This week, like many other weeks, we've been confronted with natural disasters in Texas, British Columbia and Bangladesh, and the continuing drought in South Sudan.  As believers in a personal God, concerned for and involved with us as individuals, we wonder about the random indifference of the fires and floods that sweep away the ordered lives of believers and non-believers alike.

In Rev. Bill MacLellan's call to worship, he spoke of the Church as a "unique community."  People of all faiths, or no faith, do respond with generous support to victims of natural disasters.  But for me, there is a unique responsibility that the Church carries to place generosity at the heart of our mission and work.  We don't know why disasters occur, but we know what our response to them must be.  And it must be done with enthusiasm, a word that derives from the Greek "comes from God." He is the source of our urgent motivation to help others.  For our denomination, that is often through Presbyterian World Service and Development, reaching out to the desperate and despairing, needing Christian charity and hungering for justice.

One of this morning's hymns summarized this responsibility to be what Bill called "ambassadors of God's justice."

"Help us to help each other, Lord,

Each other's cross to share,

Let each our friendly aid afford,

And feel each other's care."

Rob R.