United Methodists Gather Aid for Tornado Victims

Compiled from UMNS Reports

United Methodists around the nation and the world were rallying to the assistance of storm-ravaged Moore, OK, in the days after a May 20 twister ranked as a catastrophic EF-5 tornado tore apart the Oklahoma City suburb. In addition, assistance is still coming for the Central Texas Conference, where a May 16 tornado demolished two low-income communities near Granbury, TX.

Prayers from United Methodists around the world were conveyed to Moore congregations, while U.S. church members near and far began raising hundreds of thousands of dollars toward massive relief and recovery efforts, according to United Methodist News Service.

$100,000 Donation Brings Tears to All

When word went out that McFarlin Memorial United Methodist Church in Norman, OK,  was taking donations for disaster relief they never dreamed that in one day they would collect more than $100,000 without even a chance to pass the offering plate on Sunday.

The Rev. Linda Harker, pastor of McFarlin, said a family donated $50,000 and another couple matched that donation.

“When people come and share out of their generosity and abundance there are simply no words, only tears of gratitude,” she said. “Our phones have hardly stopped ringing with people wanting to help.”

Harker had just returned from a tour of the area with the local sheriff and she said the destruction is hard to describe. “It’s even hard to identify where you are because road signs are gone and you can’t even remember what used to be there.”

She said many electrical workers from all over the country are busy trying to reconnect electrical services in the heavy rain that has hit Moore intermittently since the tornado.

Harker said United Methodist Oklahoma City University has opened its dorms to about 200 displaced families and more than 200 first responders. She and other clergy have been visiting with the folks staying at the university.

“I visited with a young couple last night and they were just sharing their stories. The young woman said ‘You know I just wish the world could be this way all the time, it would be a place of peace.’ And I just thought, in the midst of all this, they had lost everything and yet she was seeing as the people came together that this was how the world could be. She said ‘Do you think that’s the way it’s supposed to be?’ and I said I’m sure that is the way God wants it.

“We are just one small part of the whole connection, there are many, many people doing lots of great things.”

North Georgia Conference Raising Funds

MDJ Online reported that the North Georgia Annual Conference has issued an appeal for giving to the United Methodist Committee on Relief to aid Moore tornado survivors.

The website quoted Deb Ingham, from Due West United Methodist Church in west Cobb, GA, already has raised enough funds to fill a truckload with supplies. “As soon as they know what they want, this will be a huge hub,” Ingham told the website.

She added: "It is best to give money, so that specific resources can be directed as a collaborative response with larger groups. ... When people self-deploy it causes mayhem,” Ingham said about people eager to travel to a disaster site to offer volunteer help.

Alabama Church Reaching Out

First United Methodist Church of Montgomery, AL, is joining with the United Methodist Committee on Relief to reach out to the people of Moore, OK, reported UMNS. Alabama knows what it feels like to be hit by tornadoes and also what it means to have UMCOR come to their aid. Alabama was last lashed by tornadoes in April 2011.

“Oklahoma is so far away, but we’re able to have people up there immediately (UMCOR), looking at the needs, coordinating with other organizations and telling us, the local churches what we can do,” said Rev. John Blount, the minister of missions and outreach at First UMC.

Conferences Respond; Bishops Send Messages

In addition to disaster relief efforts by the Oklahoma Annual Conference, the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference prepared spiritual support as well as practical assistance to Native American tornado survivors.

“What makes disaster response unique in the OIMC is that we not only deal with our own membership but (also) with (other) native families,” said the Rev. David Wilson, the conference superintendent. “Oftentimes, there are cultural needs in native families that other agencies aren’t aware of.”

For example, he said, when another tornado devastated Moore, Okla., in 1999, his conference was able to find interpreters for a storm-ravaged Kickapoo family who did not speak English.

Perhaps most significantly, the conference’s disaster responders can help address the spiritual needs of native families who have undergone trauma — even if they are not United Methodist.

In tribes across North America, a family that loses a loved one or celebrates a new beginning will request a “cedaring” or “smudging” ceremony. During the rite, people burn cedar or sweetgrass and pray.

“The purpose is that it cleanses you physically and spiritually, and the smoke takes your prayers up to God,” Wilson said. “While many of our United Methodist churches may not do that, people who are outside of the church often do it.”

Early Methodist missionaries discouraged the practice of cedaring. But Wilson and many other Native Americans see no contradiction between the rite and Christian teaching. Wilson likened cedaring to the Roman Catholic Church’s tradition of burning incense during Mass.

“When you see a priest go through with incense, they are purifying the church,” he said. “That’s exactly what we’re doing with cedaring.”

So, conference members will offer comfort to bereaved native families and, if requested, help them perform the blessing. “We don’t look down on them because we understand the significance,” Wilson said.

The Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference includes members from more than 30 tribes. While the majority of its congregations are in Oklahoma, the conference also includes churches in Texas and Kansas. Wilson said he has learned that at least one family in the conference lost their home in the May 20 devastation.

The conference plans to hold a prayer service at 7 p.m. tonight, May 22, at Leland Clegg United Methodist Church. During the service, Gene Sovo — a Comanche — plans to offer a cedaring for the storm’s victims.

Meanwhile, United Methodist Annual (regional) Conference disaster relief coordinators met  plan how best to send money and deploy mission teams as soon as they get the word from the United Methodist Committee on Relief that the time is right for teams to go into areas affected by tornadoes, UMNS reported.

Indiana Bishop Mike Coyner sent $2,000 to each bishop in the Central Texas and Oklahoma conferences to assist their disaster response teams. The conference is gearing up to send mission teams to both conferences when the time comes, said Dan Gangler, director of communication, Indiana Conference. Indiana was hit hard by tornadoes in 2012.

Michigan Area Bishop Deborah L. Kiesey called for prayers and donations.

“Let us join our prayers together that all might be surrounded by the presence of God and strengthened by the prayers of people across the nation,” she said.

In the Arkansas Conference, Bishop Gary E. Muller issued a statement around the theme, "Pray. Give. Hope."

You heard the news. A horrible tornado tore a wide swath through the town of Moore. Dozens of people were killed, including many children. The destruction is absolute. Your heart breaks for those involved. And, if you’re honest, you’ve wondered what it would be like if it happened to you, and you had to deal with the loss of all you have and, worse, the death of loved ones. It’s a poignant reminder of a reality in life you don’t like to focus on: life is often painful, can change forever in an instant and offers no guarantees. This is a fact of life, and it doesn’t matter how much money you have, what you’ve done in the past or how much security and protection you put in place. But there is one guarantee in life – God. And, when you’ve experienced God’s radical, unconditional, never-take-it-back love, you can live each and every day with the absolute knowledge that nothing that happens in life or in death – even the worst possible thing you can ever imagine – can separate you from God’s love in Jesus Christ.

But there is more. So much more.  Because this experience of God’s ‘never-take-it-back love’ is so powerful, you want to reach out to those who are hurting. Of course, this will vary from situation to situation. But today, in light of the tragedy in Moore, you can do three simple things – Pray. Give. Hope.

... Pray. Give. Hope. It’s what you can do in the face of tragedy to make a world-changing difference. Take time to do it right now!

To give to aid for U.S. tornado victims:

Kathy L. Gilbert and Heather Hahn of United Methodist News Service contributed the reports that make up this compilation.