"Help, I Need Somebody!"

Throughout recorded time one of the hardest words to speak is “help.”  Maybe that is just my American world-view, but I think most people have a hard time asking for help. It is a difficult word to speak because we somehow feel that we should not need help; we should be able to solve our problems on our own.  Sometimes hearing the word “Help!” also creates a visceral negative reaction in the listener. It seems to depends on who is asking. But when need is real, asking for and giving help is right.

According to some sources, John Lennon claims that he wrote the famous Beatles song “Help” as a self-expression of his cry for help through the trauma induced by his singing group’s sudden, amazing rise to fame.  (Wikipedia “Help!”) Whether that is true or not, the lyric is popular because it speaks for the inner-cry of humans: “Help me if you can I’m feeling down/And I do appreciate you being round/Help me get my feet back on the ground/Won’t you please, please help me.”  Who among us has not cried out that phrase, probably to ourselves, in the middle of the night.  But we have such a difficult time speaking it out loud.  So sometimes the community needs to say it for us.

The idea of a community helping each other goes back to at least Moses. When raising funds to build the Tabernacle people “who were willing” gave so much that Moses eventually had to issue an order that people could give no more. (Exodus 36:6) Now that is honest fund-raising: we will tell you to stop when we have enough.  The idea of giving help as needed was a hallmark of the first church when the members sold what they had “to give to anyone who had need.” (Acts 2:45)  You don’t need to ask for help in a community because everyone can see the need; they offer what you need just because you are a part of the community.

Which leads me to let you know that a family in my church community lost their house and worldly possessions to an accidental fire last week. The initial response of their friends and family has overwhelmed them, but the need continues.  The husband, wife and two daughters, each a special part of our community, need help to get their feet back on the ground. It is hard for them to ask for help, and it is even harder to receive so much love and the outpouring of support.  But that’s what communities do for each other: we do the asking and the giving, and when you are the one in need, you receive until you can say with Moses, “Stop, we have enough!”

If you would like to help this precious family of Hope Church, you can send your offering to: “Hope Church, Birkey Family Fund” Hope Church, 612 Ontario Ave. Sheboygan, WI. 53081