I lift up my eyes to the hills —
from where will my help come?
My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
Psalm 121
First Presbyterian Church of Greensboro is about halfway between North Carolina’s mountains and coast. For about half of our 200-plus years, since Montreat Conference Center was established, we have lifted our eyes, hearts, minds and souls to the Blue Ridge Mountains. Generations of our members have headed to the hills for youth and worship conferences, rested in rocking chairs by Lake Susan, climbed Lookout Mountain, played in summer kids’ clubs, gazed in puppy love at barn dances and strolled on Cherry Street in Black Mountain. It is our happy faith place.
In September 2024, flood waters from Hurricane Helene rampaged through Asheville, Montreat, Black Mountain, and other places and mountain people we love. We watched, cried, prayed, and kept checking social media with fear and, as reports came in over a couple of weeks, grief. Neighborhoods are gone. People are missing. No power or cell service. Roads washed out. Water undrinkable.
As the hands and feet of Christ, we got busy being one of the places from which help comes. FPC has a weekly Food Drive-By for the community food pantry, so we quickly added and expanded calls for food and water. But we couldn’t get canned food or us to Black Mountain or Montreat because of washed-out roads, including Interstate 40. We were able to partner with another group who took our offerings to the town of Boone.
We were ready to get to work. Not yet, disaster response folks said. They were still searching for people. They needed to get infrastructure in place. We would just be in the way. Sometimes patience isn’t the most popular fruit of the Spirit. Nine long months passed before we were able to put a mission team on the ground in Black Mountain that included a pastor, an engineer, a retired paralegal, a woodworking hobbyist and others.
At the work sites, God had left us a message. Two, actually. Beside a hoe and a shovel, “grace” on a tulip stake. On a small sign leaning against a house, “Bless all that gather here.” A reminder that God’s time is not our time, and that God’s time is always better.
One of the families our team worked with was a retired man and his mother who had survived by clinging to a steel column on their front porch; you can see it in the photo. They planned to hang it over their sofa.
Look at the smiles in that pic. Our mountain family has grown.
Ann Alexander, Director of Communications, First Presbyterian Church of Greensboro
Let us join in prayer for:
Anne Marie Mazzone, Director, Financial Systems & Operations, Finance, The Board of Pensions
Kaeli McCartin, Operations Administrator Funds Services, Operations, The Presbyterian Foundation
Let us pray:
Lord, you lead us by still waters and hold us close when waters roar. Thank you for taking our fear, our pain, and our grief and transforming them into love, hope and belonging. In this season when storms of division threaten our common humanity, help us to remember that we are all your beloved children, one in your Spirit. Amen.
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