A Note from Connie Haggard

Posted September 7, 2021

As many of you may already know, our beloved members Connie and Dick Haggard had a close call when the tornado crashed through Upper Dublin Township Township last week. Connie had one request for me when I visited their home. Connie said, “Use Field Notes to tell everyone in the Parish that when the authorities tell you to go to the basement, YOU NEED TO GO TO THE BASEMENT!” I write this in fulfillment of my pledge to Connie, sharing her hope that this warning will save lives, just as Connie and Dick were spared because they got to the basement one minute before the tornado plowed through. The parish continues to pray for all of their neighbors who lost property and those who lost their lives.

Here at 8000 Saint Martins Lane, I can report that the storm caused no damage to our church property. I want to thank the Properties Committee and James Kent for their diligent long-term work defending our basements and roofs against heavy rains. This work often goes unnoticed and needs to be lifted up and praised! Hurricane Sandy struck Philadelphia in my second year at St. Martin’s, and it left us with 1 ½ feet of water in the Hilary House basement and wall-to-wall flooding in the church school rooms under the church. On entering the Hilary House basement, Skip Lynch famously said, “This is not the right place for a ‘water feature’!” Thanks to the hard work of the Properties Committee over 10 years, our buildings are much more water tight.

From a planning perspective, the experts are telling us that we will see more hurricanes, tropical storms and larger-scale precipitation in general as the planet warms. As we plan for the future of our church buildings we need to keep this in mind. I believe God will keep God’s rainbow promise made to Noah that we will not be wiped out by a flood again. At the same time, the planet is speaking a word to us about how we have tipped the balance of God’s good creation toward destructive consequences.

The Rev. Jarrett Kerbel