Two weeks ago, as you all undoubtedly know, Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, causing major damage to many areas. This hurricane has been called a major natural disaster, the worst disaster in American history, and a storm of biblical proportions. The most hard-hit area was New Orleans, a city sitting on a vulnerable stretch of land below sea level at the mouth of the Mississippi River. But the hurricane also affected Biloxi, Mississippi and countless small towns and rural areas along the coast.

I assume you've all seen plenty pictures of the devastation - of roofs blown off houses, of the flood waters reaching up to second stories and of sunken cars, buses and trucks. You've seen pictures of people being rescued by boats and helicopters. And maybe you saw the happy faces of the people landing this past Thursday at Camp Edwards on Cape Cod as they were greeted warmly... with cheers and hugs... by volunteers. Amazing really, those powerful pictures. I hope the 200 or so evacuees from Louisiana, mainly poor and black, continue to receive hearty welcomes in the mostly white town of Bourne... and that their presence there is an enriching experience for everyone.

One man from New Orleans, Earle Haynes, is a 39 year old security guard. He left behind his family of 11 brothers and sisters and he's worried about them, not knowing where they are. But he says he likes it here in Massachusetts. He hopes to find another job as a security guard... or maybe as a cook or a logger. Earle loves to cook Creole food, red beans and rice, okra gumbo and bread pudding. He also likes to cut down trees. I hope that Earle and all those who want to settle here can find decent jobs and housing. I know they will add to the richness and diversity of wherever they live and work.

I'd like to turn now to some of the lessons I find in the experience of this storm and its aftermath. You might have heard that some fundamentalist Christians say this storm is the result of God's wrath because of the sinfulness of New Orleans. They compare it to the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Hebrew Bible, which were destroyed because of the sin of the people living there. And they insist that this sin was sexual promiscuity. In the Book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible, it reads, "Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from ... heaven; and he overthrew those cities, and all the Plain and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground..." All of this because the two angels God sent to visit Sodom in human form were not greeted with hospitality, except by one man, Lot, and his family. Instead the angels were threatened with violence by a mob of men.

Despite what the fundamentalists claim, this was not about homosexuality at all. This is about the sin of not being kind to strangers... in fact, being downright nasty to them. Hospitality has long been important in Middle East culture. And if you know anything about New Orleans, the city known as the Big Easy was not guilty of being inhospitable. It was a thriving tourist attraction... which was very hospital, very welcoming to strangers.

To those of us religious liberals who don't take the Bible literally, this story about Sodom and Gomorrah being destroyed seems a bit crazy in the first place. Destroyed because of God's wrath? We know that big storms, like tornadoes and hurricanes, are natural events and have nothing to do with God's wrath. What kind of God would purposely do such an awful thing to human beings and other living creatures? Certainly not the loving God of our Universalist heritage. One English scientist thinks the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, which were seaside cities like New Orleans, was the result of a massive earthquake, which in turn caused avalanches and fires. So perhaps the best meaning we should take from this story is that we should treat strangers with kindness and generosity, not because God will punish us, but because it is right. It also makes us feel good. I find it heart-warming that many people all around the United States know that lesson well and are greeting the people from Louisiana and Mississippi with open arms.

Another lesson we can learn from this storm is the danger of ignoring the effects of global warming. Many scientists today are sure that global warming has had a lot to do with Hurricane Katrina and the greater number of hurricanes this season. The hotter the atmosphere over the ocean, the more energy there is to fuel these storms. Our politicians need to stop denying the dangers of global warming, sign the international Kyoto Treaty and get serious about reversing this nation's extravagant energy consumption.

A third lesson we are learning from Hurricane Katrina - or should I say relearning - is the tremendous divide of race and class which still exists in this country. I say this country although it may be more evident in the South. It was clear that many poor Black people in New Orleans, although they had a couple of days warning, did not have the money or means to leave before the storm hit. Furthermore, many lived in the low-lying neighborhoods that were hit the hardest by the floods. As one Black civil rights leader commented, some Blacks in the South are living in worse conditions now than they did at the turn of the 19th century... soon after slavery ended. She is concerned that the "witch's brew" of race and poverty is leaving more and more poor Black folks behind, particularly the children. We saw in newspapers and on television over the days the faces of many of these poor children. We must not forget them. And we must not forget the shock and outrage we felt when these children and their families were not helped to move out of the city in time and then did not receive food or water for days.

Many of us who live or work in Taunton know first hand the increasing divide between the urban poor and relatively comfortable people in the suburbs. We see it in our streets and in our schools. We see it in increased homelessness and unemployment, in crime and hopelessness. The U.S. Census Bureau just reported that poverty has increased for the fourth year in a row! This hurricane only underlined that fact in New Orleans, where one in four people live in poverty.

A fourth lesson we are learning from this was that the administration in Washington is less competent than we had hoped to keep us safe from a natural disaster. Some say that God works in mysterious ways. But we can all agree: so does the Federal Emergency Management Agency. We can only hope that FEMA is given back the power, money and competent leadership which it had before it was lumped in with Homeland Security..

Are there religious and moral issues involved? I think so. There's the issue of abuse of power by the powerful and the need for our leaders to be prudent and plan for the future for the good all society. And there's the issue of the ignoring the tremendous needs of the poor and powerless, revealed so graphically by this disaster. We must thirst for righteousness in the face of social injustice and inequality.

At the same time, there is hope. We are reminded that there are many good souls in this country and in this world. There are many people all over America who are so willing to donate money and goods, who are willing to volunteer their time, energy and skills to help the victims of disaster. There are people willing to go the extra mile by going down South or by opening up their homes and hearts to the evacuees. And there are people all over the world, including those affected by last winter's terrible tsunami in South Asia, who want to help Americans in our hour of need.

In the end, although some hard, unwelcome truths have been uncovered by this hurricane, as surely as the roofs of many Gulf Coast houses, we as a country have a window of opportunity to do better. I hope that Earle Haynes, living temporarily in Camp Edwards on the Cape, gets a good job as a security guard or cook or logger ... with a decent wage and health care benefits... and finds happiness in a new home. And I hope that all the folks from New Orleans who came here are helped by the hospitality and assistance they receive from us Northerners. But I also hope that in places like the poor rural communities or poor urban areas in the South and the North that public money and effort is put into better housing, schools and health care. And that the increasing divide between rich and poor is reversed.

As Unitarian Universalists, we say we respect the interdependent web of existence of which we are a part. This belief is so basic to our liberal religious values. Well, we are part of a social web or network and cannot divorce the welfare of the inner city from the welfare of the suburbs. Our health... including our spiritual health... as a society depends on this realization. Let us hope and pray and work for a new awakening of compassion and social responsibility in America. Amen and blessed be.