A Prayer for Haiti

by Taylor Burton-Edwards

The seas roar, the earth shakes,

buildings crumble, roofs toppleand walls turn to dust.

Have mercy on the people of Haiti, O God.
Nations watch, alarms sound,traffic halts,

utilities stop,and news is hard to verify.

Give us compassion to weep with those who weep, O God.
People die, families mourn,mountains split,

infrastructure and superstructure alike are gone.

Make us swift to help and persistent to rebuild,

not just things and structures, but lives, O God:
Through Christ, the solid Rock. Amen.

Health Kits for Haiti

Greetings Colleagues,

As we continue to pray and collect donations for the people of Haiti, here is yet another way that our churches and ministries can help. Visit http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umcor/getconnected/supplies/health-kit/ to see complete instructions for assembling and shipping health kits for Haiti through the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). These kits cost just $12 each to construct, and will be passed out to individuals who have been affected by the disaster.

Please follow the assembly and delivery instructions carefully. This is a great project for youth groups and other ministries to get involved with providing relief to our brothers and sisters in Haiti.

Blessings,

C. Anthony Hunt


Health Kit Items Value: $12 per kit
Place these items inside a sealed one-gallon plastic bag.
1 hand towel (15" x 25" up to 17" x 27", No kitchen towels)
1 washcloth
1 comb (large and sturdy, not pocket-sized)
1 nail file or fingernail clippers (no emery boards or toenail clippers)
1 bath-size bar of soap (3 oz. and up)
1 toothbrush (single brushes only in original wrapper, No child-size brushes)
6 adhesive plastic strip sterile bandages
$1.00 to purchase toothpaste (NOTE: UMCOR Sager Brown is now purchasing toothpaste in bulk to be added to health kits before shipping to ensure that the product does not expire before they are sent.)

Important Kit Assembly Information
All items included in kits must be NEW items.
All emergency kits are carefully planned to make them usable in the greatest number of situations. Since strict rules often govern product entry into international countries, it is important that kits contain only the requested items-nothing more.
Do NOT include any personal notes, money or additional materials in the kits. These things must be painstakingly removed and will delay the shipment.

Packing Kits
Box Weight. Each packed box cannot exceed 66 pounds.

Shipping Kits
1. Complete 2 packing lists-one for your records and one to put on the shipping box.
2. Paste the shipping label / packing list on the outside of each box you send. The shipping list helps the depot to quickly process kits.
3. Processing & Shipping Costs: Please enclose an envelope containing at least $1 for each kit you send. This donation enables kits to be sent without delay to areas in need. For Cleaning Buckets: $1.50.
Print Shipping Label & Packing List HTML PDF
Print ORM-D mark (JPG)Small Large

How to Turn Crisis into Opportunity in Haiti

How to turn a Crisis into an Opportunity in Haiti:
http://michael-christensen.blogspot.com/


Michael J. Christensen, Ph.D.National Director, Shalom Initiative

Help for Haiti

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ:

Greetings in the wonderful name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I ask that you kindly join me in prayer for the people of Haiti as they deal with the catastrophic earthquake that struck the country on January 12th. In this, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, the loss, grief and distress caused by this disaster adds to the tremendous forces of poverty with which the people already struggle. I also ask that we join in prayer for our sisters and brothers in the Baltimore area who are concerned for loved ones in Haiti, as well as for those who will be traveling to provide direct support in Haiti in the coming days and weeks. Bishop John Schol has released a statement that can found on the Conference website at http://www.bwcumc.org/.

As we gather for worship on Sunday, I encourage you to lift prayers for the people of Haiti and also consider lifting a special offering in support of rescue and recovery efforts. Financial support can be made online through UMCOR. Checks can also be mailed the "Conference Treasurer" at 7178 Columbia Gateway Drive, Columbia, MD 21046. On the check, please note: Haiti Emergency, UMCOR Advance # 418325.

Below, please find additional web-links that can be helpful to your congregation:

A Prayer for the People of Haiti http://www.gbod.org/worship/default.asp?act=reader&item_id=48375

Haiti Cries… and We Cry with Them http://www.gbod.org/worship/default.asp?act=reader&item_id=48380 (Spanish translation available)

Prayers, Hymns, Sermons, and Resources for Times of Natural Disaster http://www.gbod.org/worship/default.asp?loc_id=739,1112&act=nav_loc

Haiti Earthquake Response Resources http://www.gbod.org/worship/default.asp?loc_id=739,1112,1198&act=nav_loc


Many Blessings and Thanks for Your Ministry,

Rev. Dr . C. Anthony Hunt
Superintendent
Baltimore Metropolitan District

Advent - Keep Hope Alive!

Keep hope alive! This statement has served - over time – as a mantra of possibility for many. In the context of the Advent season, the statement takes on bold meaning. It is in the message of Advent that we discover the promise that help is on the way, and find encouragement to keep hope alive!

In this season, we remember the hope of the prophet Isaiah who proclaimed:“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called wonderful, counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting father, the prince of peace (Isaiah 9:6).

In many ways, our days seem to be filled with doom and gloom. Just open the newspaper - political unrest, social dysfunction, economic uncertainty, natural disasters, and community violence, not to mention spiritual demise, abounds. Just last week a young 21 year old man was shot and murdered while walking his dog in the Cherry Hill community of Baltimore.

In the midst of these realities, and uncertainty about the days ahead, the Advent season reminds us that we have to keep hope alive! We are beckoned to remain hopeful in these trying times. Hope is not something that is static, but alive. It may not even be material, but hope helps us to sense how God will be at work in our lives in the future.

Maybe that’s why persons of faith in ages past could sing even in the lowest of times –
My hope is built on nothing less

than Jesus’ blood and righteousness,

I dare not trust the sweetest frame,

but wholly lean on Jesus’ name…

On Christ the solid rock I stand.

All other ground is sinking sand…

We are encouraged today to Keep Hope Alive!

Indeed hope helps us to hold on in trying times.

The song-writer was right –
Time is filled with swift transition

Naught the earth unmoved can stand

Build your HOPE on things eternal.

Hold to God’s unchanging hand!

Invictus

by William Ernest Henley

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.


This is a poem by Brishish poet William Ernest Henley written in 1875. The title means “Unconquered” in Latin. "Invictus" is also the title of the soon to be released movie based on the life of Nelson Mandela, anti-Apartheid and civil rights leader, and former president of South Africa.

Signs of Hope - Dr. Freeman Hrabowski

Congratulations to Dr. Freeman Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, who was recently named one of the nation’s “10 Best College Presidents” by Time magazine. Dr. Hrabowski and UMBC have become nationally recognized for steering African-American students toward science, math and engineering — fields in which they have been traditionally under-represented. UMBC is one of the nation's leading sources of African-American Ph.D.s in science and engineering, and almost half of its seniors go immediately to graduate school. He has authored numerous articles and co-authored two books, Beating the Odds and Overcoming the Odds (Oxford University Press), focusing on parenting and high-achieving African American males and females in science.