Today, October 4, is the first day of the school year for many Haitian children.

Over the last few days we have been visiting the work of Lutheran World Federation (LWF) throughout Haiti, particularly around Leogane – the epicenter of the earthquake that devastated the region on January 12 of this year. It is encouraging to see that LWF  development projects having included the building of schools through a partnership with ACT Alliance and Finn Church Aid which allows young Haitians to gain access to education.

Along with schools, LWF is helping to provide an infrastructure that serves the entire community!

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We are children.

We are strong.

We will change the world!

These are the words the children at a camp in Leogane, the epicenter of the Haiti earthquake, sing to us as we arrive at the camp meeting hall. They sing with enthusiasm and passion, often rising out of their seats to punctuate their vision for the future. For a camp that had to recover from last week's tremendous rainfall that leveled their previous accommodations, their songs touch us to the very core.

Learning these songs is part of the Lutheran World Federation's focus on psychosocial activities. To encourage children to deal with current challenges and the impact of the earthquake, they work through activities such as play, drawing and singing to assist with stress reaction, coping mechanisms and working through trauma.

We just finished a briefing this morning on the current situation in Haiti. Craig and Yegana, both Lutheran World Federation (LWF) staff, and David, from Finn Church Aid (FCA), provided us with an update on the relief efforts in the region. 

Eight months after a devastating earthquake hit Haiti, the need for relief efforts is still so very great. Challenged by complexities over land rights, removal of ruble created by the earthquake, and lack of resources (including that of machinery and local natural resources that could be used for rebuilding), LWF explains that current efforts focus on what is referred to as the “Post-Crisis” stage of the emergency response timeline (the “Crisis” stage being phase one and dealing with critical and acute emergency needs such as food, shelter and water). This “Post-Crisis” phase two could continue for at least another eight months and shifts the focus of the efforts towards enabling those affected by the earthquake to create opportunities for sustainable livelihoods and income. Over one million people in Haiti are currently living in tent camps. 

An important educational note for me this morning was how the work of the LWF, FCA and others is within the context of providing for long-term permanency. LWF and FCA have been key in the development schools. Almost 60 schools have been constructed following the earthquake, with another 110 to be completed by January 2011. Each school costs $7,700 and an additional $1,200 if there is a concrete base. If there is no water near the schools, a well is dug which not only serves the new school but also the surrounding community. Schools are not only just being built but infrastructures are being created.

This afternoon we will visit some of the urban tent campsites that provide shelter to those who were homeless or lost their homes during the earthquake.

I’m surprisingly awake for 4:00 a.m. When the alarm went off an hour earlier there was no hitting the snooze button, no “five more minutes, pleeeeaaassssse” – just time to get up and start this journey.

Preparations have been taking place for weeks now. Shots and vaccinations have been obtained. “Anti”-this and “precautionary”-that mediations have been acquired. Proper footwear purchased. And for this food-allergy prone person, some non-perishable gluten-dairy-egg free items packed away, just in case.

And now it is time to embark. I have said goodbye for the week to my two sleepy-eyed bassets (they weren’t too excited about this morning’s early start) and I am out the door and on my way.

This will be a new experience for me. I’m anxious. Not sure what to expect as we visit relief efforts in Haiti during the coming week. But I know I am in good company. Our group is led by Canadian Lutheran World Relief Executive Director (CLWR), Robert Granke, which in addition to myself, also includes Lutheran Church-Canada Mission and Social Ministry Director Rev. Dr Leonardo Neitzel, and CLWR Community Relations Director Tom Brook.

As we sit and wait to board the first of two flights that will take us to our final destination, I am reminded of the words I posted to the ELCIC Facebook page this morning. The words come from hymn #715 from Evangelical Lutheran Worship:

Longing for light, we wait in darkness. Longing for truth, we turn to you. Make us your own, your holy people, light for the world to see. Christ, be our light! Shine in our hearts. Shine through the darkness. Christ, be our light! Shine in your church gathered today.

As I sit here anxious, preparing to transition from the familiar and known, to the unknown and at times uncomfortable, the verse continuously runs through my head. In fact, during the taxi ride to the airport I found myself, unknowingly, humming the words over an over… And so I take strengthen in the fact that as I wait, in this virtual darkness, a sea of unknown, Christ will lead me, and us, and be our light.

Let the journey begin.

- Trina Gallop is the director of communications and stewardship at the ELCIC. 

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Image 1: The Theatre at Caesarea. Used again today in the summers for concerts. 
Image 2: View of the stage. 
Image 3: Rev. Paul Gehrs, happy to be feeling the winds of the ocean and the wind of the Spirit. 
Image 4: Another Caesarea claim to fame is that Roman Governors lived there. This stone (a replica of the original) is the only reference to Pontius Pilate outside the Bible. 
Image 5: Leaving Jerusalem, we encounter green, lush, fertile and varied landscape.   
Image 6: Rev. Gerhard Wilch, CLWR board member, reads I Kings 18 on a traditional site for  where Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal to a showdown: light a fire without a match.   

"Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?" (Luke 24:32)

Tomorrow we return to Canada, enriched in so many ways for our time on the road, and feeling confident that Jesus has walked with us during this time. One thing that burns in my heart is the stories, challenges and hopes of the people we have met. I find myself praying often for the people of Palestine and Israel, and for peace. I give thanks for the faith, hope and passion of youth and of leaders. I pray for the people of Haiti. I give thanks for workers at the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Lutheran World Federation who build relationships, tend networks and coordinate response to a variety of the world’s problems.

At the centre of the purpose and being of the WCC is a prayer: “that they may all be one.” This prayer informs all that the WCC does, and frequently those who work with and through the WCC are called back to this prayer. This is a prayer of Jesus (see John 17, in particular verse 20). A key program of the WCC is the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which is observed each January.

On Monday morning, we celebrated Week of Prayer for Christian Unity by joining WCC staff for worship in the chapel. The reading was from Luke 24. In meeting with WCC staff on Tuesday we met dynamic people of wisdom, who many times demonstrated respect for the wisdom of others. Several people we have met are directly involved in coordinating relief in Haiti. We were also reminded regularly that goals such as peace, justice and unity require long-term commitment - and prayer.  

I am grateful for the privilege of travelling with 16 other friends of CLWR. We all have stories to tell. If you get the chance to see any of these folks, I encourage you to listen to their stories and to be in conversation. This year’s theme for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is “You are witnesses of these things” (Luke 24:48). During our time in Geneva, we have been reminded that we have an ongoing call to be witnesses of God’s work. And we have been reminded that we do not work alone; we are connected to people around the world and to local communities.

Opening the scriptures leads to burning hearts and burning hearts leads to proclaiming the scriptures.  

- Rev. Paul Gehrs, Geneva

St. Jerome once said that “The Bible is the fifth Gospel.”  

It is interesting how the stories of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John play in my heart and mind as we stand on or near the places where the stories happened. They also play in our ears, as we pause to read scripture, and listen to our guide offer a culture perspective on what is happening in the story. In addition to the Biblical narrative, the history of building, destruction, conquest and rebuilding speak of the human condition, and of the desire to meet God in this Holy Land. Through the ages, there are Christians determined to encounter Jesus by walking the fifth Gospel.  

At the Church of the Loaves and Fishes, Tabgha, we hear “When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves." Jesus said to them, "They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” (Matt 14:15-16)  It strikes me that this has a lot to do with the mission of Canadian Lutheran World Relief, the hosts of our tour. Compassion is about sharing what we have with the hungry. Justice is about being sure that we all have something to eat. The call of the first Gospel, and the Fifth Gospel, is that we have some part in that ongoing work. The Biblical stories are in our hearts and minds as we stand in these places, so are the people of the Aida refugee camp, students in schools, the people of Haiti, and the many voices of hope for peace, dignity, safety, justice and community.  

At St. Peter’s Primacy, we hear the post-resurrection story of Jesus meeting the disciples on the beach with fish, and of Jesus reminding Peter to “Feed my sheep.” I take off my sandals, and my feet touch the Sea of Galilee, the shore, the land where this happened. For me it is playful, profound, and sacred; all of it is a reminder that we are called to follow.  

- Rev. Paul Gehrs, Galilee

Did you know that the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Department of World Service (DWS) employs 5000 people around the world? Of those, 16 are employed at the headquarters in Geneva; the rest are deployed around the world seeking to help the world’s neediest people.

Did you know that the LWF Department of Mission and Development (DMD) chooses its projects based on the needs of individual churches? That is, individual LWF church bodies (member churches) discern particular projects that will help develop leadership and mission. DMD offers the communion of Lutheran around the world the opportunity to support these projects with resources and prayer. The ELCIC 2006-2008 National Youth Project in support of youth ministry in Bolivia was a DMD project.  

Did you know that the LWF is recognized in the United Nations (UN) system as a “Non-Governmental Organization with Consultative Status?” This means that the LWF talks to the UN, and that the UN talks to LWF, when each body is developing policy.  

Did you know that there is uniqueness to how churches are horizontally spread and vertically integrated? A congregation is about as grass roots an entity as one can imagine. There are Lutheran congregations in at least 79 countries around the world. Through church bodies and the LWF, these congregations can have a global voice; they are able to speak to national governments and international organizations. Churches speak for human rights based on the God given dignity of every individual.

Did you know that long before the earthquake, LWF was active in Haiti? Since the 1980s, LWF has been accompanying the people of Haiti and looking for ways promote human rights in this country. Now that the earthquake has struck, LWF staff are on the front lines of organizing shelter, water, sewage management and psycho-social support for internally displaced persons. Long after the major news media go away, LWF will continue to walk with and work with the people of Haiti as they seek to rebuild their homes and restart their economy.  

Did you know that the next LWF General Assembly will be in July, 2010 in Stuttgart, Germany under the theme “Give us this day our daily bread?” The last LWF assembly was in Winnipeg in 2003. The Bible study for “Give us this day our daily bread” has been developed by Canadian pastor and theologian Rev. Dr. Irwin Buck.

Did you know that the LWF is a Communion of Churches? Think about the closeness to Jesus, and to others in your church, and to the need to proclaim “For God so loved the world...” that you feel when you go to communion. The LWF seeks to foster such closeness on a global scale with churches around the world.  

As much as I look forward to being home with my family in Winnipeg, stopping in Geneva was the perfect way to reflect on how churches might support the goal of peace in the Holy Land.  

- Rev. Paul Gehrs, Geneva

“Along the coast Herod discovered a city that was in decay, named Strato’s Tower, whose location was well suited to receive his generosity.”  

These words greet us on a museum display as we enter the area of the ruins of Caesarea. With our next steps, we encounter a cool, refreshing ocean breeze. Then, it is into The Theatre, in the shape of semi-circle and made entirely of stone. Herod made Caesarea in the style of a important Roman city; and our guide says that the Romans believed that theatre is the heart and soul of a city. (I couldn’t agree more; I can provide references upon request). From the seats of the theatre, we look upon the stage and onto the backdrop of the Mediterranean Sea.

Sitting on the steps of the Theatre, we read aloud Acts 10:24-29

The following day they came to Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. On Peter's arrival Cornelius met him, and falling at his feet, worshipped him. But Peter made him get up, saying, "Stand up; I am only a mortal." And as he talked with him, he went in and found that many had assembled; and he said to them, "You yourselves know that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit a Gentile; but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without objection. Now may I ask why you sent for me?"

Cornelius, it is suggested, is the first Gentile converts. Until this moment, the church has consisted of Jewish converts to Christianity. Cornelius is our ancestor in the Christians faith.

With the ocean in sight, the wind of my face, sitting in a theatre, a port city, in the Holy Land, I am happy to be reminded that God intervenes to help the church to welcome diverse faces.  May you discover the locations that are well suited to receive your generosity,...and your witness.
- Rev. Paul Gehrs, Tiberias, Galilee