By Fr. Brian Stankich
The Apostle Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 12 that members of the Body of Christ are interdependent. Thus, when Deacon Mary and I heard the call from the Bishop’s office that there was a need in a sister church, we made it a priority to help.
An elderly member of St. Anne’s Episcopal Church in Crystal River had her house flooded by Hurricane Idalia. A group of 25 or so members of the diocese, along with a handful from St. Anne’s, met Saturday morning September 2nd to assist.
It was overwhelming.
This sister’s house accumulated a foot of standing water. Many of her belongings were destroyed. We salvaged what we could.
Seeing believers from across the diocese come together to aide a member was moving for me, headlined by Bishop Justin himself. Moving furniture was important, but moving our hearts in the direction of love fulfilled God’s call to his Church.
Paul also teaches in Romans to “let no doubt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another… (Romans13:8a, NIV). After 5-6 hours, our team knew we had made an impact. We took up flooring, moved a majority of the furniture into storage, packed many belongings, and carried damaged goods to the street. We could return several more days and not meet the enormous need.
It is a picture to me that as much as we can love another, we can always love more. How much love is too much love?