Dear friends in Christ,
"Joy to the World" sounds in our ears, from radios and CDs, at shopping malls and worship services. But even now, as we focus on last-minute holiday preparations, there are many for whom these days are less than joyless. Where is there joy these days?
In these pre-Christmas days, Lutheran Disaster Response (a shared ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod) is responding to a new disaster, to "Supertyphoon Pongsona" which struck the Pacific Island territory of Guam. According to preliminary estimates, more than 2,000 homes were destroyed as the typhoon tore across the island with up to 180 mile per hour winds. This is the second major typhoon this island of 150,000 people has suffered in five months. Disaster News Network reports "More than 3,200 people were still being housed in 13 emergency shelters located at public schools on the island. Those shelters were expected to remain open until the end of the month." LDR is responding through Church World Service with a grant of $10,000.
Where is there joy these days? As I work on my end-of-the-year report I note LDR responded to fourteen new disasters this year, ranging from floods and tornadoes to fires and severe storms. The response to the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks continues, as needs of unemployment and hunger arise in New York City, New Jersey, and Washington D.C. So far LDR has granted to the three responding areas a total of $6,828,115.85.
Where is there joy these days? There is joy all around! Through LDR you provide joy, comfort, and relief across the country. You reach out in faithful and creative ways to people who have no homes in which to celebrate Christmas. You send offerings and contributions to sustain long-term commitments and support new responses. You volunteer in Texas and Minnesota, in Ohio and Tennessee, in Mississippi and Alabama. Because "the Lord is come," you are providing joy - spiritually, financially, physically, emotionally.
Where is there joy? There is joy as we bear the message that God does not abandon people but "comes to make his blessings flow." There is joy as we realize we are a people of hope and new life. There is joy as we know the coming Lord "rules the world with truth and grace," and enables us to demonstrate "the wonders of his love." There is joy to know that God's angels have charge of us, and the wicked one has no power over us.
Please remember in your prayers those who sorrow and those who help because of the chaos and loss of disasters.
Please consider bringing joy to others by volunteering for clean up and recovery efforts.
Please respond with generosity for others, as you receive Jesus Christ in joy:
ELCA DOMESTIC Disaster Response
PO Box 71764
Chicago, Illinois 60694-1764
Credit card gift line: 1-800-638-3522
Credit card gifts via the web: www.elca.org/disaster
LC-MS World Relief and Human Care
P.O. Box 66861
St. Louis, MO 63166-9810
Credit card gift line: 1-888-930-4438
Joining you in joy and service,
Gil Furst
GILBERT B. FURST (written on Mon, Dec 23, 2002, at 4:15 pm)
Director, ELCA Domestic Disaster Response (Division for Church in Society),
Lutheran Disaster Response (A cooperative ministry of the ELCA and LCMS)
8765 W. Higgins Rd., Chicago 60631 PHONE: 773-380-2822 FAX: 773-380-2493
Visit our websites: www.ldr.org -or- www.elca.org/dcs/disaster
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