October 9, 2008

CHICAGO – In a cleanup effort referred to as "10-4," more than 390 Lutherans from the Houston area readied themselves with rubber gloves, paint masks and sack lunches to help clean up hurricane-damaged homes and churches on Galveston from 10 to 4 p.m., Oct. 4.

When Galveston reopened Sept. 26 after Hurricane Ike stuck the island Sept. 12, "we visited our churches and neighborhoods and realized that people needed help there," said the Rev. Michael W. Rinehart, bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod, Houston. "We felt guilty not helping" as people hauled belongings out of their homes and churches, he said.

Later in the evening that day, Rinehart wrote to members of the synod, calling for volunteers to help residents in Galveston clean up. "We expected some 60 or so people to sign up. But we saw the list of volunteers grow from 100 to 200 to 300 and more," said Rinehart.

In a matter of a few days, hundreds of Lutherans in the Houston area answered the call for help. According to Peggy Contos Hahn, associate in ministry and assistant to the bishop, ELCA Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod, "I think people are beginning to understand themselves as (being) part of a whole. We work in partnerships to help make an impact on a community." Hahn said the synod worked with Lutheran Social Services of the South, Inc., Austin, Texas, which identified homes in Galveston that needed cleaning.

In addition to mucking out homes, Lutherans also worked at Zion Lutheran Church, which sustained three inches of water, and at St. Paul Lutheran Church, which had one inch of water. First Lutheran Church had five inches of water. First, St. Paul and Zion are ELCA congregations on the island.

"It was a good day to be a Lutheran," said the Rev. Kathy Haueisen Cashen, a member of the synod's Rapid Response Team. "We do darned good work, and we do it with good humor, grace, humility, and usually high levels of cooperation," she said in a letter to synod leaders.

Members of the ELCA congregations on Galveston and others from the community gathered for a service of "healing and wholeness" Oct. 5 at First, said Rinehart.

"What made the service particularly emotional" was "an invitation for people to share their situations and make specific requests before the anointing with oil and laying on of hands," said Rinehart. "People came forward and shared astonishing stories. ‘Our house burned down,' one woman shared with me as her husband and two children glazed over with tears. Never before have I felt so many people shaking with tears as I laid hands on them and prayed for them," he said.

"Life on the Gulf Coast has changed forever, and we are in it together. (Hurricanes Gustav and Ike) have ripped apart much of our daily life. The question is, do we really want to go back to life as it was, or is there something even better ahead?" said Hahn.

"In light of our economic climate in our country and in our world, these hurricanes could be part of a shift in our posture as individuals, families and especially as a church," said Hahn. "God is always with us, yet in times of disaster or tragedy we are often more aware of the Spirit moving in and around us. It is my hope that every congregation will adopt some new patterns that express our faith life more fully."

The ELCA Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod has 47,436 baptized members in 122 congregations.

Information about the synod is at http://www.gulfcoastsynod.org/, on the Web.

ELCA News Service