The Body of Christ in Action

Checking in with Karen by telephone on Sunday evening, I found she was distressed by what she'd heard on a morning news program. In reporting on the tragic bombing and shooting in Norway, the report identified the perpetrator as a "right-wing fundamentalist Christian," associating his heinous act with his supposed association with Christianity. Segments of our society seem to grasp at any opportunity to associate the bad and the awful with Christ and His followers. I believe we have seen what Christianity is really about this week in Tuscaloosa . . .




Our group is from an American Baptist Church, along with members of a Cincinnati Christian businessmen's group who happen to attend Roman Catholic, Independent Baptist, and Vineyard churches. We are being graciously housed by the Hopewell Baptist Church, a Southern Baptist Congregation. Behind the church is a trailer where we can shower and do laundry, provided by the Southern Baptist Convention and an SBC church in South Carolina. As we drive to our work site, blue tarps with the insignia of Samaritan's Purse provide short-term protection from the weather for damaged homes. A World Vision tractor-trailer is set up in front of an elementary school.



The recovery work in the Holt area in which we are working is coordinated by the Soma Church. In front of the church are tents and a huge mobile kitchen from ACTS world relief and the Northland Church in Orlando. Every day lunch is cooked and provided for volunteers and others in the community by volunteer groups, including a team from the Covenant Church in Gainesville, FL which has joined us staying at Hopewell Baptist.


In the neighborhood where we are working, two new houses are already under construction -- by Habitat for Humanity and their volunteers. At our work site, we work alongside a couple from a Lutheran church in Iowa, and were joined one day by a team from a Roman Catholic church in Milwaukee and an Episcopal church in Maryland. Some of our team members spent the day today serving at a distribution center run by the Salvation Army.

This, I believe, is the real face of Christianity. FEMA is providing some important overall coordination, but a tremendous amount of the work on the ground is being provided by people who love the Lord Jesus and take seriously his call to love and to serve others. This is the Body of Christ in action.

". . . in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others . . . Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality . . . Rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn wiht those who mourn . . . " (Romans 12:5, 9-15, NIV)