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FROM MY HEART TO YOURS….
Dear NA Friends and Leaders,
The news of the earthquake and later, the Tsunami’s horrific
damage, came to all of us at different moments during our
Christmas celebrations. For our family, it was amidst the
excitement of family gatherings, news of a newborn in our
extended family, and seeing friends on Nantucket.
It is difficult in this age of global media, and the daily diet
of violence in everything from games to films to news, to grasp
the human suffering, the “real” horror, of the Tsunami. I tried
in different ways to do so. When the first reports of up to
fifteen thousand victims were broadcast, I said to our family,
“It is as if Nantucket (pop. – 7,500 in winter) were obliterated
twice - just swept away.” Days later, as the numbers rose, and
we were on the car trek back to Milwaukee, we listened as those
numbers rose significantly. When we stopped for respite along
the way, and would see a population sign for a town in PA, OH,
MI, or IL, I would calculate the tragedy in Indonesia by saying
to myself, “This town would be lost too.”
The aftermath of the Tsunami is so awesome and so profound that
it could numb the senses of the most compassionate and/or
benevolent. “What can I do?” is a common question. Since getting
back to the NA office, I’ve made it a daily habit to pray for
the families who have lost or are still searching for loved ones
in the devastation. But like millions of others, I also think
charity is truly a hymn of love for those of us who are so far
from the center of the tragedy. Antoine de Saint-Exupery once
said, “Charity never humiliated (them) who profiteth from it,
nor ever bound (them) by the chains of gratitude, since it was
not to (them) but to God that the gift was made.”
Surely one of the perfections, if you will, of the Christian
life is principally and essentially charity in the name of
Christ. It unites us without reference to theological,
ecclesiastical, or political positions. I hope we see an
outpouring of prayers AND charity from our Associations’
Churches in the weeks ahead.
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Grace and Peace,
Dr. Thomas M. Richard, Executive Secretary
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EXECUTIVES’ VISITS
Mayflower Clergy, MA; Union Church, Braintree, MA; FCC,
Wauwatosa, WI (Janet Wooten’s visit); North Shore Cong’l, Fox
Point, WI (Susan LeFeber’s Ordination); Big Spring Cong’l
Church, Wisconsin Dells, WI; Community Cong’l, Kewaunee, WI;
FCC, Rockwood, MI; North Shore Cong’l, Milwaukee, WI; Church of
the Chimes, Sherman Oaks, CA; FCC, Toledo, OH.
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FRATERNAL VISITS
Rev. Casey vanderBent represented the NA at the Ecclesiastical
Council of Diane Hampel; Bonn Clayton presented the NA at her
Ordination. Rev. Joseph Cooke, recently retired Senior minister
of the Thomas Edison Church in Ft. Myers, represented the NA at
a special organizing Sunday for the newly-formed Naples FCC.
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ORDINATION
ANNIVERSARIESCraig Crossman 2/01/1992
Richard Miller-Todd 2/06/1982
Gail Mills 2/15/1981
Jack Noble 2/26/1967
Allan Palmer 2/22/1987
Richard Vinson 2/14/1965
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