“I give thanks to God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind – just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you – so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
I Corinthians 1:4-7 NRSV 

‘Where were you when the storm hit?’ is one of the most commonly asked questions this week in Lebanon – a question which refers to the severe storm and tornado(es) that struck this region at 11:40 a.m. on last Friday, the 21^st of July. Some were in basements in anticipation of the storm’s fury, others didn’t realize what was coming and were out doing ‘business as usual’, and others chose to stay outside and watch as the full power of the storm struck. The Lebanon Community Vacation Bible School was in the midst of the Closing Program when word arrived of the impending storm and everyone was moved to the basement, thanks be to God.

Myself? I was at the Creighton Retreat Center in Southwestern Iowa packing up the car with all of the worship and sound equipment for the 8 ½ hour drive home following a weeklong Training Intensive with rural pastors from all over the country. Our son, Raymond, called my cell phone and shared with me the news of the destruction, telling me ‘not to worry’. That trip home suddenly became one of the fastest, yet longest trips I have ever made from Iowa and, after arriving in our darkened and battered community, all I could think of was praise to God for this strong, faithful, and neighborly community we know as Lebanon.

I am grateful to God no-one was seriously hurt in the storm. I am grateful, too, that though trees were downed and some structural damage occurred in the community, compared to the tornado destruction many of us have previously witnessed firsthand in this region, we were very, very fortunate (though it may not feel very ‘fortunate’ to those most affected). All of that being said, there are some other blessings I would like to take some time with you to count:

This community owes a huge debt of gratitude to the people of Ameren who worked tirelessly around the clock, and are still working, to restore power in a timely fashion. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the tree trimming people, who brought folks in from everywhere to clear the roads, our yards and power lines, and our lives from the debris the storm left in its wake. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the City Crews from adjoining communities who have unselfishly lent of their resources to facilitate the clean up of this and other neighboring communities.

Yet, apart from the aforementioned groups, perhaps our greatest debt of gratitude is for the very people who are our neighbors, our friends, our sisters and brothers in community. They are the members of the City Street Crews, the Water and Sewer Staff, the Mayor and the members of the City Council, the Firemen, the Police Force, and the Med Star Staff. They are the strangers down the street whose lives and needs are suddenly very much like our own. They are the neighbor a few doors down whose job and social calendar rarely crosses our own, yet in this instance is inseparable from our own. They are the ordinary husbands, wives and children, whose experience has crossed our own at a most unordinary juncture, and whose human response of compassion and care is, indeed, extraordinary.  

These are the ones who offered housing, coolers for food, generators for those most in need, medical assistance and information, security while the power was out, and, in some cases, put out fires as the power came on. But, more than all of that, these are the people on whose shoulders we all leaned, they are the faces of kindness and mercy of which the prophet Micah spoke. They are people who, in the most mundane of days, we are most likely to complain to first and to pray for last. And, they are the people who, on most other days, we would not notice and whose names we would not know.  

Today we know them, today we notice them, today we recognize our need of them and our appreciation for them. Today as the fallen trees are removed, lives are being restored because of them.

Today as broken limbs are being loaded onto trucks, shattered and trembling lives are given a measure of peace in them.

Today as power lines are being re-strung and attached, hope and vision are returning to the lives of the powerless with them.

Today as the piles of debris accumulate in the barren field near the college, mounds of goodwill and neighborliness emerge in the cul de sacs of our living next to them.

Today as the barrenness of tree stumps and uprooted vegetation mar the once lush avenues of our existence together, new friendships and caring have been planted in ways we would have never imagined before giving way to the shade of relating and restorative community that God has had in mind from the very being through them.

Today we look at our neighbor, smile and wave, all because we have shared a journey through the valley of darkness and are emerging into a lighted city of hope.

Today we listen more closely, watch more vigilantly, and attend to more tenderly, because we have a better idea of what it is to be the ones in need.

Today we grateful to God because we are learning how incredibly grateful we are for each other as gifts of God to each other.

Today we begin to sing the songs of praise, perhaps only one word or stanza at a time, yet the music is undeniably there because we have been forced by nature to take time to listen for it. 

Today, in my prayers of gratitude for you, I pray, too, that it not take another storm for all of us to appreciate the other; that we continue the listening, the tending, the patience, and the endurance in community these days have shown us; and that the winds of peace and understanding would sweep through our world in the same way the storms swept through Lebanon: completely, fully, restoratively, powerfully. For even as we claim from the ‘services’ what we ‘need to exist’, it has been shown to us in each other what we truly need to have life.  

Thank you, one and all, for the journey we share in our world in this newly shaped community of Lebanon, Illinois. You are tremendous teachers of faith and faithfulness in the most adverse of times: You are beloved of God.