By Rev. S. Emmanuel Epps
Member of Park Avenue Christian Church, Manhattan, NY
The morning after Hurricane Sandy made landfall, the City of New York seemed surreal. And it wasn’t because an 820-mile wide storm had taken a chunk out of the normal hubbub of the Big Apple. And it wasn’t because the best-prepared roofs and basements, subways and airports, tunnels and storefronts were damaged to the tune of $1.9 billion dollars. And it wasn’t because gasoline and electricity had become scarce commodities and there were no traders to celebrate because Wall Street had been shut down.
New York City, the nation’s city, was surreal because an otherwise dog-eat-dog, hyper-individualistic, ego-driven city had come together to support one another. Hot dogs and hamburgers were given to strangers at no cost. Quarters were shared as people lined up to call loved ones from those relics called “payphones.” Makeshift care packages were handed out to those in need by regular folks turned Santa Clauses. Hardly a saddened face appeared without a shoulder to cry on or a disoriented homeowner searched through debris without a neighborly hand. It was a New York whose good will and toughness was shown to withstand 70 + mph wind gusts and 11-foot water surges. This New York City was in covenant and being in covenant is not easy.
Very often, when the story no longer makes the newspaper’s front page or after a sense of normalcy returns for the best-positioned among us, covenants wane, become brittle, and our easily forgotten.
“We have to remain engaged and seek ways to show Christ’s compassion to one another because we are people of the covenant”, said Rev. Mary Anne Glover, regional minister in the Northeast region, as I begrudgingly listened to her – at 1 o’ clock in the morning – trying to convince me to serve on the Northeastern Region’s Disaster Relief Committee.
“Nearly three months have passed”, I said, “and government and non-profits that have the organizational capacity seem to have it under control.” But if any person could make the case otherwise, it would be a straight-talking woman with two decades of ministerial experience and a charming southern accent.
She fires back, “We, as Disciples, have to do something as it relates to Sandy’s victims! We, as the Christian Church, have to make sure the least and the left out don’t get overlooked. We are people of the covenant!”
And though her case was compelling and well-articulated, I was moved most by the thought of saying “no” to the Regional Minister right before I was to be ordained (smile).
So on Jan. 18, 2013, we convened a Disaster Relief Committee (DRC) with clergy and laity from big and small churches, from NYC and upstate NY, from black and white congregations, from United Church of Christ churches and Churches of Christ churches, some Spanish-speaking, some old and some young. Our first meeting felt like a mix between Acts 2 and Cane Ridge in 1801. The covenant was made!
And 10 meetings, scores of phone calls and site visits, and two all-day trainings with Church World Service later, on Saturday, April 20, 2013, the DRC partnered with Make The Road to ensure that the services needed by the most vulnerable affected by Sandy would be delivered.
When we arrived in Staten Island, it seemed there would just be a few of us. But word got out and three other organizations showed up to lend us a helping hand. We were not alone in our desire to embody the covenant. We got in our cars and drove into affected areas and canvassed the neighborhoods, knocking on doors and talking to residents wherever we encountered them. There were no cameras or journalists shadowing us – just people of faith and good will trying to do a good thing – the right thing.
And just when I thought, after a long day, that what we had done may have been good, it may have been right, but it wasn’t enough. On our way back to our cars, a matriarch of a family says to us, “thank you for doing this; thank you for seeing about us; thank you for not forgetting us.” Right then – I knew how important it was for the victims of Hurricane Sandy to see people out there who still lived by the covenant – a covenant to feed the hungry, to visit the sick, to care for the least, to remember the unsung. Rev. Glover was right, “if you’re going to be a disciple of Christ, you’re going to have to live by the covenant.” Amen.
The next weekend canvass will be scheduled in June.
