First Things First

On Saturday, a group from my church went to the Haitian church in our city. One of the beautiful things that has come from the Haitian tragedy is the growing friendship between our church and the local Haitian church and the local Haitian community. It was through this local Haitian community that I have discovered Haiti and Haitian culture and I am forever grateful.

Recently, this local Haitian church has been the victim of vandals. Their building has been broken into, and anything of value has been taken. Saturday a number of us went to the Haitian Church to help them clean up the mess. It was a great opportunity for us to do something. That is often what we, in our culture, feel is most important when we want to show our concern and caring. It is not a bad way to show concern and caring, but on Saturday we were given an opportunity to consider our priorities.

Those of us who went to the Haitian church on Saturday we part of a bigger event at our church. The bigger event was an opportunity to help a number of local non-profits. It was a work day. So, those who wanted to work showed up at church for breakfast, assignments and off we went to do the Lord's work. We stepped into the van and drove the twenty minutes to the church eager to work, ready to work, and willing to work. The time we allowed for the project was 9 to 12. We were on a schedule and we wanted to accomplish as much as possible with the time available.

When we arrived at the church at nine o'clock, it seemed kind of quiet outside. It was not the atmosphere of accomplishment I was hoping for. I walked to the front door of the church. As I got closer to the door I could hear the sound of music, the sound of singing, the sound of a small group of Haitians who had gathered to sing and to pray and to worship. This was their practice. Every Saturday they meet and sing and pray and worship. The clean up will wait. The clean up will be there when the singing and praying is finished. But, first things first. What could we do? We quietly took our place in the sanctuary with this faithful group of Haitian Jesus Followers and quietly listened to the songs and prayers in Haitian language with a Haitian rhythm. We had come to work. But on that Saturday morning, at the Haitian church I was reminded that for the work to be of lasting value the work must be connected to the songs and prayers of the community. The work must be connected to the good God. That is the Haitian way. It is a beautiful way. I want it to be my way.