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.

under the bridge

Saturday night's alright

Tonight we skipped the Superdome to have a nice meal on Bourbon St. at the red fish grill. Superdome has been impressive---powerful music, interesting stories. But it hasn't been deeply impactful. but as I said, it isn't one thing or experience that made this gathering meaningful. It is a hnudred different things. There are really three aspects to this experience: Jesus, as we follow Him in servant ministry; justice, as we address the systemic problems that face an urban population like New Orleans; and jazz, as we celebrate together, enjoy the culture, and have parties in hotels! (Tonight we went to an all '80s music dance! I was the Dancing Queen! (Thanks to a littel Abba). The kids have enjoyed everything. This group has really grown close. We will certainly be together post-New Orleans. We are already talking about the impact of this event on our lives back home. We will continue to reflect on that in the days and weeks ahead.
I think the kids are tired. We have seen and done a lot. When we left this morning we did not know what we were about to do. We did not know that we would join our friends from Christ, Elizabethtown. We did not know that we would buy $150.00 worth of groceries to give to close to 200 homeless people. We did not know.
Karen asked me last night wht we would do if nobody was there today. I told her that we were called by GOD to be faithful and generous and the rest was out of our hands. We were prepared for 30 or 40 people. But God provided. I had prayed this morning for a pickup truck. When we arrived on foot at OC Haley Blvd. a man with a truck was sitting in front of the mission speaking with the men there. He was an advocate and a helper. He transported Pastor Domines and I to Walmart when we ranout of food and water.
we ran into real suffering there. It is tempting to judge the circumstances of those who are poor, toassign blameand responsibility, to assign expectations that are not consistent with their life histories. We cannot judge or impose expectations on others. Not all people have the same childhoodsor the same educations. Not all are privileged. And race is part of this equation.
So we have wrestled with poverty,our own beliefs about people in pvoerty, and our role with respect to them. Tonight we read Matthew 25:31-40 and learned that in the end the way we treat the least among us is the way we serve Jesus. And the way we serve Jesus is the way into God's Kingdom. And we learned that spending our lives feeding the homeless is not enough, even if it is rewarding work. We need to have a more hopeful vision, like a city where there are no more homeless people. We need to envision a world without poverty, hunger, and suffering. We need to keep that big vision and hope alive.
Tomorrow we leave for worship at 8:00 am. We leave for PA at noon and we will arrive back home on Monday morning ready to unpack and sleep. We miss our families and are excited to share what we have seen and heard and done in New orleans---a charming, if not seductive city. The Big Easy is not an easy city to be in as a tourist or a missionary. But I can see why people would not leave her, why we were drawn to her as a church, and why she continues to welcome revelers and jazz lovers and Lutherans to her streets and along the banks of the ol' river.
After a long and busy day, we are ready for rest.