April 2019

On Tuesday March 19th I met with members from the congregational cluster of St Paul’s, Council Bluffs and St John’s Glenwood. The people from St. John’s had had to come a circuitous route because of the closed roads in the region due to flooding. They were also tired from becoming a distribution center for blankets, clothes, tarps, water and food. They were themselves cut off from fresh water supplies. The other cluster congregation is St. John’s, Shenandoah, and they were unable to make the journey at all. The senior warden was busy mopping out flood water from her business office, and the priest, Holly Scherff, was occupied with being our diocesan point person for the SW region flood disaster relief. Holly had been mulling over God’s impeccable timing, as she returned to a flooded area from a Disaster Relief Training Conference in Chicago. In fact, her hour long drive home took twice as long as she navigated flood detours to get home in the dark.

These are still early days for our response. As Holly wrote for the clergy listserve:

“As many of you know, SW Iowa has several communities under water. The water has started to recede and clean up has begun and yet there is still much Spring to endure. Iowa has shown its true colors by providing these communities with all they need and more. Much more, in fact, to the point that we no longer know what to do with it all.  Currently if you feel compelled to help in some way, please consider a donation to the Bishop’s Crisis Fund [payable to Episcopal Diocese of Iowa, 225 37th St., Des Moines, 50312], which is an internal diocesan fund for emergencies like this, or to Episcopal Relief and Development. As the mucking out progresses, needs will arise, and I will do my best to keep you informed. Prayers for endurance and wisdom are appreciated.”

Holly has been attempting to contact the twenty Episcopal congregations which she has identified within the fifty-two counties that the Governor has proclaimed as disaster areas. Many of our congregations are small and do not have office staff during the day, and so communication has been difficult. I encourage you, if you are a congregation in one of those counties to reach out to her at 515-227-6940, or at scherffh@gmail.com. Also, The Episcopal Church has been building an asset map of all its congregations (that the “find a church” button on the website links to) which could be utilized more easily for such a challenging occasion like this, and it is sadly underutilized and under-informed when it comes to our Iowa congregations. It is a site which invites each congregation to fill out information about locations, and so this would be a good time to be reminded of its potential importance to us all and to invite you to find someone who might be willing to put you on the map.

Unfortunately, the worst is not behind us, and the flooding is spread up the western part of the state, and into South Dakota and Nebraska Native lands. As we are planning a visit by partners from the Episcopal Relief and Development US Disaster Program in the second week of April, we hope to bear those areas in mind as well. So, please be in touch; do not be hesitant in reaching out for assistance for yourselves and for your neighbors or community. In the meantime, Holly reminds us that

“it is helpful to remember that one of the guiding principles of the Episcopal Church in responding to such disasters is to ask the question ‘who is it in the community that are the most vulnerable, most hidden from the public eye, and under-served?’”

To this end Jesus calls us “o’er the tumult.”

In the peace and love of Christ,

+Alan

The Rt. Rev. Alan Scarfe, Bishop of Iowa

Click to learn how to update the Asset Map for your congregation!