Day 6: Life is a Dance

A big day. Yes, there was work. yada yada yada.

But then...

We went to Mulate's, (http://www.mulates.com/) the original Cajun restaurant. We ate alligators and crawfish and catfish and crabcakes, etc. There was a live zydeco band. And a dance floor. And a room of 300 people cheering them on.

The rest is history.

We will post videos and pictures.

After that we came back to Annunciation for a closing Eucharist which beautifully captured the soul of our week. It began with "A reading from the National Low income Housing Coalition" which reminded us that paying rent affordably in New Orleans (so it's 30% of total income) means a self-supporting person with a minimum wage job must work 82 hours per week, 52 weeks per year, with no vacation.

We then sang together and reflected on how we take this experience with us. For the prayers of the people each group was charged with the task of crafting something from its unique experiences. The boys spent hours providing input, and David Luchs crafted and offered the following:

"We thank you, Lord, for the blessings bestowed upon us during this trip, for our fellowship with our brothers and sisters in faith from Virginia, Missouri, and Texas; for our safety and progress throughout the week, and for the hospitality of the people of New Orleans. You have given us an opporunity to be living in your Spirit and purpose.

We give thanks to you for the abundance of your creation, conveniently located and packaged at the nearby Walgreens and Wendy's; for experiencing the joy of the children of the area and for their skill in karate; for the tools with which we were able to do your work; for learning about the other areas of our country and learning that we are all one under your Holy Spirit. For the togetherness of bowling with our friends, for the pride of successfully rigging a game of Uno, for sharing in your spirit with other churches, for the vibrant music of New Orleans, for learning about the ways of the people here, for the joy of baptizing one another with cheap squirt guns, for the abundance of testosterone responsible for much of our laughter, for all of the things which have brought us here, for the acrobatic escapades of our very own ninja, Mac Pivirotto, and for the patience of the women of room 5 who continued to work despite being kept up by obnoxious noise the night before; for the driving skills, care, and love of our chaperones, for hearing the stories of the people of New Orleans, and realizing that there is still a need for help and for the excessive consumption of caffeinated beverages.

For all these things, Lord, we give thanks to your holy name. As Jesus did with his disciples, send us out into the world in peace, that we may advocate for the people of New Orleans and all those in need. Let your loving spirit bless and sustain us on our journey home, that we may continue to do your work in peace for the honor and glory of your name. Amen."

Amen indeed. It's amazing how our liturgy rings most true when we are personally engaged in the prayers and mission it assumes. The words of the Book of Common Prayer were our words tonight. It's always a good thing when we mean what we say in liturgy.


Tomorrow: The majority of our group will choose to purchase cheap plastic crap from the french market while a sophisticated minority visits a museum. We'll then eat lunch at Cafe Reconcile, a post-incarceration non-profit hospitality training program, the graduates of which now chef at restaurants of international renown. Check it out (thanks for the tip, Dupie) http://reconcileneworleans.org/ The kids will get to interact with the employees and listen to their stories.

I'm quite pleased for the opportunity because meeting post-incarcerated people rounds out our experience of learning about the related troubles of housing and education in New Orleans. A broken economy produces a market for drugs which overloads a corrections system in a place with a broken education system. High school students who fled to neighboring states after Katrina often took placement tests and had to go back 2 or 3 years in school. Understanding this connection is a major piece of the justice puzzle here. In fact the rough number of 18 year olds who lack a certain reading proficiency is used by the State of Louisiana to prepare the right number of prison cells.


We'll finish the day out tomorrow with processing for re-entry to New Canaan.

THEN ULTIMATE FRISBEE!!!!!

This trip has accomplished every goal I set and more. The kids have bonded. They've seen themselves as privileged. They've set their hearts to helping others. They've located themselves in a national church. They've learned to pray and sing together. They've had fun. None of this would have been possible without leaving New Canaan. They needed to go away together and become partners in foreign immersion in order to find each other on level ground.

They needed to Go in order to Grow. I think we all do.

Big love from the Big Easy,

Josh