AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
The Community United Methodist Church of Pacific Palisades was one of the houses of worship destroyed by Fires in LA County. NPR religion correspondent Jason DeRose spent time with the congregation and has this story about how they're caring for each other.
JASON DEROSE, BYLINE: A few dozen people surround tables on the rooftop deck of a hotel in Santa Monica. Community Methodist lost its building and now meets wherever it can.
UNIDENTIFIED SINGERS: (Singing) Amazing grace, how sweet the sound.
DEROSE: About 80% of the congregation have lost their homes. Some cry, others stare into the middle distance. Plastic shopping bags of clothing are piled under chairs. During his sermon, Pastor John Shaver admits something unusual.
JOHN SHAVER: I'm being really vulnerable here. We've all been hurt. We've all been pushed into trauma, so I last week, picked up a therapist.
DEROSE: And Shaver's encouraging his flock to do the same. Since the fire destroyed the church building and his own home, he's been working constantly.
SHAVER: People just wanted me to come by and just to pray with them at that time. They wanted to talk about their experience. They want someone to listen. And part of what we are as a church is to share our concerns.
DEROSE: Concerns about where they'll live and where God was, a question he responds to this way.
SHAVER: God was in the evacuation orders to say, get out and be safe at this point.
DEROSE: One of the places people evacuated to was church member Sylvia Grieb's home in Brentwood. She has two displaced friends living with her.
SYLVIA GRIEB: We keep thinking of people - I wonder where they are, I wonder what they're doing, I wonder how they've survived, what do they need? - and reaching out.
DEROSE: Grieb's been a member at Community Methodist for 40 years. She's the church treasurer and says it wasn't long ago this congregation sent money to fire victims in Hawaii and hurricane victims in the Carolinas.
GRIEB: The church is there to help. And now it's our turn to ask, hello, we need help now. And they're there, is what is so beautiful.
DEROSE: Beautiful help that comes in a variety of forms from giving money to offering a place to sleep, to sharing music.
MIA RUHMAN: Singing with other people is the most intimate thing.
DEROSE: Twenty-one-year-old UCLA music major Mia Ruhman has been a member of Community Methodist her entire life. The Palisades fire destroyed her home. But on this Sunday, she helped lead the hymns.
RUHMAN: And singing with the church when we all sang together - it's, like, a visceral feeling. You can feel everyone's mood just lift. It's a really powerful thing.
DEROSE: That spirit of resilience pervades this congregation, says Pastor John Shaver.
SHAVER: We receive that grace from God, and then we let the grace pour out like a fountain upon others. Then it's finding out ways to share all the good I can and all the ways I can throughout all the days I can as one of our methodist mottos, we'll say.
UNIDENTIFIED SINGERS: (Singing) Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.
DEROSE: Back at the rooftop worship service in Santa Monica, the congregation shares more songs and a meal. Then Pastor Shaver closes in prayer.
SHAVER: Give us wisdom on days when we can't figure out a FEMA form or somebody asks us a really weird question. Give us grace and mercy for the days ahead. All God's people said, amen.
DEROSE: The road ahead, he knows, is long and difficult and covered in ash. But Shaver has faith Community Methodist will travel it together. Jason DeRose, NPR News, Santa Monica.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
