Blog
The headlines have been as grim as the details: “Haiti waits in ruins for international aid,” “Bodies lining Haiti’s roadsides,” and worse. But as we pray, watch, give toward relief efforts, and wonder how to else respond to this week’s tragedy (I daresay some of you are getting on planes and boats in hands-on response), one line in Wednesday night’s L.A. Times update caught my attention: “As darkness fell on Haiti’s capital tonight, crowds gathered in the streets…Their lives turned upside down by Tuesday’s devastating magnitude 7 earthquake, many survivors broke out into communal song…”
I don’t know what they were singing, but it’s striking to think about. Earlier Wednesday I was at a memorial service here at Fuller for my colleague Ruth Vuong, our Dean of Students who tragically died last week. At that service, in the midst of our grief and questioning, we did the same: together, we sang our lament. We sang because it’s what we do when we gather to remember, feel, and express something beyond us—in this case lamenting the sting of death in our community.
So as we respond in tangible and intangible ways to our sisters and brothers in Haiti facing unspeakable loss, may we also join in their song with songs of our own that express the questions and pain alongside the hope for God’s presence and power. As we sing in solidarity with the poor and devastated, may our God move us to deeper response. Here’s one to start:
Out of the depths we cry to you, Lord;
Lord, hear our voices.
Let your ears be attentive to our cry for mercy.
I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits,
And in his word I put my hope.
Psalm 130:1-2, 5
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January 14th, 2010 at 8:51 am
Here’s a striking reproof from an in-country reporter, reflecting on a God who seems to be angry, absent, or worse. She raises good, honest questions while throwing darts at God: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/14/opinion/14bhatia.html?th&emc=th
January 16th, 2010 at 11:58 am
It is now saturday, it has been some week. Thanks for the reminder about the communal lament. i too was caught by that same line in the Times that day. I heard they were singing hymns, it has happened more often, wailing and then communal singing. In our lament we join those of Haiti as one.
January 19th, 2010 at 9:47 am
Couple more this week on faith post-earthquake:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/18/world/americas/18church.html?th&emc=th
http://www.latimes.com/news/la-fg-haiti-quake18-2010jan18,0,3781418.story?track=ntothtml