Labor Day
A lot of people would like to be working today that won't be. Or to put it another way, many will be working today--looking through the wreakage of their homes along the gulf coast. The family that is moving into one of the cottages on our church's campus hoped to be able to enter the suburbs of New Orleans this morning and see if there is anything left to retrieve of their worldly possessions. They believe that the matriarch of the family, whose modest home is in New Orleans proper, is likely still full of water.
So many challenges lie ahead. How do you rebuild lives when your cell phone no longer works, your bank is underwater, the three days of clothes you took with you is now smelling after 8 days of wear. You can't find members of your extended family because they headed northwest when you headed northeast. And although you are now have a shower and a bed, but your job and your life is (or was) four hundred miles away.
All throughout the country grocery stores and Wal-Marts are gathering places as families assess their next move. Gratefully, many churches and organizations are responding. But will the moves that relief organizations and agencies and churches make be able to connect in such a way as to make a meaningful difference. Therein lies the labor of this day and this week.
Carson Reed
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Reader Comments (3)
Thanks for a wonderful sermon yesterday, and for putting before us the many ways in which we can help now and in the coming months. My uncle lived in Long Beach, MS. He is trying desperately to find gas so he can head to my parents house in Texas. However, has been unsuccessful. Hopefully tomorrow. However, praise God that his apartment had absolutely no damage at all. Amazing, considering that every other apartment in his complex was demolished by Katrina. The office was standing but completely boarded up. Why was his not damaged, not sure, but extremely thankful. I look forward to the many ways we as a church can help so many others in the coming months.
As a father recounted the total destruction of their 146 year-old church (Jefferson Davis was on the Vestry), we were all overwhelmed - especially as he spoke of their church gathering in the midst of ruin at that very hour to break bread and praise God. This scene must have been repeated hundreds of times yesterday.