Healing the Wounds of Trauma

Lesson 11 LOOKING AHEAD

1. Hurricane season soon “Hurricane season soon.…How do we prepare for it?” The new priest, Doug, was sitting with his church committee for the first time after his arrival in the coastal town. “Prepare? What does it have to do with us as a church?” asked the committee chair, Al, rather crossly. “That’s the government’s job.” “Well,” said Doug, “in my last church we were able to help the local community after a major hurricane by opening the church to people who had lost their homes, and by supplying blankets and food.” “Hmmm. Well, let’s get on with the important church business on this agenda,” said Al, as he passed around some lists. Two months later the news was full of the devastation being caused in the south by Hurricane Tom. The weather forecasters warned that this storm was likely to hit the mainland right near Doug’s town. Some of Doug’s church members immediately boarded up their houses and left town to stay with friends and relations. Al and his wife Sue were well past retirement age and lived in a prefabricated home near the ocean. Some other church members lived in a mobile home complex. Many of themdecided to stay. Some had nowhere to go, but others stayed just because they had survived other hurricanes in the past. Doug got in contact with people in the town government. They were urging everyone near the coast who lived in flimsy housing to leave. Doug became concerned about the vulnerable people in his congregation and started preparing the church’s fellowship hall to receive people. He thought about what would happenwhen the power went out and was able to get battery and hand-cranked lights, gas stoves, camp cots, blankets, canned food, and bottled water to store in the church.

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Looking Ahead