Without a doubt, the most important local event this past year is the recovery effort following Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee. In the days immediately following a natural disaster, the area is swarmed with emergency personnel, people trained to remove the damaged property, government agencies and the media.
Then volunteers come in to help remove property that can't be recovered, sort it according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency's standards and salvage what they can. Many of those volunteers are work teams from churches that also bring meals for those affected by the disaster, who often forget to eat when faced with the overwhelming task in front of them.
Sometimes pastors walk the streets to listen to and be present with those affected. Sometimes they pray together.
Once all of the homes are mucked out, potential mold avoided and after the media leave, people who volunteered forget about their neighbor's need and go back to their lives. As we read stories of government grants, we think we are no longer needed because people can afford to hire people to rebuild.
The truth is, the longest physical stage will begin in the spring: rebuilding. Many of those impacted didn't have flood insurance and the funds from the government aren't enough to repair or rebuild their homes. Many of the homes will only be rebuilt through efforts like the United Methodist Volunteers in Mission teams, who work for free for a week and are replaced by another team the next week.
But there's a shortage of volunteers. Contact your religious leader to get a team together. Maybe you have to work with other religious institutions in town or even ask anyone in your town if they want to join a team. It doesn't matter who you work with, it's the people you help that are important.
Statewide, the biggest issue was the approval of same-sex marriage. For the record, religious people supported both sides of the issue. For Christians, it's a matter of how we interpret the Bible that divides us. Those who use a literal method of reading believe the Bible is the divinely inspired Word of God with no human intervention, so when they read in Leviticus that homosexuality is an abomination there can be nothing clearer. For literalists, marriage is defined in Genesis 2 with the second creation of man and woman. These two taken together make it clear that God would not approve of same-sex marriage.
Those who read using modern methods of criticism, sociohistorical context and current scientific and psychological research dismiss Leviticus as what the priestly authors of that passage believed at that time.
Genesis 2 is among the early attempts to understand why two people who love each other become a new being. And we ask what it means to love our neighbors as we would want to be loved. In short, would we want someone to deny us the right to marry because of how God created us?
I don't think we're going to find agreement on this issue until we can find ways to respect and understand our different ways of reading. Unfortunately, we're doing a lot of shouting at each other and little of the type of reconciliation that is called for in Matthew 18.
Nationally, our biggest issue is the Affordable Care Act. It doesn't matter how you read the New Testament, there are more examples of Jesus healing people who were outside of the established health care system than other types of miracles or signs.
We've become distracted by claims that it will lead to socialized medicine and the fear of all things socialized that remains from the Cold War. Or we think people don't "deserve" it.
In the healing of the 10 lepers, Jesus heals 10 people who were ejected from society because of their leprosy or skin affliction. They are physically healed and sent to the priests, who would check for sores and admit them back into society where they would be able to support their families again.
One of the lepers _ a Samaritan _ turns back and thanks Jesus for the healing. This one is healed spiritually as well as physically. When we deny health care to those on the margins, we're forgetting the Samaritan and all of those who converted to a religion because they were physically cared for and were then able to spiritually heal.
Internationally, we need to prayerfully remember all of those who have stood up to oppressors this past year -- all acts of courage such as speaking out so we become aware of injustice around the world. If they have inspired you, then write your Congressperson and encourage him or her to pursue justice.
Rev. Lisa Jo Bezner is a licensed local pastor at Otego and Sand Hill United Methodist churches.
Columns
Area residents rallied after flooding
- Big Chuck D'Imperio
- Cary Brunswick
-
-
Some wisdom is best passed down through books
I was visiting a friend out-of-town recently and the subject of providing a "reading list" to young people came up in conversation. He said years ago he had asked a respected acquaintance in Oneonta to compile such a list for his teenage daughter, to help her be better prepared for life, culture, education, politics and people.
Continued ... - Let pragmatism, not politics, determine birth control debate
- As Center Street Elementary goes, so goes Center City
- U.S. intervention in Syria's uprising would be a gamble
- Santorum, Obama both got it wrong on Honduras
-
- Chuck Pinkey
- Guest Column
-
-
If we don’t develop a sustainable system, who will?
In Otsego County’s local elections last fall, a number of candidates — most of them on the independent Sustainable Otsego line — ran on an anti-fracking, pro-sustainability platform. They recognized that our current way of life — dependent on increasingly scarce, costly and polluting fossil fuels — cannot continue.
Continued ... - Time to get off the bus and on the computer
- Cuomo's Machiavellian maneuvers are a danger
- Home rule laws aren't a radical idea
- Sustainable shouldn't be a dirty word
-
If we don’t develop a sustainable system, who will?
- Lisa Miller
-
-
Being a parent is a constant learning process
I am sitting cross-legged on the floor in the dressing room, waiting for Allie's dance number to be called. The cave girl costume has been donned, the jazz shoes double-tied, the hair pulled back, the requisite dab of lipstick applied.
Continued ... - Healthy doesn't have to mean expensive
- A family era ends with close of Potter series
- Independent stores make up for loss of Borders
- Untethered from the cable box
-
Being a parent is a constant learning process
- Mark Simonson
-
-
Perfect attendance by Saturday’s Bread for 20 years in Oneonta
Oneonta became a settlement and has been a place to do one's "trading," whether it was the 18th century, or 2012, because of the five valleys that converge here. Only the places of doing the "trading" have changed a bit over the last 100 years, and Oneonta remains a place that attracts visitors and has always been a decent place to live and work.
Continued ...
100 Years Ago - Recalling the Hindenburg, John D. Rockefeller in May 1937
- Oneonta residents had diversions aplenty in the spring of 1952
- Damaschke essential to ensuring Oneonta baseball in 1927
- Area tunes to WONT in November 1972
-
Perfect attendance by Saturday’s Bread for 20 years in Oneonta
- Rick Brockway
-
-
Climbing is one thing, but skydiving?
OUTDOORS COLUMN BY RICK BROCKWAY ... Last week, my friend George and I returned to the Gunks for another rock-climbing adventure. After last week's column, I asked about the rattlesnakes and was told not to worry. Rattlers are usually quite timid and will avoid people as much as possible. It's the copperheads that'll give you trouble. They're aggressive and will stand their ground to defend it. Oh great!!
- Rattlesnakes may be closer than you think, so pay attention
- Spring is here, so fishing should pick up soon
- Sneaky fox may be the next animal looking to horse around
- Pass down the rush of turkey hunting to your kids this weekend
-
Climbing is one thing, but skydiving?
- Sam Pollak
-
-
I'm happy with our kids to a certain degree
It was several years ago, and I was in the kitchen, telling my eldest daughter and my then-teenaged son about the person who was taking over as publisher at The Daily Star.
Continued ... - I get by with a little help from my 'friends'
- It’s not easy for a politics junkie to get off the stuff
- The Encyclopaedia Britannica in print, unmourned by me
- Angelo Dundee was always a good man to have in your corner
-
- William Masters
-
-
Time for lawmakers who put needs of society first
Richard Lugar, after six terms as a Republican senator -- known for his middle of the road rationality and his foreign policy finesse -- has been ousted by a Tea Party extremist backed by outside right-wing funding.
-
War not worth gambling with lives of soldiers
Are you not tired of our war in Afghanistan? It had a point, once, after 9/11. Bush couldn't distinguish his myopic personal agendas from the nation's needs and let Osama escape, dropping the ball entirely, causing many deaths.
-
Titanic was a microcosm of U.S. economic disparity
Haunting reminders of the Titanic tragedy have wafted over us with the centenary of its sinking. The maiden voyage of an impressive, state of the art vessel, was a little like that of the Challenger space shuttle, at the cutting edge of developing technology. But the shuttle carried our pride in science and space exploration, not hundreds and hundreds of people.
-
William Masters: Nation stands divided between 'us' and 'them'
In February, Trayvon Martin was shot dead as "suspicious" by a volunteer neighborhood watch man. The case has aroused community reaction in Sanford, Fla., and is still echoing across the country.
-
A quarterback can't win the game alone
What is the relationship between democracy and wealth? Democracy is a political system, while wealth relates to economics. We have equal political rights, but we don't all have money. Extreme differences destroy the continuity of community solidarity.
-
Time for lawmakers who put needs of society first
