I was driving my guy to the emergency room this morning (he is fine) when I got a call from a church member.  Since I was intent upon my wifely task, it took me awhile to figure out who was calling and what it was that was going on.  I could tell there was anxiety in her voice and I worried that she had health emergencies in her family.

No, that wasn’t it.  What it she was worried about was that five blocks from our church, a major gas leak sparked a major explosion.  She was concerned about the safety of folk at her church.  She wanted to make sure that we were alright.

I called the church right away and they had heard nothing about it.  Thankfully, the explosion was contained to the one site.  Thankfully, in a very busy commercial area, no one was hurt.  The odds of an explosion and geyser of flame leaving no victims is wonderment.

We live in a time of enhanced awareness of mortality.  Radioactive waftings from Japan, tsunamis gulping lives and infrastructure crumbling are realities.  We are no longer able to blithely go about our daily lives sure that the catastrophic won’t touch our lives; it does.

So what are we to make of all of this?  Well, for this woman given assurance that her husband is safe from harm on this day, the need to hold and savor beloveds is great.

What we are given in life is the relationships into which we pour our love.  Being able to enter church and poke my head into a St Patrick’s Day party (complete with cloggers!) hosted by our elders and attended by our day care was almost sacramental.  Watching our choir director at the organ console while the new pipes are being tuned was assurance that while explosions are real, so too is the voicing of praise and belief in the power beyond chaos.

We build in the midst of crumble.  It has always been so.  During these days when so much around us feels tentative, we get to tend the foundations of our world by loving fiercely and crafting with heart.

The church got many calls throughout the day.  People reach out.  They care.  It matters.