Great church vision and great prayer of confession

Photo of Central Presbyterian Church in Denver from:

http://www.ingramphotography.com/images/CentralPresbyterianDenver.jpg

I had the privilege of worshiping at Central Presbyterian Church on Sunday morning.

This was the church that took a Transformation Trip with Healing Waters in June. They were celebrating their trip at the service on Sunday morning. I wish I could have videotaped the whole service. Hearing people reflect on their experiences on transformation trips always reminds me of why I do the work that I do. In addition to the people who are served by our safe water projects, the people who are exposed to the work we are doing through these trips is a great opportunity for me to recharge my batteries and see the world through the eyes of others.

There were a few things in the service that were moving. Two people who went on the trip gave mini-sermons that both brought me to tears. I will try to get a copy of those sermons and post them to the blog.

A couple other parts of the service that were moving. . . the first was the Vision of Central Presbyterian Church right on the front of the bulletin. It reads:
Central is a pillar of a spiritually, physically and intellectually healthy community that manifests God's love and justice.

Wow! What a great way to describe a great church.

The other really moving aspect of the service for me was the Prayer of Confession written by one of the people who went on the Transformation Trip. She asked to remain anonymous when I asked her if I could repost it. So here it is:

God of our journeying, you send us out to travel in your name.
The spirit of our God is upon me; therefore, anointing me to bring Good News to the poor, to proclaim liberty to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind and release to prisoners, to announce a year of our God's favor. (Luke 4:18-19)
Forgive us when we read what the Gospels say but fail to acot on the principles they describe. Help us to interpret our own faith out of the suffering, struggle and hope of the poor. Forgive us when the activity of the Church doesn't come from empathy with the poor. Forgive us for the exploitation of some peoples by others, and the exploitation of people by mechanisms of economic systems we have created. Forgive us when we do not see the growing gap between rich and poor as a scandal and a contradiction to Christian existence. Help us to discover that this poverty is not a passing phase. Inbreaking God, stir us to reflect your enternal relationship of love, in the way we treat our neighbors, those we know and love, those we find difficult, and those on the other side of the world. Help us to attend to the needs of all these people, and never walk by on the other side of the road. Amen.

This prayer of confession was so powerful. Thank you!

Healing Waters to the RESCUE!

Two quick things about Healing Waters to start the holiday weekend:

For those of you that read international news, you know that a volcano erupted in Guatemala last night. The volcano, Pacaya, is about 20 miles from Guatemala City. Most of the 22 Healing Waters systems in Guatemala are in Guatemala City, so there has been a pretty direct impact. While no lava flows are reaching the city, it has been completely covered in a blanket of volcanic cinders and ash. So many cinders have dropped out of the sky that some people who live in houses with laminate tin roofs have had their roofs collapse. Below are some photos from one of our pastors who has a Healing Waters system in his church:



You can see the damage to the laminated tin/zinc roof and the pile of ashes and cinders that collapsed the roof.

Healing Waters is helping out in this crisis in two ways:
1. The churches that have a Healing Waters system are using their funds generated from the system to help their neighbors and communities rebuild from the collapsed roofs, etc.

2. Many of the people that live in the villages around the base of the volcano have been evacuated and are living in temporary shelters until the eruption subsides. Our Healing Waters staff is delivering five gallon jugs of water to these shelter to provide the evacuees a source of safe drinking water while they wait to see if they will be able to go back home.

For more information about the volcanic eruption visit: http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/05/28/guatemala.volcano/index.html?hpt=Sbin

In other safe drinking water news, last night here in Denver there was a water main break. http://www.denverpost.com/ci_15182424

There is a "boil water" order in effect for a large part of the city. Residents have been very frustrated and making a lot of noise about the need to boil their water for the next 24 hours. There is such a lack of understanding that this is a daily reality in developing countries like Guatemala, Mexico and the Dominican Republic where Healing Waters works.

As Americans, we are so used to getting safe drinking water out of the tap. When we are required to boil it, we get upset. But at least most of us have electric or gas stoves in our homes to be able to boil water. We don't have to go out and gather wood, build a campfire, and boil water over the open flames.

One of our founders, Dana Larson, used to talk about "First World" problems. Whenever I get really frustrated or fired up because I am stuck in traffic, or because the line at the grocery store is taking too long, or because I have to boil water for 24 hours because of a water main break, I need to step back and put things into perspective.
-When I am stuck in traffic, at least I have a car and the money to put fuel in the gas tank.
-When I am in a long line in the grocery store at least I live in a country that has grocery stores that have fully stocked shelves of food and I have the resources to buy that food.
-And when the city asks me to boil my water for 24 hours before drinking it, I need to be thankful for the 364 days per year I can just go to the tap and get a glass of safe drinking water. I need to be thankful I have a stove to boil water on when it is not safe. I need to be grateful that I have any source of water piped into my house.

Oh the privilege of having first world problems.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!