So my original plan for this trip was to come down today (Sunday) instead of yesterday, but when Mike insisted that the Sunday church service at St. John #5 would be a good experience, I swapped travel dates, and I’m glad I did. This morning was a lengthy, but great, worship experience, followed by an afternoon of visiting church members, a buffet dinner, and a visit with Deborah’s family. What is crazy to me is how many different things I can think about, realize, and understand in one day, and that, at the end of the day, I cannot figure out if I am taking steps toward understanding, or really just figuring out that I don’t actually know much at all. The following, in no particular order, are some realizations that I came to today while worshipping, visiting, and conversing.
The first thing I had a lot of time to think about today (church lasted a little over 2 hours…) was about God – who He is, what He is, how I see Him, and how vastly different my experience of Him is than some of those with whom I worshipped this morning. I have tried typing my thoughts out a few times, and realized that 1-it didn’t make much sense at all, and 2-sometimes it’s better to keep those thoughts to myself and let others continue on their own journey as God sees fit. At any rate, I am really grateful for a different type of worship experience, some new appreciation and understanding about God’s character, and that He is so committed to each of us. Maybe I will share some more when I can make more sense of it. Additionally, I enjoyed the following “Pastor Bruce-ism,” which I was given very specific instructions to share: “The kids today, when they dance, they want to drop it like it’s hot. If I tried to drop it like it’s hot, I might not get back up. Now the twist – that’s what I like. I do the twist, I be losing weight!”
So after church today, I rode all around the city with Pastor Bruce and Deborah visiting church members who couldn’t make it to the service. This brought on piles of conversations and thoughts to sift through.
First, while we were driving around there was a pretty bad thunderstorm. It didn’t last all afternoon, just a few hours really, but it was quite an experience. I was surprised how unsafe, frightened, and claustrophobic I felt, being surrounded by pouring rain in a city so infamous for immense flooding. As much as I disliked the experience, I tried to just let it be, and realized that if I, who had never been through anything close to a hurricane or flooding, could feel that nervous during a regular thunderstorm, then the amount of anxiety that others, especially children, must experience as a result of Katrina experiences, must be incredible. It’s odd because, for starters, so many people are disillusioned with the idea that the city is, or should be, rebuilt by now. But, it definitely isn’t and, even if it were, there is still so much emotional trauma and pain that people still cannot move on. The crazy part about all of this was that as soon as I had calmed down about the storm, we started driving through an area of the city that was really flooded. Cars were off the road, driving through a foot or more of water, and people were wading in water up to their knees. All this after just an hour or two of rain – what happens when another hurricane comes?
While we drove around this afternoon, the other issue that we talked about was housing. St. John #5 used to have a huge public housing development across the street, and many of the residents were active members in the church and benefitted from the programs of the church – HIV/AIDS prevention, summer day camp, GED, and more. However, after Katrina, the city officials closed the public housing developments, which were only really damaged on the first of 4 or 5 floors, and made the people leave. They tossed all of the people’s belongings into the street, put fences up around the developments, and later, destroyed them completely to replace them with “mixed income” housing. The old buildings were solid – brick, cinderblock, and plaster layered each wall. They withstood hurricane winds and most flooding. They were even solid enough to have damaged demolition tools during the process. Now, those units, which used to house thousands of low-income families, have been replaced by weak wooden structures, most of which are uninhabited and have rent levels too high for those in poverty to be able to pay. Yes, ladies and gentlemen – the high and mighty politicians of New Orleans are making it virtually impossible for people in poverty to have a safe, affordable place to live, thus perpetuating the cycles that politicians complain about – violence, drugs, and more poverty. Most of this I knew before I got here, but it is always different to see it in person and see how it affects people with names and faces.
Speaking of real people with names and faces, today was not entirely full of overwhelming, depressing, and frustrating things. After church today, going around to visit people, was definitely a highlight. I think one of the things I dislike about my own overly busy life is that I rarely have time to just sit and be with people. Yet, Bruce and Deborah, despite the fact that many people are pulling on them in every direction, find time to visit with church members every Sunday. We visited a few people who were too old and/or too sick to make it to church. A few were glad to present Pastor Bruce with a new package of Oreos, and to offer us a cold drink. It didn’t matter if we just sat and talked about the weather, or watched part of a movie with them; it just mattered that, for a while, they knew they had not been forgotten about, that they still mattered to someone. It was also great as we did these visits that people’s faces lit up when they heard the phrase “Love Knows No Bounds” or “Binghamton University Social Work.” Both organizations have really connected with the people here in a deep, meaningful way, that gives them joy and hope even in spite of the challenges they continue to face.
The last part of the day was at Pastor Bruce’s favorite buffet – full of New Orleans food, Chinese food, and whatever else you could imagine. As most of you know, I have grappled with vegan/vegetarian eating for quite some time now, and am more committed to people and sustainability than to a strict diet. Additionally, some of you know that I get some sick thrill out of eating crazy foods and “doing as the New Orleanians do.” So, here are the highlights of my dinner…
-Crab Rangoons with Red Sauce! (Ericka-I love you)
-Macaroni and cheese…lots of cheese (like I am a 5 year old..)
-Bananas with that red gooey sauce that no one can identify, but everyone loves
-Chocolate Ice Cream (lactose intolerant? Who is lactose intolerant?)
-CRAWFISH!!!(Also known as “crayfish” up north, and still had it’s eyes..which was a little odd..but delicious…the meat part, not it’s eyes…)
That is the day’s excitement and thoughts in a nutshell. After dinner we drove around a little, waving to pretty much everyone in town because Deborah knows pretty much everyone in town, and came back to the house just as the sun was setting. So much in just one day. I am a little excited and a little anxious to see what’s in store for tomorrow, but appreciate how this is changing me already.
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