Saturday was the fourth anniversary of Katrina. Those of us who participated in the rebuild day agreed that we found the perfect way to spend the day.
We gathered at the Chapel at 8:30 and headed off to the ECS (Episcopal Community Services) Rebuild Warehouse where we got our assignment for our work day. We then went to a beautiful man’s home in the 7th Ward for a day of hanging sheet rock… on the ceiling! Hanging sheet rock on the ceiling is no cake walk, but we enjoyed working together to help our new friend get a few steps closer to moving back into his house.
The man had gotten over 10 feet of water in the flooding due to Hurricane Katrina. We joined with many others who had taken on earlier stages of rebuilding. His home had been gutted already. Mold remediation was done, wiring done, and we as a group got to do the next important step to get him back into his home.
Our time called us to prayerfully remember those still suffering as a result of the storm. Our time provided us with unexpected blessings from our time with our new friend, who is an avid gardener whose massive papaya plants you will see below… And our time also provided us with a great prelude to our look at the Letter of James…
James 1:17-27 was our Epistle reading on Sunday. We heard on Sunday that we are to be doers of the word, not mearly heaers. At our 7pm service, we had a chance to reflect on this reading.
We talked a lot about our experiences of service, and how our desire to serve others links up with our faith. Lots of us Tulane participated in Outreach Tulane on Saturday too, and it was great to process together how we understand how we are called to put our faith into action by saving the world. We agreed that many of us could identify with the sentiment that it is in giving that we receive. Serving restores our sense of being truly connected to one another, and helps to instill in us a sense of gratefulness.
