The wisdom of St. Ignatius speaks to Georgians who rode out Hurricane Helene

PDA’s solidarity visit rolls into St. Andrew Presbyterian Church in Augusta

by Mike Ferguson | Presbyterian News Service

The tree canopy surrounding St. Andrew Presbyterian Church in Augusta, Georgia was severely reduced during Hurricane Helene. (Photo by Rich Copley)

AUGUSTA, Georgia — With several tables full of clergy and lay people gathered at St. Andrew Presbyterian Church in Augusta, Georgia, on Saturday as part of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance’s solidarity visit to hurricane-affected communities, the Rev. Jim Kirk set the tone by drawing on the wisdom of consolation and desolation posited by St. Ignatius and taught to Kirk by the Rev. Dr. Laurie Kraus, the PC(USA)’s Director of Humanitarian and Global Ecumenical Engagement and the former director of PDA.

When we’re walking in consolation, “all is right with the world. You see God’s grace abounding everywhere you look,” Kirk said. Desolation “is struggling to see the presence of God in anything.”

“It’s important to recognize the brokenness in the world, and it’s also important to recognize where God is present,” Kirk told people who’d recently experienced the devastating effects of Hurricane Helene.

The Rev. Dr. Brandi Casto-Waters of Reid Memorial Presbyterian Church spoke about Hurricane Helene’s impact on the her congregation, which lost a member to the storm. (Photo by Rich Copley)

Kirk asked those gathered where of late they’d seen signs that God is present. The Rev. Dr. Brandi Casto-Waters, pastor of Reid Memorial Presbyterian Church in Augusta, said it’s the fact that “everyone came outside” following Helene, ready to help their neighbors. “I went into neighbors’ houses I have never been in. We had a fish fry.” The session has been reading Jay Pathak and Dave Runyon’s “The Art of Neighboring.”

“All of a sudden,” Casto-Waters said, “neighbors came together.”

Local food banks “had been pretty empty in recent months,” another woman said. “Now they’re full again. Out of the storm came that blessing.”

The Rev. Ed Rees of St. Andrew Presbyterian Church speaks with the Rev. Edwin González-Castillo of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance and Valerie Young of the Synod of South Atlantic. (Photo by Rich Copley)

“My phone was blowing up with people asking, ‘How are you doing?’ and ‘How can we help?’” said the Rev. Ed Rees, pastor of St. Andrew Presbyterian Church. “People didn’t ask for permission; they just showed up. It was an abundant affirmation of God’s grace.”

Rees told the story of the first time the congregation worshiped together following the hurricane, on World Communion Sunday. A friend who owned a restaurant opened it just for St. Andrew. It was very good to be back together, he said.

Asked to name some of the desolation, one person gathered on Saturday said, “We still don’t have internet or phones.”

“It’s the debris. It’s still not safe to travel,” said another. “Some roads are now one-way because of all the debris that’s been left out.”

“There’s the impact on our natural world,” Rees said. “It’s hard to get used to all the trees that have been lost. You get accustomed to the canopy, the shade, and now it’s not here anymore. It will be somebody else’s lifetime before Augusta looks the same.”

“It’s a weird balance of grieving what we lost and being grateful for what we do have.”

Elder Jan Lewis of Belle-Terrace Presbyterian Church in Augusta, Georgia spoke to the Rev. Jim Kirk and the Rev. Edwin González-Castillo of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance. (Photo by Rich Copley)

The group went back and forth from consolations to desolations. Casto-Waters said a visiting tree crew worshiped at Reid Memorial, sitting together in a back pew. When they were announced, the congregation gave them a standing ovation. After worship, a woman asked them about a quote she’d been given. They told her it was too high. “She was so grateful, she baked them banana bread,” Casto-Waters said.

Casto-Waters also praised the Board of Pensions for getting emergency funds into the hands of so many church employees following the storm.

The Rev. Edwin González-Castillo, PDA’s director, recalled Hurricane Maria’s impact on Puerto Rico seven years ago. “A pastor took a picture of downed trees and posted, ‘Will these bones now live again?’” he said. “The Spirit of God is moving. It heals, it’s resilient and it teaches us green will come again and birds will nest again.”

The Rev. Amy Hobby Rickard, member-at-large in Northeast Georgia Presbytery, spoke about Hurricane Helene’s impact on the Augusta-area community. (Photo by Rich Copley)

The Rev. Amy Hobby Rickard, a member-at-large in Northeast Georgia Presbytery, said looking forward, she’s “concerned about memories about trauma. We have had no rain since the storm. The next time we get wind, almost all of us will freak out. This is not a one and done.”

Kirk read Habakkuk 3:17-19, then shared that his prayer is that those affected by the hurricanes can “acknowledge the loss, own the lament, and may yet rejoice in the Lord who is good, steadfast, and our strength forever.”

The Rev. Jim Kirk, Associate for National Disaster Response for Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, speaks to Augusta-area church leaders. (Photo by Rich Copley)

“Storytelling is such an important part moving forward,” Kirk said. “Leave space for that, just to connect and tell stories.”

One reality González-Castillo noticed following Maria is that disasters are apocalyptic events, meaning “they reveal things people aren’t talking about.”

“When we deal with disasters, we are dealing with communities experiencing hunger and unemployment, which are aggravated by disasters,” he said. The first few days following a disaster, “cameras and reporters are everywhere. Then people think everything’s OK, and they move on, but healing takes years.” PDA volunteers “will be here for many years. We will continue working even when the cameras aren’t rolling.”