During family vacations as a kid, I dreaded Sunday morning because it meant the inevitable trip to a local church where we didn't know a soul. It always felt as though all eyes were on us, all whispers were about who we might be and were we came from. Looking back, I don't think I quite understood the larger body of Christ.
Thankfully my church search has been quite different than my middle school remembrances. I've visited the Vineyard a few times where Jeff and Janell Hirschoff, Fort Collins-ites who moved to Kenner, LA just a few weeks before my journey began, are running the volunteer program through Mercy Response.
Today I attended my second New Orleans church, Redeemer Presbyterian (PCA). Hoping for solid preaching and interesting worship, I headed down to the Garden District to visit the only PCA church in New Orleans proper. It's a small church that has been hosting post-Katrina volunteer teams and has worked on over 100 homes in the greater New Orleans area. Adele, a lawyer in the city, introduced herself and broke the awkward "I don't know anyone here" silence. Ray, the pastor and a NY native, was also very welcoming. He was invited to the church the week before the storm. Little did he know what his ministry would become. His family has had visitors or mission teams staying at their home over half of the year!
They were hosting a post-church potluck, but I already had a ticket to the Saints game, thanks to a very generous individual! (They lost and are now 0-4. If I've learned anything about the people of NOLA, I'm sure those Saints will keep on marching!) And Steeler fans, don't worry, I'm still black and gold through and through!
I'll leave you with a G. K. Chesterton quote from Orthodoxy in Redeemer's program this morning:
"Suppose we hear an unknown man spoken of by many men. Suppose we were puzzled to hear that some men said he was too tall and some too short; some objected to his fatness, some lamented his leanness; some thought him too dark, and some too fair. One explanation... would be that he might be an odd shape. But there is another explanation. He might be the right shape... Perhaps (in short) this extraordinary thing is really the ordinary thing; at least the normal thing, the center."
I miss you all!
P.S. Women Builders- We're hosting over 100 volunteers this coming week to work on 13 or 14 homes for Women's Rebuild Week! Preparing has brought back lots of memories and pink hammers!
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