It's Good to Be Church

"Are we doing something in Oklahoma?" one of our members asked me at a meeting this week. She was pretty sure the answer would be "yes," and it was. The "we" she was referring to, of course, wasn't either one of us - she wanted to make sure "we" were at the site of the devastating tornado in Moore, in the form of relief workers from the United Methodist Committee on Relief.

As we watched this tragedy unfold so heart-wrenchingly this past week, one of the first things some of you did was to find ways to "be there" - to be the church, surrounding others in loving care. Some of you did that through prayers. Some of you did it through pressing a button on a computer to give a gift. Our Mission Ministry Area met and designated emergency relief funds to be sent through UMCOR, funds made possible through our congregation's mission giving.

Miles and miles away, we were still able to "be there." And we are grateful that even when the story has left the front pages of the news, we will still be able to "be there and be church" through the continued work of UMCOR for our sisters and brothers in Oklahoma.