Space Needle Smoked
Seattle's famous Space Needle is barely visible in the smoke from dozens of wildfires burning the western United States in early September, 2020. (Photo by Lindsey Wasson, Getty Images)
A United Methodist Insight Column
United Methodists are responding in prompt, creative ways to the impact of more than 100 wildfires in the western United States.
Retired missionary Paul Jeffrey, internationally known photographer par excellence, shared on Facebook a tale of how young clergy in Oregon have stepped up to aid victims of the wildfires ravaging the West. United Methodist Insight contacted the Rev. Heather Riggs, pastor at Oak Grove United Methodist Church - Oregon, for permission to republish the following post about sheltering wildfire evacuees.
“On Thursday morning, 10am, I found out that some folks who are houseless were being turned away from fire evacuation shelters for being ‘transients’ [and] had nowhere to go in the midst of this disaster.
“I worked with my clergy friends Annaliesa Tomac Hoesly, Sara Gross Samuelson, Jesse J Christopherson and Marshall Wattman-Turner and our social worker friends Mikaila Smith and Alex and Becky from Providence to get the Church open as a shelter by 2pm. Providence provided hospital-grade PPE and all kinds of sanitizing and safety supplies and Mikaila stayed up all night with me the first night.
“Our friends at Father's Heart shelter who had been evacuated asked us to take in their folks, so we did. Father's Heart staff and volunteers helped keep us going.
“Linda from St Paul's UMC brought over pads, blankets, and other supplies. Our friends at Milwaukie Lutheran started sending us volunteers and supplies. Mary and Gene from King of Kings Lutheran took a volunteer shift. Our Storyline Community friends started organizing food prepared with all the necessary precautions.
“Anna and Sara took on organizing during the day so I could sleep and I took the night shifts.
County staff, from Heath inspectors to EOC managers checked in with us and offered supplies and support. And worked to fix the problem of shelters not accepting ‘transients.’ After all, isn't everybody fleeing the fire, ‘transient?’
“Our friends at Clackamas Service Center postponed their Harvesting Hope fundraiser and jumped in to provide supplies and support to the shelters.
“And my District Superintendent Tim Overton-Harris worked fast to create a shelter policy to approve what I was already doing, and gave me permission after the fact.
“My church members stepped up to supply food, volunteer and be patient with me for taking over the building with zero notice!
“My awesome husband, Tom Riggs located Port-A-Potties and had them delivered for Milwaukie Lutheran and Hope City Church, so that they could have sanitation for the RV’s and tents camping in their parking lots.
“The Church isn’t a building, or even the people who gather in one building together. The Church is everyone who walk in the Way of Jesus by loving our neighbors and caring for the least of these.
“We Are The Church Together!
“And now Imma get some sleep!”
Rev. Riggs responded further: “I'd also add that my Clergy sister Eilidh Lowry is helping us with background checks because she has asthma and can't be out among people. We're all finding ways to serve!”
Kudos to Rev. Riggs and her colleagues and friends for bringing hope amid continuing disasters.
Stop the spread of false ‘antifa’ rumors!
In addition to welcoming evacuees, United Methodists in Oregon can help fight false information about so-called “antifa” forces starting fires and looting evacuated communities.
Multiple news outlets had articles Sept. 14 that fake reports about far-left activists starting fires are not only hampering firefighting efforts, they’re endangering the lives of innocent bystanders.
The New York Times reported: “Authorities in Oregon have struggled for days to fight apocalyptic wildfires that have burned over 800 square miles, forced thousands to evacuate their homes, and killed at least three people. Now they are also fighting a wave of rumors spreading on social media that the blazes were set by left-wing activists linked to the Portland protests.”
Both the Times and Buzzfeed featured the story of a couple of photographers who went to the woman’s hometown of Molalla, Ore., to take pictures, only to find themselves targeted by residents who mistook them for fire-starting terrorists.
Buzzfeed wrote: “Gabriel Trumbly, a Portland videographer who has spent roughly 90 of the past 100 days capturing the protests, wanted to take footage of the forest fires raging in Oregon. So on Wednesday night, the 29-year-old Army veteran set out with his partner, Jennifer Paulsen, 24, to see what was happening near her childhood home of Molalla, a town of 9,000 people known for its annual rodeo, the Buckeroo.”
Seeing Trumbly and Paulsen in gas masks and vests labeled “Press,” a panicked resident posted on Twitter, claiming the two had started a fire. A description of their car and license was included, and soon the two were being hunted by armed men. Trumbly called local police to identify themselves and ask for help in scotching the rumors.
The Intercept noted FBI efforts to local police halt the dangerous misinformation: “Oregon police beg residents to stop calling with fake reports about antifa. The FBI: ‘Reports that extremists are setting wildfires in Oregon are untrue. Help us stop the spread of misinformation by only sharing information from trusted, official sources.’”
This incident points out why bearing false witness is included in the Ten Commandments. False information can be deadly.
Watch Louisiana videos on hurricane recovery
As the Gulf Coast awaits the arrival of yet another tropical storm, Sally, the Louisiana Annual Conference has posted videos about starting to assess and repair the damage from Hurricane Laura. Here are links to the videos
A Labor of Love: United Methodists from all over Louisiana and the country volunteer on Labor Day to clean up Louisiana's hurricane damage.
"We Count Our Blessings Even in the Midst of the Storm": Watch as Rev. Andy Goff surveys damage at Maplewood United Methodist Church in Sulphur and, despite the destruction, still finds hope.
How to Help: The recovery efforts are beginning to take shape. We have two planned work days in Lake Charles, no registration is required and the work is for those 18 and older.
Dismantling Racism: A close-up of police killings
CBS News has published a list of the 164 black people killed this year by police. Each name is accompanied by a description of the circumstances in which the person was killed. The interactive list is long enough to be broken into two parts.
The report says that CBS News used “databases from Mapping Police Violence and The Washington Post” to compile the list of “of 164 Black men and women who were killed by police from January 1 to August 31, 2020. Many of the cases remain under investigation.”
CBS further reports: “Police have killed at least one Black man or woman every week in 2020.”
I found the CBS report to be a stunning example of why United Methodists must continue to work toward dismantling racism in America. It would make a good addition to other resources now available for local church discussions.
‘On grief, personal and collective’
Searching news outlets daily for reports that bear on United Methodist matters has given me plenty of experience determining who can be trusted for the best analyses of how the media deals with issues and events. I have found that Jon Allsop of the Columbia Journalism Review to be a commentator on whom United Methodists can rely to test the accuracy and reliability of news outlets regarding the multiple crises we’re facing. Mr. Allsop has a gift for sifting through the morass and mining the most important details.
His latest “On the Media” column, “On Grief, Personal and Collective,” offers an excellent example of digging behind the headlines. Commenting on Bob Woodward’s new book, “Rage,” in which President Donald Trump acknowledges that he downplayed the coronavirus pandemic threat, Mr. Allsop zeroes in on the unresolved grief lying behind every American’s pandemic experience.
“The [9/11 bombings] anniversary is always an occasion for visible, pointedly-unified public grief; this year, some commentators observed that the US, collectively, has not yet come to mourn the victims of the pandemic in the same way, even though there have already been many more of them than on 9/11. ‘Whatever shared national spirit existed in the first weeks of the pandemic has been fractured beyond repair,’ Garrett M. Graff, the author of an oral history of 9/11, argued in The Atlantic. ‘The sadness and fury are still present, but in 2020 they don’t galvanize; they paralyze.’ Graff offered several explanations for the discrepancy: the fact that the virus resists easy visualization; our inability to mourn together physically; the endlessness of the pandemic.
“And, whichever way one looks, the national news cycle is unavoidably drenched in grief—about police brutality and its ending of Black lives; about our crisis-stricken climate and its consequences, most recently the enormous, devastating fires on the West Coast; about the natural deaths of guiding moral lights—that differs in its particulars but is all wound up together.”
For people of faith including United Methodists, the coronavirus pandemic has brought an added layer of grief as worship services have been identified as “super spreader” events. The very act that has enabled believers to grieve together over disasters has been re-classified as a source of physical infection instead of spiritual comfort. The most frequent mourning gestures – handshakes, hugs, communal meals – so common to funerals and memorials are now taboo as public health threats. The loss of such gatherings has further scarred and frightened congregations who long for a return to “normal.”
Fortunately, congregations that have pivoted during this onslaught of crises to respond to current reality are seeing solid increases in their constituencies, if not in their official membership rolls. Like the Oregon churches noted above for their wildfire response, many United Methodist congregations are doing all they can to aid crisis victims, and in doing so, are working through their collective grief. While still denied physical touch, United Methodists have increased their online presence through Sunday services, prayer circle, and other small groups that allow individuals to grieve and peers to provide solace. The Sept. 12 online memorial for the late Rev. Dr. Gilbert H. Caldwell offers a prime example of how loved ones are coping with their losses.
These actions may seem miniscule compared to the scope of the crises we’re facing. Yet the spiritual ripples from these small actions are spreading wavelets of comfort and courage that sustain people in the midst of their grief. These are the kinds of stories that don’t often make their way into secular newspapers and websites, but they’re the kind of stories that can ease pain, comfort hearts and lift spirits. I think telling our stories to anyone who will listen provides the best way to relieve some of our “personal and collective” grief.
Media Mentions as of Sept. 14, 2020
Salvation Army starts red kettle program early amid 'tsunami of human need' caused by pandemic – Religion News Service
U.S. election spotlight mostly bypasses mainline Protestants – The Associated Press
New Research Book: Religion Declining Drastically in America – Black Star News
Black Lives Matter co-founder denounces Pat Robertson for saying the movement is ‘anti-God’ – Religion News Service
John Kasich: Look to God for the strength to transcend divisions and build a more just America – USA Today
Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, which she founded in 2011.