The Reverend Mark Francisco Bozzuti-Jones
Votive for Hope: Prayers for Haiti
January 25, 2010
Sermon
St. Paul’s Chapel, NYC

“Comfort, O comfort my people says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem.” Today, we gather to say to our brothers and sisters of Haiti, “Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted ...”

In these words from Isaiah and the gospel, we see the merciful compassion God holds for all peoples.

In times like these, we stand in solidarity and pray with the people of Haiti to God who is Merciful and Compassionate.

As Christians, the suffering and crucified Christ, which is God's experience of suffering and death, helps us to understand the suffering and death in Haiti. Through Jesus Christ we find meaning and mission, we find hope, courage, and life in the midst of tragedy and death.

The pictures and reports from Haiti exist in the wounded and bloodied body of Jesus on the cross; and the cries of the survivors echo the wailing of his mother who watched helplessly as her son was crucified. The innocent Jesus crucified is the same Jesus found in the crushed, broken and bleeding and dead bodies of the people of Haiti.

In the death of Jesus, we learn the proper response to tragedy, we are called to stand in solidarity, to stand in love. Only when we respond in solidarity, only when we commit to taking the broken body of Jesus off the cross, only when we commit to give our all to the people of Haiti, only when we commit to be Good Samaritans to Haiti can we be true followers of Jesus who died and rose triumphant from the dead.

“Comfort, O comfort my people says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem.”

There is no honest conversation about the situation in Haiti without an honest overview of Haiti’s history. The God of History calls us to acknowledge the economic, political and racial oppression that have gone on in Haiti for centuries.

No other country has seen the deliberate and concerted effort to see that it remained a failure the way Haiti has.

From the arrival of Columbus, then the French, and the battles that led to Haiti’s independence in 1804, Haiti has been plagued with large scale and deliberate acts of oppression and abuse of power.

Since its independence to present day, it has been made the poorest nation in the world by concerted efforts led by Europe, the United States and many of its own leaders that have led to the impoverishment and suffering of millions and millions of Haitians throughout the centuries. The people of Haiti have been crucified by the world for centuries.

Let it be clear, the death caused by this earthquake pales in comparisons to the millions of Haitians killed by unjust political and economic structures meted out over the centuries. We human beings have done more harm and more suffering and more death to Haitians than any natural disaster has ever done. The earthquake of racism, financial oppression and corruption all at the hands of human beings, colonial powers and world banks have rocked the Haitian people for centuries.

However, in the same way the bloody death of Jesus led to new life. This Haitian crucifixion offers a new beginning, a new hope, a new reckoning, not just for Haitians, not just for us Christians, but for the whole world.

Would to God that we would learn from this how to attend to the poor and the neediest in our world – not just in tragic times.

Death is a part of life. Disasters form part of life. As Christians we are called to commit to working for a world of good, we are called to bring comfort, peace, justice and good news to the poor in their experiences of poverty, disaster and death.

The letter from our Rector and Vicar printed in our bulletin says, “we will be making a long term commitment to this work in Haiti.” Indeed the work to comfort the people of God is a long term commitment. The work to bring comfort and blessings to the people of Haiti is a long term commitment. Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. It is the Christian imperative to make a long term commitment to those in need.

May this pain, suffering, and death for the people of Haiti lead to a long term commitment of solidarity and hope from the rest of the world. Would to God we learn from this tragedy and come to the aid of all the crucified peoples of this world.

May we work with the people of Haiti in such a way that the word of God, spoken through Christ will become a historic reality: Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. Amen.

Things we are called to do:
“Comfort” is used in the imperative. Explore ways in which we are called to comfort the poor…
How do we contribute to political, racial and economic oppression?
Learn about the history of the Haitian people
Ask why have they been poor for so long
Give of your time and energy to work for change in policies as they relate to the poor.
See the “crucified Christ” in all who suffer
Do not lose hope.