Kairos time

1.18.2005
Velankani, India

Two brilliantly white basilicas--one impressive and the larger one beyond impressive--bookend a long mall (think Washington DC). The basilicas honor two apparitions, one when Mary appeared to an Indian "sheep boy" (I'm assuming shepherd) and the other when Mary appeared to Portuguese sailors in trouble, and saved them by calming a troubled sea.

This is a place for pilgrim and tourist, usually teaming with both. After the last mass on Christmas Day (11:00 p.m.) thousands of both spent the night outside, next to the church. And then, the wave came--just before 9:00 a.m. the next morning.

The water took the path of least resistance, avoiding the Basilica on higher ground and rushing around it, gathering force and sweeping everything out to sea. Over 600 bodies were recovered, but it is estimated that thousands perished.

How very sad to see the pictures of the unidentified dead up on bulletin boards near the smaller basilica. Remember, many here that fateful morning are devout pilgrims from far away.

Pilgrims like S.C. Dsouza, from Bombay. He's here again, three weeks later "to give thanks to God for saving me and my family." He, his wife, and two children were on the beach that morning. "At 8:30 a.m. I took a picture. Then it came." All survived.

It is eerie to see such a place with so few people. The offerings center (one queue for silver offerings, others for other types) is closed. The kiosks nearest the beach are covered with blue and yellow tarps, but amazingly there are many stalls between the basilica and the sea open again for business (although no one seemed to be buying).

There was one group, all in orange and red. Think congregational youth gathering tee-shirts. There were a few, gathered by the shore, just looking. Grita, a lovely young woman, said she "came to pray and to see this place."

A couple of people searched under a tree to see if they could find something that remains. A woman showed me a shell decoration that she found.

There were two young women with shaved heads. Fred Rajan explained, "They prayed for something to happen...a job, a marriage, a baby...and promised to shave their heads in gratitude if their prayer is answered."

Mostly there is nothing left. "See those three palms? There was a huge restaurant there. This whole place was full of shops."

Everyone in the south of India (and perhaps all of India) knows this place and knows that here was the site of massive loss of life. Some point to this place with derision: "Mary couldn't save you." Others find their faith strengthened here, in tsunami's aftermath.

It was noted as we flew to India that we were flying east, and would fly east around the globe. It occurred to me that it was very appropriate to head east in Epiphany. Perhaps this tragedy and its aftermath compresses all the times of the church year into Kairos--God's time. It was Christmas when it happened. In Epiphany we seek the light of understanding. It is most certainly Lent...a journey of sorrow. This is a Lent that can't be rushed through. God is risen indeed, and Easter alleluias will ring out, and when they do it will be with the great joy experienced after great sorrow. And, finally but not least, it is a time of Pentecost. How we see the spirit of God move through God's churches and God's people.

God's spirit moved Kamueavalli Peter, a professor of Tamil studies at the Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church college, to volunteer to administer the church orphanage's response, serving girls age 5--15 orphaned by the tsunami. "It's important to keep the girls safe," she said, keeping them from sexual exploitation. Peter had finished opening files for 90-some girls. Each one has a picture of the girl stapled to what's left of her home. If nothing is left, there is a picture of the ground where it stood.

God's spirit moved six women to volunteer to sew school uniforms at the tsunami response center across from New Jerusalem Church. Three women worked at peddle sewing machines and three doing the hand work. They had some tsunami damage themselves and wanted to help others.

God's spirit moved church women to organize feeding centers the next morning. God's spirit moves church people to organize the distribution of relief materials. Without exception, everyone is so very proud of the church's immediate, organized, and effective response.

Tsunami waves compressed the church year into a kairos time. God's spirit empowers and encourages God's people to do what is humanly impossible, to see Easter amid the wreckage of Lent.

Justice in Disaster

January 19, 2005 Our last day in India

Hello from an internet cafe in Chennai. We arrived here about 1:30 a.m. This is a mail-only cafe, so once again no pictures.

And, my, there are pictures. I took 240-plus images yesterday. To set the scene, Leslie and Belletech went elsewhere to visit food distribution and other relief sites supported by the ELCA through CASA (Churches Auxiliary for Social Action, the Church World Service of India). So, it was just me and the guys.

On our way out of Karaikal we passed the big fishing vessel tossed on shore--I scrambled to take a shot. I did not know that this was just a foretaste of what was ahead.

We stopped at what used to be a busy fish market. There are vessels (50' to 60' long holding 25 people) thrown about every where. The 20' high waves tossed them over two-story buildings. The fish market was open on the 26th, and busy. Children were playing as their parents tended to business. Five hundred people died here, more than half were children.

[Interestingly, from a previous day we talked to fisherfolk who were out on the sea fishing during the tsunami. They did not know anything was wrong until they came in to shore.]

We talked to Sarela, a Roman Catholic nursery school teacher. Nine of the children in her school were killed and most were affected in some way: "Their mother, father, sister, died."

I took a picture of a man praying, crouched low on a bridge so he was near the sea, but could avoid looking at it.

I don't want to forget to say how beautiful it all is here--the beach front is heartbreakingly beautiful, and now so empty. I'm mostly recalling previous days in the rural areas. We are worried, then, that the government insistence that all most move 500 kilometers away from the shore might make way for land developers to claim this oceanfront for tourists and restrict access to it for the fisherfolk, especially the Dalits who are not fisherfolk, but depend on the fish business. We've heard talk of "Dignity in Disaster," and I also hear real concern for "Justice in Disaster." It's all very complex, especially in relationship to the caste system in India.

Many of the fisherfolk affected, especially those who own the big vessels and the fiberglass, motorized boats, are upper class. I think about the Towers. The wealthiest perished along side with those who served them coffee and the civil servants who raced up the steps to save them. At the relief stage--food, water, clothes, medicine--rich and poor are most alike. At the restitution stage, it is a more complex matter. There are no simple ways to achieve justice in disaster. It is important to note that the UELCI churches, NGOs, and others are keeping the lights up on the issues of justice.