“You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate; but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her…” (Isaiah 62:4)
 
“Your land shall no more be termed Desolate.” These words of comfort and possibility are taken from the Old Testament reading from the Second Sunday of Epiphany, Year C, and thus were appointed to be read on the Sunday following the devastating earthquake in Haiti on January 12. Do we believe that God can indeed turn a desolate land into a region of delight? Do we believe that, even in the face of utmost devastation and destruction, God can bring forth new life and possibility: for a land? For a nation? For a community? For us in our lives?
 
These are the questions I have been pondering in my heart and mind in the wake of the unbelievable death and despair in Haiti this week. Is there any possibility that new life can come from the destruction that we are witnessing in the island nation? In all the misery and death, where is our God who promises to make all things new?
 
We in Episcopal parishes in the United States are not insulated from the tragedy happening in Haiti. In our communities there are a significant number of sisters and brothers who have immigrated to these shores from Haiti. Many of our parishes and dioceses have been blessed by relationships with Christian communities in Haiti nurtured through mission trips and visits.
 
In addition to these incarnational connections to Haiti is the ecclesiological fact that L’Eglise Episcopale d’Haiti (the Episcopal Church of Haiti) is a constituent diocese of the Episcopal Church. The Episcopal Church of Haiti was started in the late 19th century by African-American Episcopalians seeking to live in a land, and a church, that was free of the sin of racism. Over time Episcopalians in Haiti were incorporated into the Episcopal Church in the United States, yielding the same kind of relationship to the General Convention as, say, the Diocese of Massachusetts or the Diocese of Texas. We are all part and parcel of the same church. In fact, L’Eglise Episcopale d’Haiti is the single largest diocese in the Episcopal Church in terms of membership.
 
Because of our relatedness in our parishes and in the wider church, Communion, and Body of Christ, the death and destruction in Haiti is not some distant reality we see on TV so much as the death and destruction of ourselves. We—all of us in the Body— are suffering in Haiti.
 
I was blessed to be a missionary in the Episcopal Church of Haiti in 1983-84.While I cannot recount in this brief piece how much Haiti influenced me in the short time I lived in that beautiful country, I can say, without hesitation, that the people of the Episcopal Church of Haiti gave me my vocation as a Christian, and as an ordained leader in the Episcopal Church. I would never have become the teacher, missiologist, deacon, priest, and now bishop-elect I am if it had not been for Haiti (and for the Sisters of St. Margaret, an Episcopal convent in Port-au-Prince that mentored me in my missionary endeavors). I owe Haiti my life and my vocation.
 
And so my heart breaks for my Haitian sisters and brothers in Christ at this time. From what I have heard from friends and colleagues in the Episcopal Church of Haiti (I still do not know if many of them are dead or alive), the death and destruction is beyond comprehension. In Port-au-Prince alone, the whole infrastructure of the Episcopal Church is destroyed and gone. The cathedral with its incredible frescoes by the greatest of Haitian painters, a national treasure—gone. The Holy Trinity primary school, run by the Sisters of St. Margaret— gone. Holy Trinity music school and philharmonic orchestra, the only one in the nation—gone. The diocesan offices — gone. The Episcopal High School, College Ste. Pierre—gone. The Convent of the Sisters of St. Margaret — gone. The National Museum of Art, run by the Episcopal Church — gone. St. Vincent’s school for handicapped children—gone. Gone. Gone. Gone. Nothing is left.
 
What does God have to say about this? Where is God in the midst of such death and devastation? Here, the Old Testament lesson for the second Sunday of Epiphany gives me hope and reassurance. In it we have a vision of what the people of Israel see and imagine as they return from exile in Babylon and encounter the destruction of Jerusalem. Isaiah offers the people a new vision of their beloved city and land.
 
To once again take possession of the Mount of Zion was a victory, not in the sense of a military triumph but rather in the sense of a victory of restitution and rebuilding. There would now be a new era in which the Holy City would be restored. As the glory of Jerusalem would rise again, the city would become a shining lamp for all the nations to see, a “crown of beauty” and a “royal diadem.”
 
Isaiah speaks the promise of God: out of the ruins there would spring new life. Jerusalem would no longer be named Desolate, but rather: My Delight Is in Her. Isaiah says that just as in a marriage there is the promise of a new relationship, new beginnings. God, in God’s love and faithfulness, is always bringing forth new life and possibilities. In God’s providence, nothing is impossible. In God’s reign, new and more wonderful realities are always in the process of becoming; even the turning of water into the finest wine at the wedding in Cana by our Lord Jesus Christ (as in the gospel reading appointed for this same day).
 
Though I have trouble believing it in some moments— especially amid such devastation — I do believe and trust that, even in the face of such utter destruction and death as we are seeing in Haiti, God will indeed intercede and help rebuild the lives of the people of Haiti; will help rebuild the buildings in Port-au-Prince and beyond; and will help rebuild the infrastructure of the Episcopal Church of Haiti.
 
As Christians, kneeling at the foot of the cross in the wake of the earthquake, we need to trust that in God’s time and economy there will be an Easter for our Haitian sisters and brothers. God’s victory in the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the promise that new life will spring forth from the clutches of death. God in Jesus Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit, continually assures us that all things are possible. In God there is always new life, freedom, hope, and possibility.
 
The Rev. Dr. Ian T. Douglas is bishop-elect of the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut.
 
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