the meaning of it all?

So we arrived back in Pennsylvania on Monday after a 24 hour bus trip that actually included sleep! Sunday worship in the Superdome was inspiring, especially Bishop Hanson's sermon, which I hope to post as a video here in the days ahead.
I also enjoyed the Peter Mayer house band and intend to get some of their music for my library.
On the way home we began to process our experience. I'll begin to share some of these thoughts here tonight. In the days ahead I will also comment on twoexcellent books I read enroute to and from New orleans. The first is, "The Starfish and the Spider," by Ori Bafrom and Rod Beckstrom. This is a book about businesses that have emerged in the last few years who have decentralized their leadership and multiplied thier growth potential as a result. Companies like Napster, Craigslist, and other dot-coms that have transformed the marketplace. I'll write more about the implications for the 21st century church in the days ahead.
I also read "Everything Must Change," by Brian McLaren. McLaren is responding to the questions," What are the most significant crises or problems our world faces today," and "how does the story of the Jesus respond to these crises with hope and salvation?" I'll write more about this book next week.
In new orleans, my group was supposed to experience wealth and poverty. We were going to view an IMax film called "Hurricane in the Bayou." We all wanted to serve people in new Orleans. I know that 37,000 people could not be mobilized to serve in the city in three days. But I discovered something on friday as I pursued the possibility of engaging in direct ministry with people in need. There were some homeless people living under a bridge. So we bought $150.00 worth of groceries to bring to them. We did. We met over 100 people livinvng g under the bridge. We met some working homeless people which surprised the kids. how can people who work everyday be homeless?
After that we stopped at Wendy's for a Frosty before heading back to the hotel. How quickly our default human instincts take over and compel us to judge the ones we served. Were they truly needy or just lazy freeloaders? Were they ungrateful users undeserving of our care? Why did we go under the bridge? clearly we went there not because the people asked us to come there. We went there selfishly, in order to fulfill a need to be useful and helpful. We went there to be generous and to follow Jesus there too. Mixed motives on our part. No one there was expecting us. But when we arrived they shouted, "Help is on the way.Thank you Lord. help is on the way."
The long and short of the story is that we were assigned to learn about wealth and poverty. We experienced the suffering poor under the bridge in the homeless men and women we met there.
Later that night we went for dinner at the red fish grill on Bourbon Street. Five of us in our group ran a total bill of $150.00.
We spent as much on groceries to feed lunch to 150 homeless people as we did for dinner for five of us.
Wealth and poverty experienced in the acquisition of food. The only food the people under the bridge received that day came from our groceries. We had no problem doing what we did, even feeling a bit self-righteous about it. Then we ate shrimp.
We are wealthy.