Mission Yearbook: Presbyterian pastor reflects on loss

Pacific Palisades Presbyterian Church was destroyed by the Palisades fire
on Jan. 7. The church was evacuated in the morning, but it burned that night.
(Photo courtesy of the Rev. Matt Hardin)

Despite tragedy, members of Pacific Palisades Presbyterian Church are taking solace in one another and in small acts of kindness.

For a while on Tuesday, Jan. 7, it was just an ordinary day for the Rev. Matt Hardin, pastor of Pacific Palisades Presbyterian Church. That changed the moment he learned that the Southern California campus was in danger of being overtaken by wildfire.

“I was in a meeting that morning (around 11:15 a.m.) when the preschool director came and interrupted me and told me what was happening, and I stepped outside into the church parking lot,” Hardin said. “You could see the flames just across the way, coming our direction, and the wind was blowing our direction.”

After the campus was swiftly and safely evacuated, “I ran on foot down to the local elementary school because traffic was all backed up, to get my two kids,” Hardin said. “My wife met me from her work at the church parking lot, and we all got in her car and got out of there, so I didn't have a chance to go home to get anything.”

Likewise, “I didn't have a chance to get anything out of the church — out of my office,” he said. Now Hardin wonders “If I just took another minute, what would I have done differently?”

Hardin’s church is one of thousands of structures that burned down after a series of conflagrations broke out in the Los Angeles area, killing at least 29 people and damaging or destroying thousands of buildings, including many homes and businesses.

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance has provided grants and other support to three presbyteries in the affected region and has been meeting regularly with local executives who are assessing needs and compiling resources to help those affected. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) also issued a formal appeal, encouraging members and friends to support PDA’s response by giving to the ministry’s wildfire fund, found here.

On the local level and even abroad, Pacific Palisades Presbyterian Church, and individuals associated with it, have been receiving an outpouring of support that has taken various forms, from prayers to the use of a fellowship hall at a sister church to hold gatherings.

“The prayers we're getting right now and the support and encouragement are making a very hard situation a little bit easier,” Hardin said. “It really, really helps.”

And church members are thankful for their lives and each other. “We've been through this terrible tragedy together, but we're here to support each other,” he said. “You just have a whole new appreciation and love for them.”

The Rev. Matt Hardin

Since the disaster, members have started gathering about eight miles away at Westwood Presbyterian Church, where Hardin previously served as associate pastor. Westwood has made essential goods — from toiletries and diapers to children’s books and stuffed animals — available to people attending the Pacific Palisades church. It’s also partnering with the First Presbyterian Church of Santa Monica to collaborate on similar efforts to help Pacific Palisades members and others affected by the wildfires.

“Lots of people are rolling up their sleeves and it's just beautiful to see,” said the Rev. Dr. Christine Chakoian, pastor of Westwood Presbyterian Church. Their handiwork serves as “a sign of the everlasting arms.”

Hardin is grateful for the small acts of kindness being offered by people, from churches to the broader community.

“It's been amazing the number of angels that we've each had put in our life by God through this,” he said. “Total strangers. People on the street giving us things as we're waiting in line” and even a pharmacist going the extra mile to provide medication. These are “just dear people.”

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is one of the Compassion, Peace & Justice ministries of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Interim Unified Agency.

Darla Carter, Communications Strategist, Interim Unified Agency Click here to read original PNS story)

Let us join in prayer for:

• Alexander Germosen, Cook, Stony Point Center, Interim Unified Agency
• Ashley Gibson, Human Resource Assistant, Human Resources, Administrative Services Group (A Corp)  

Let us pray:

O God, give us the strength to lend our help when disaster overtakes your people. Thank you for the grace that molds us in the likeness and spirit of Christ, so that day by day we may grow closer to our Savior and become more like the one who died that we might live, even Jesus Christ. Amen.