Sandra's Sermon

Emma Lo

The following piece was written in response to the sermon preached by Sandra Swan, President of Episcopal Relief and Development, during the Eucharist at diocesan convention held January 20 - 22, 2005 in the Research Triangle Park. Emma is a sixth grader and member of the Junior Choir at the Chapel of the Cross.

"Before, none of us knew how to spell tsunami," Sandra Swan had stated at the beginning of her sermon on Friday night. Sandra, leader of Episcopal Relief and Development or ERD came to the Sheraton Hotel in the Research Triangle to state her unique and very powerful opinion on the tsunami. "This is the first time I have ever had my feelings ping-ponged back and forth from sadness and grief to happiness and joy. I am very sad for all who have been injured and those who died. But I am happy because help is on the way."

Sandra explained how her organization, ERD, had sent in hundreds of blue tents to provide shelter for the survivors until houses were built. "I was so proud of those tents. They really helped. And right on the front page of the New York Times, there was a picture of our blue tents!" Soon none of those tents will be needed and again, thankfully, because of Sandra. Tons of volunteers are flying over to Southeast Asia to help build a community on what used to be a cow pasture. Each house has two bedrooms, electricity, and clean water installed.

Sandra had a special quote from one of the Psalms that she repeated throughout her sermon, "Pay attention you people from far away." We are paying attention to the tsunami survivors but who else?

That is why Sandra is also disappointed. "We are focusing so much on the tsunami. What about all the rest of the suffering people in the world?" Little by little, things are starting to clear up. Sandra told emotional stories about needy people who had received support from ERD volunteers.

One story was when an ERD volunteer named Alice flew over to Africa to help women in a remote, little village. She taught them all to make quilts making sure each stitch was perfect. Every time a woman would make a mistake, Alice would make them take it out and redo it. Once the women had made quite a few quilts, Alice sold them to an expensive hotel in London. The women were so happy! Even though it didn't make them rich, they rejoiced over having enough money to buy bread for their family. "And of course we all hope that the story would stop here ... but it doesn't," Sandra said. The good thing is the hotel in London loves the quilts. The bad thing is the hotel loves them so much it has ordered 700 more of them. So now the small group of women are struggling to recruit more and more women to help them sew.

Another story was about a reporter visiting a poor, quaint village in Alaska. He attended a church service and afterwards questioned a little girl who was barely dressed in rags. "Do you think God helps you even though you are poor, dress in rags, and can't afford to go to school?" he asked. She replied, "O yes! Well, I think that God asked someone to bring us those things and they said no."

As Sandra's powerful stories sank in, everyone started to understand her reason for complaining about the help in Southeast Asia. She emphasized that everyone needs help all the time. "Pay attention you people from far away." And not just far away, but everywhere.

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