but when taken together, is quite miraculous and powerful. It is the Big Love on earth being manifested through its many conduits.

Some of you may remember a prior entry that I wrote about Alex and his trip to see John of God. Alex recounted how in just being in John's presence the two of them seemed to recognize each other's souls. John could not offer physical healing for Alex, but he stayed an additional week just cause.

Alex transitioned to his next journey on Feb. 24 at 3 AM surrounded by his wife and his hospice nurse. He died holding hands, peaceful music playing and a lavender candle scenting the room. Cheri reminded us that she and Alex had been reading and talking about transitioning being like a birth, sometimes messy and uncomfortable, but a journey towards embracing the lightness of spirit.

Cheri has just written today that Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, "Nothing can make up for the absence of someone whom we love, and it would be wrong to try to find a substitute: we must simply hold out and see it through. That sounds very hard at first, but at the same time, it is a great consolation, for the gap, as long as it remains unfilled, preserves the bonds between us. It is nonsense to say that God fills the gap; God doesn't fill it, but on the contrary, keeps it empty and so helps us to keep alive our former communion with each other, even at the cost of pain."

I was so blessed to have known Alex. He was my hospice volunteer when Jim died. He and Cheri and Jamie sat in front of me at church. I loved sharing the peace with all of them.

So, in this gap I will remain.

John of God

Hundreds of people from all over the world arrive at the Casa de Dom Inácio every week. They come with all possible kinds of illnesses, many of them life-threatening, like aids or cancer. What draws them here and who have they come to see? John of God is a man that for the past 48 years has performed miraculous healings despite the absence of any medical training and only 4 years of schooling. Every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday he attends to several hundred people each day, giving out herbs, prescribing crystal bed sessions, and even doing visible and invisible surgeries. He regularly heals people with diseases deemed incurable such as cancer, aids, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease. Remarkably, he doesn’t charge anything for his healings.

Over the years his reputation has grown such that hundreds of people from all over the globe are visiting the Casa each week, and during his rare visits abroad it is common to see many thousands of people filing in line to see him. In the past two years, TV and camera crews from ABC primetime, the BBC, Discovery Channel, Irish TV, and New Zealand TV have visited Abadiânia, an unassuming, small town in the middle of Brazil, to document the miraculous healings of John of God. I learned about John of God from The Rev. Rod Welles, my friend and mentor. Rod has traveled to see John of God many times. This past February, Rod led the Adult Forum at Sts. Andrew and Matthew (SsAM) in discussions about healing centers. Entering into the discussions were individuals from the larger Wilmington, DE community and other SsAM members who also had traveled to the center. I do not have the ability to describe to you their experiences of the healing they received. Sometimes healing of the body, sometimes their being, and sometimes both. To see actual pictures of the energy that surrounds the center, not visible by the human eye, but captured in pictures. We have learned that there is a Spiritual Healing Center in Newark, NJ, of all places. A large group of us plan on making that journey. I urge you to Google John to see what this is about. And, I will keep you informed about what I learn.

Snow as a Deterent

Nuclear Bombs. Hah!

If you want to cripple a society simply call forth Mother Nature. Lots of anything seems to do the trick.

This past weekend Mama rendered Washington DC immobile. Lots and lots of snow fell in the states bordering the Atlantic Ocean. From North Carolina north to New York City. A great Noreastern.

Delaware, the first state and one of the smallest, received from 25-over 30 inches of snow in less than 24 hours. Makes a pretty picture, if you are inside.

The State of Emergency was lifted this morning. Once lifted, non-essential or non-emergency vehicles were allowed on the road. Off I went to pick up more bird seed and cat food.

And, what is it with everyone buying bread and milk on Friday? There I was in the store buying nuts and raisins and iced tea.

Wilmington is snow bound. Church was canceled for this, Sunday, morning. Snow plows needed to find places to move the snow that fell on the city streets. People needed to shovel out their cars stuck on the streets, plowed in. Hopefully, operation Code Purple was in effect and the homeless men, women and children all had places to stay.

The suburbs always seem to fare better. There are lots of places to move the snow. In fact, in my neighborhood they were plowing in the middle of the night on Friday.

The snow started falling where I live at 4:30 PM on Friday. It kept falling until 3:30 PM on Saturday. Friday night was a restless night.

All noises seem to amplify in the snow. I kept wondering how much was falling and when could I start the snow blower in the am. The cats were restless as well, running around the house up and down the stairs, up and over my bed. Kathryn was spending the night away from home.

I remember the first time that I was "allowed" to use a snow blower. Until that time, it was shovel, shovel, shovel. Bend at the knees, lift with your whole body. Watch your back, stretch before and after.

My neighbor George Bowersox, now deceased, grudgingly let Jeff and I use his snow blower after his first heart attack. It was after a hugh snow fall. Everyone in the neighborhood was busy assisting the rest of us.

So, one of the first things I bought after my divorce was my own snow blower. A single woman does not like to feel helpless. Kathryn was living in Pennsylvania. The men in the neighborhood all had families to take care of. Their wives acceptance of assisting damsels in distress was limited.

I could not wait for the first snow fall. Of course, that winter none fell.

However, the following winter, there I was. One of the "guys", my face becoming crippling cold as the snow blew back into my face, my hands, hair and feet wet, no matter how wrapped up. My eyeglasses useless. Long warm showers after I was done.

Ah. I love winter.

As you get older this machine is a must. It allows one to "play" in the snow, but accomplish something as well. The driveway and sidewalks get shoveled. Access to the road ways. FREEDOM.

As I drove out of the neighborhood, I passed one house that was still snowed in. Two young men were "shoveling." Hah! There they were in flannel pants gently dipping shovels into the snow. They appeared to wonder how the snow was to leave the shovel. Where to put it? What wimps. They should have been outside yesterday.

In fact, that was most noticeable yesterday. All the teenagers were inside. Sleeping.

Older adults were outside cleaning up. Younger kids were outside playing with sleds, making snow people. Snowball fights.

Here are some pictures from the second floor of my house. The snowman below is now completely covered by this new snow fall. Just the tip of his head showing.

Sundance Channel

I have a confession. I head home with the best of intentions.

I save a lot of information that strikes me as worthwhile directly to a blog entry. It sits there and waits until I take the time to write something as to why it struck me as worth while.

Those are my intentions. However, those intentions disappear the longer it takes me to drive home. I leave little bit behind at each mile post. A little over the river, a little at the rest area. A little at the entrance to my development. By the time that I have opened the garage door and walked inside, intentions are no longer a part of my to do list.

There is a great commercial for Weight Watchers. Hunger is pictured as this cute orange stuffed animal. Sometimes you shut the door on Hunger.

Well orange is the color of my Intentions.

One of the best things about cable TV is that it has these great movies channels, Sundance, Independent, Foreign. -I love anything with subtitles. Even Bollywood movies.

A while ago I watched this great movie, Blame it on Fidel (original French title: La Faute à Fidel) a 2006 French drama film directed by Julie Gavras.

The movie is about a 9-year-old girl, Anna de la Mesa, who weathers big changes in her household as her parents become radical political activists in 1970-71 Paris. Her Spanish-born lawyer father Fernando is inspired by his family's opposition to Franco and by Salvador Allende's victory in Chile; he quits his job and becomes a liaison for Chilean activists in France. Her mother a Marie Claire journalist-turned-writer documenting the stories of women's abortion ordeals, supports her husband and climbs aboard the ideological bandwagon. As a result, Anna's French bourgeois life is over. She must adjust to refugee nannies, international cuisine and a cramped apartment full of noisy revolutionaries.

The film covers an array of philosophy and ideology - everything from Communism to Catholicism to Greek and Asian mythology - which Anna must reconstruct from confusion into her own set of beliefs. As she negotiates her way through this ideological maze and ultimately internalizes her parents' well-meant (albeit ad-hoc) objectives, she must deal with stereotyping, misinformation, the potential hypocrisy of ideology and the potentially false hope of idealism.

The gist of the film shows how diversity and different influences alter the precocious Anna's life, as she struggles to understand why her parents would want to give up their comfortable life and wonders about what gives over their newfound ideals. Through the little girl's view we see both the parents' shortcomings (mom's feminism clashes with dad's male supremacy, and both parents begin to have a strained relationship with Anna) and strong points (they are both caring parents), but as the rigid and selfish girl begins to thaw she never becomes lovable enough to really embrace with love.

The schematic political film offers a full-blast lecture on the benefits of diversity and even the right to live differently.

I highly recommend this movie.

"Many Thanks to Wikipedia"

Missionary Wanted

A missionary is being sought to serve the Episcopal Church of the Sudan (ECS) in the Provincial Office in Juba, Southern Sudan. The objective is to provide support to The Most Rev. Daniel Deng Bul Yak, Archbishop of the ECS and his efforts to organize, maintain, and report accurate financial books, safeguard cash, provide cost -effective use of resources, train and mentor the Provincial Chief Accountant and Bookkeeper and provide methods of transparency to donors and among the provincial office and dioceses. For more information, please contact Judith Lane Gregory at Judigregory@dioceseofdelaware.net or Jennifer Ernst at Jpe60@aol.com.

If you know of someone who might be interested, please pass this message along.

I can speak positively that no matter what you might give in service, more so will be given you.