(re)building our faith

Katrina at 3

2008-08-28T09:51:00.002-05:00

The 3rd anniversary of Hurricane Katrina is tomorrow, Aug 29. Camp Coastal Outpost, the camp that First Parish has used as it's base for the past 2 years, is closing. Visit their web site (campcoastaloutpost.org). I'm sad to see the official closing announcement, even though I knew it was immanent.

Wed Jul 2: Back home with some photos

2008-07-02T18:21:00.007-05:00

What the Bay St. Louis coastline looks like now - not much different from Feb 07 in some spots, but in others there's been more redevelopment.

The old dining tent - the new Cafe Blue Hills tent.

The boys showing off their Cafe Blue Hills sign.

Our group poses in front of the famous Camp Coastal signpost.

Thursday/Friday from Camp Costal

2008-06-27T19:50:00.003-05:00

Thursday
This should have been yesterday's post, but we got back late last night.

The day was spent between 2 sites, with the group split between those sites and Lowes. We'll finish up all 3 home sites today. The 4th site, which is interior painting, has just materialized – actually it's the paint that has just materialized, so that's on for today and possibly tomorrow.
We went to Mobile Ala after work to have a look around and to have dinner. The dinner was really good, and I think everyone had a good time and enjoyed themselves. Mobile is kind of quiet. We were in the historic district, and it had a small town Main Street feel to it. We walked around before dinner, Graham and Garrett took “artsy” photos, but there were very few people walking around. As we left after dinner, which was around 10, it seemed to be waking up a bit from when we arrived. We got back to Camp at 11:30 and fell into bed (which is why this blog posting is a bit late).

Bill just reported to me that several busses carrying around 160 volunteers is due to arrive tomorrow. After that, according to Jackie, the numbers dwindle, which is part of the reason the Camp is slated to close in August.

Something that I was hoping for: to see hwy 90 between Gulfport and Biloxi look better that it did in Feb 07 – and it looked much better. There are more homes and businesses being built along the beach road, and there is more landscaping and some tern nesting areas being put in. But, the VA complex still looks like it has the original storm damage, there are numerous vacant lots, and the Waffle House sign in front of the empty lot is still there. A lot of the redevelopment is high end and high rise, which is probably changing the original look of the area.

Something else – Waveland and Bayside look much better. Hwy 90 has more businesses and hardly any debris on the roadsides. The neighborhoods are coming back slowly, but again it may not be the same people who were displaced by the storm.

Friday
Today our group split again, half going to a house between Camp and I-10, and the other half finishing the leftover items at the other 3. I'm happy to report that all of the painting (ceilings and walls) was finished at the house near I-10, as were the leftovers at the other sites. We've finished our work and are enjoying our leisure this evening.

Some recollections:
-boiled peanuts in a crock pot: gas station on I-10 in Alabama
-Bobby Duval: cajun
-daily thunder storms
-Doc from Michigan: funnier than heck (since it is a Church sponsored blog)
-mango smoothies
-Dave's voice
-relaxing in the Cafe Blue Hills: formerly the old mess tent
-Kiln library parking lot: public WiFi
-Jackie's big smile
-96° and humid
-ice cold water and shade
-24 oz can of “Budweiser & Clamato”: same gas station on I-10 (I'm not drinking it!!)
-Ben, his wife, and their 3 kids: their newly painted home which replaces the trailer that the storm swept away nearly 3 years ago, his wife's smile, his kid's red cheeks, and the many times he said “thank you” to us.
-laughing and working during the day, and laughing and relaxing in the evening, and at all times enjoying the company of my 7 great companions.

Andy

Wednesday From Camp Costal

2008-06-25T21:11:00.001-05:00

We worked at a house in Bayside (near Waveland south of hwy 90) today. We worked on punch list items: installing moulding, plumbing, installing closet doors, installing a window sill, and general site cleanup. We have a couple of items to finish up tomorrow. I'm really happy with what we've accomplished in these 2 days. Our group is working well together, and we are having a great time of it too. I'm not surprised though. If 8 people from First Parish were picked at random and sent off to volunteer here, I would expect the same.
We met several folks today; several of our group talked with the homeowners and some of their friends. They came away with some mixed feelings, but I'm glad that they talked with them. I'm anxious to get together later to hear what they feel, and to meet when we get back to Boston to compile some our memories so that we can share them with the Congregation.
Tomorrow we're scheduled to do interior painting at another house in the Bayside area., and I believe we'll meet that homeowner as well. We'll probably split our group and have one van cover the finish work at the first site while the second starts on the painting.
Jackie recommended a Cuban restaurant that's nearby, so we' may head out there for dinner, after a bite of Camp Coastal spaghetti that is.

Tuesday From Camp Costal

2008-06-24T19:44:00.001-05:00

Our group is Matthew Najarian, Rosine Hekmat Afshar, Steve Zieselman, Bill Mullen, Alexa Golembeski, Garrett Pavlicek, Graham Strang, and me. We left Boston on Monday at 5:30 AM to spend the week in Kiln Mississippi.

We made our flights without problem, and arrived in New Orleans around 10AM. We have 2 6-passenger vans, so we've got plenty of room. We arrived at Camp Coastal just before noon. Dave, the facilities manager, and Jackie, the volunteer coordinator gave us our orientation, reviewed the Camp rules, and promised to have us on the job in the morning.

Since we weren't assigned any work for Monday afternoon, we drove around a bit, did some shopping, and went to the beach in Waveland for a swim. The beach was nice and clean, not crowded at all. The water was not as refreshing as expected, so the swimmers in the group reported to me. I guess they wanted something more like Nantasket - brisk. That part of the coast is still showing signs of the storm damage, while further inland there seemed to be much more recovery, which was great to see.

Today we were assigned work in Camp Coastal. We converted the old mess tent into an al fresco dining and relaxation area (Steve's idea), which we renamed “Cafe Blue Hills”. Graham and Garrett made the sign, which replaced the old “Dining Tent” sign. We also cleaned out a storage tent, and spruced up “The Showroom”, a tent near the highway that sells surplus supplies to raise funds (sheets, blankets, foldaway cots, bunk beds, and mattresses). It hit 95 today. It felt cool after working in the storage tent.

There's a few other groups here this week. One from Michigan, another from Iowa. We heard about the extent of the flooding in Iowa from one of the men in that group. There always seem to be plenty of disasters to go around.

Tomorrow we're finishing up a punch list at a house near hwy 90, and will probably do a few odds and ends like delivering insulation to another site. I'll have more details tomorrow.

Andy

Team 3: June 23, 2008

2008-06-24T17:06:00.002-05:00

Our third team left at the crack of dawn Monday morning, after our send-off from church last week, the 15th. As we prepare to have a lot of work done on our Meetinghouse, we hold them in prayer for the work they do on the houses in Mississippi. We look forward to reading and seeing their updates, and trust that they have arrived safely and are enjoying their first full day of work.

Gulf Coast Trip Reflection

2007-07-03T13:19:00.000-05:00

Bill Macmillan 7/1/07

I left for the Gulf Coast with some reservations and a lot of anxiety. I wondered what kind of “impact” one person could have on a devastated community. How much can I really do? Do these people really need me? How can I contribute? Would it be better to donate the money to be spent on travel expenses?

A few months ago, I asked my Dad, Bill, a general contractor and skilled tradesman, to come along with our group and offer some direction and maybe help us accomplish a little more than we might otherwise be able to do. I was pretty sure that he’d site his lack of connection to my church community as a reason why he would not, but his response surprised me. He said “maybe” and told me he’d check on his work schedule and with my mother and get back to me. A couple of hours later, he called back and said “Ah, ah, yeah, I’m going”. I was thrilled at the moment but my excitement quickly turned to doubt about whether this was a good idea. He’d be going with 17 strangers and me, and after all, I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to be there.

On the Friday night before the trip, I called him to go over some itinerary details, the tools list and some last minute packing advice. As usual our conversation quickly turned to politics and then to a book he’d just finished, 1776, an account of the revolutionary war in that year and I’d just begun reading it. My Dad quipped that he “doubted whether Americans were capable of making such a sacrifice in the face of an incredible challenge like that.” Cynically, but with my usual hopeful caveats, I conceded there is some question as to American fortitude.

Fast forward to our arrival at Camp Coastal Outpost in Kiln, Mississippi.
It was plain to see that Americans are up to great challenges, surviving, of making sacrifice while staring down adversity by coming together to help others. Of the 300 or so people inhabiting camp coastal that day, at least 200 of them were under 25 years old. It was astounding and inspiring. The place was bustling with life, so many people happy to be there, to serve people in need and take part in something bigger than themselves. They were thrilled to be there and I was proud to be among them. I think everyone in our party knew immediately that they were about to do something very important that would further shape who they are –who we are.

After settling in and getting my bearings, I realized that the rest of the group was missing so I went looking for them. They were seemingly nowhere to be found until Jay Beaulieu and Pat Gallivan caught my eye, they were in the kitchen with the rest of the crew. They’d apparently asked how they could be of help and were enlisted to make sandwiches for the next day’s bagged lunches. I welled up and kept my distance sitting on a picnic table for a minute until my eyes dried. I approached the kitchen with an unprecedented feeling of pride to be with them. These were my people, a bunch of doers. It was truly a moment among moments. The momentum was building for something extraordinary. The combination of the First Parish Milton gang in the kitchen and the selfless volunteerism of so many young people had mooted my feelings of doubt about American’s willingness to pull it together in a time of need.

As our week progressed, everyone weathered the slow morning starts and their job assignments with grace. We completed some work on a few homes, a school bathroom and some even worked sorting through x-rays in a hospital that was decimated by the storm. We met the folks whose homes we worked on and received emotional gestures of appreciation from them. One woman told another in our group that she’s “sure glad [you] Yankees won the war.” Kent, a Deputy Sheriff in Hancock County MS, and the homeowner of the house we were re-siding fought back tears of appreciation every time we were with him. It was moving to be in his presence.

Throughout the trip there were a lot of laughs. Our evenings were spent in community and whether it was a car ride to the beach, a meal in the mess tent or a beer at the bar next door, we were receiving another benefit of such a trip, forming bonds with like-hearted people that will be remembered for a lifetime.

For me, the trip began being all about what I could do, a need to fulfill my responsibility to others, but as the week progressed, I learned that it was really about a need to affirm faith in myself and others, to see evidence that individuals can come together and facilitate change and know that others will follow and keep progress alive. We return with good stories, memories, new perspectives and pride. We return hoping to inspire others to go, as they are, to bear witness, make an effort and get more in return than they can ever imagine.

Returning Home

2007-07-01T10:52:00.000-05:00

Ike Oliver's newly painted house.

The crew with Ike celebrating the job's completion.

Ending
by Jim Kelly

A week’s work
Two projects completed
We feel …what?
It’s hard to say
Satisfied, exhausted, numbed?

We saw so much need
Heard so many stories
Felt their pain and anger
Felt their joy and appreciation

A week’s work
Was it worth it?
Did we have an impact?
Kent Malley thinks so
And so does Ike Oliver
As their new homes take another step forward

A week’s work
Nineteen friends return home
Satisfied, exhausted, numbed
A bit numbed by what we saw
A bit exhausted from the work and heat
Very satisfied that we went

Pat and our new sign on the Camp Coastal sign post.

Click here for more pictures

July 28th - The work continues

2007-07-01T10:50:00.000-05:00

(Blogger and Poet: Jim Kelly)

Hey everyone. It’s the crew at coastal again. Having trouble finding an internet connection but we’ll record our thoughts and post them sometime.

The heat is on as our jobs progress in a satisfactory manner. Pat’s painting crew has made friends with Ike, a 77 year old man whose house they are working on. He’s grateful for their work and thanks them each day. They’ve also talked to neighbors and other groups working in the area and feel part of this community. The teenagers, under Pat’s command, have worked through the heat, slapping buckets of blue onto Ike’s new siding. We are all proud of the long days they have put in. Pat’s crew is looking forward to finishing their part of Ike’s new house as he moves closer to moving out of his trailer and into a new house.

Lauren at work

Emma at work.

The other group toils endlessly on the siding job they’ve undertaken. Three skilled workers have made this crew a streamlined machine, teamwork and skill building evident throughout the day as the work speedily progresses to it’s end, hopefully tomorrow. Kent Malley, the person whose house was destroyed in the storm, stops by to thank us for our help. He’s lived here with his 2 girls, mother, and grandson. The young teenage boys on this crew have done an amazing job and have impressed the veteran workers with their enthusiasm and stamina each day.

Kent's original house

and his new house.

Tom, Jim and Bill, Sr.

The Jobs…the Heat

Sunlight arrives each day
Gently it rises
Bathing the camp’s grounds
Smoothing its rough edges

We wander across the street
Coffee again
AHHH
Breakfast and talk
Collect our tools and head to the sites

Sunlight shines on our last day’s work
Highlighting our progress
And what’s left to do

As we start the work
The sun rises higher
And so does the temperature
Soon it beats on our heads
Beats on our backs
Beats and beats again

Sweat streams down
Soaked through
We work on
And work on
And on

The sun
The work
The effort
It somehow becomes
What we are here for
It’s not easy
It’s not supposed to be
Somehow our struggle seems necessary
Appropriate

The sun set
Our work complete
But there is so much more to do
For so many.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The kids on the beach during our tour of the coastline.

Hacky sack -- downtime entertainment

Wednesday...

2007-07-01T10:46:00.000-05:00

(Blogger: Dianna Wilson)

Wednesday 6/xx/07

What is the date today? I don’t know anymore…

7:00 Reveille (internal) for the women. We whisper, wash, etc

7:30 Reveille for the girls. Normal talking just doesn’t do it. A 2 inch palmetto bug (a.k.a. cockroach) crawling across the wall did the trick.

7:50 Breakfast: cold cereal, cold toast, no cold juice. Most adults tank up on coffee.

8 am- assignment given out. Same as yesterday for the Deputy’s house – vinyl siding.

Other group- New painting job.

9:30 vinyl gang take off

Hot, Hot, Hot

Because one of us got sun poisoning on yesterday, we work with Mother Nature today. Left side of house in shade-morning, Right side for afternoon.

One of our enthusiastic boys says in reference to the black widow we let walk away yesterday- “Today the black widow dies.” (As they pointed out, it could kill us, why let it go.)

By lunch, we’ve pulled off all left side and are done with 2/3 of putting back on. It too hot inside the house to eat lunch, so we eat outside, still exposed to the sun.

By the end of the day, we had the 2/3 of the front and right side done.

Sweaty and gross, we hit the beach. Beautiful warm bath. Very shallow. Not too salty. Nice .

Burgers at Sonic to top it off.

Good Day.

Work Day #1

2007-07-01T10:43:00.000-05:00

(Blogger and Poet: Jim Kelly)

Hey ! It’s the First Parish crew down here in Kiln, Mississippi and the weather is warm and so are the people we are sharing the camp with. Last night the First Parish crew took over the kitchen for a marathon peanut butter and jelly sandwich session with a bunch of young, enthusiastic AmeriCorps teenagers. We lathered bread and stuffed sandwiches for the 283 fellow Camp Coastal workers. We totaled 400 ham and cheese or peanut butter and jelly by the time we were through but mostly we had a blast chatting it up with the Camp Coastal workers. We learned the secret of turning the heel inside out to trick the youngsters into eating the end pieces, a skill we shall use on our own children when we return.

Here’s a little something about our first day’s work.

Work Day #1

Rolling out to face the day
It’s cool inside
Opening the door heat smacks us
Gently at first but…
It builds

A quick breakfast
No coffee!!
We dash across the street
Find the brew
AHHH
Assignment time
One crew paints
The other heads out to fix a botched siding job

Slowly we find our way
Figuring out steps to take
Jobs progress
Teams form
Slowly… so slowly something begins to happen
At first it seems unlikely we will have an impact
Then things begin to take shape
Everyone is working
Sweating in the sun
Or shivering in the AC schoolhouse

At the end of the day we are a team
Together we have accomplished
Something…
Tomorrow we’ll be back
Working together
Making a difference
Together.

Team Two: June, 2007

2007-06-14T19:23:00.000-05:00

Our second team leaves June 25th, to stay at Camp Coastal under much hotter conditions. 19 of them! The congregation offered this team the same commissioning words in worship on our final Sunday morning of the church year, and we send them off with much love, admiration, and personal battery-powered fans.

Traveling mercies, and every good wish to the folks on this pilgrimage!

The scent of home

2007-02-24T16:15:00.000-05:00

After 12 hours of sleep, I feel somewhat human again. I have been relishing the quiet and comfort of home with a new appreciation for HAVING a home. It feels luxurious to sleep in a comfortable bed not surrounded by dust and debris.

I also have a deeper appreciation for folks in the building trades. We met carpenters, electricians, and other generally handy people who were spending weeks donating their skills to the effort. Our group's combined decades of post-secondary education didn't help us when it came to hanging dry wall or installing HVAC units.

After seeing the "before" pictures again from the ramp-building, I feel like we did accomplish something, but I hope this will be just the beginning of a longer partnership with those affected by the disaster. It's inspiring and humbling to see the ongoing generosity and everyday heroism of folks like Pete, Roy, Mike, and Derek.

re-entry

2007-02-24T11:45:00.000-05:00

We returned safely and exhausted on Friday a little after noon, and headed for our respective homes quickly.

It's always a challenge to re-enter "regular life" after an experience like this. I find myself replaying a lot of the week in my mind as I go about getting back into the routine at home. I miss the rest of the gang, and wonder what everyone is up to now that we're all back to our very different lives.

I've looked into the Turkey Creek Community Initiative some more, and wanted to offer the link for those of you interested in who we connected with while we were there.

http://www.turkey-creek.org/

I especially appreciate the holistic approach to rebuilding, that takes into account environmental concerns as well as human concerns; that is working on policy advocacy and relational work with the folks who are affected by the policies. I hope that this week was just the beginning of a strong and meaningful partnership. I know we have a lot to learn from the folks at Turkey Creek, and I'm willing to bet that as time goes on we will discover we also have much to offer.

Thursday action

2007-02-22T19:12:00.000-05:00

Thursday shone bright and clear and the gang was up and ready to go quickly -- it was our first day to our work site by 9am. This time, back to Pearlington to finish the ramps and patio we started on Monday. The additional dirt we needed was delivered just as we arrived -- hurray!

Determining strategy was a bit of a challenge, so much of the day was spent like this, with the main question being -- which dirt do we move where to get the right grade and right width? It sounds so simple when they tell you the job...

But the work went on...

After lunch, we split off and one crew went to another house in Pearlington to lay insulation in the attic. Christa, Nikki, Parisa, Tracey and Elise had this hot, sweaty, itchy job.

And at the end of the day, a victory on Dogwood Drive, with completion of the ramps!

Back to camp to clean up and pack up, then dinner. We're heading to a Motel close to the airport to catch our 6:30am flight tomorrow.

Watery Wednesday

2007-02-22T18:59:00.000-05:00

Did you think we got lost at Mardi Gras?
It has been such an action-packed two days that there was no time to blog!

Wednesday began very rainy and therefore a little slowly as we tried to find work for unskilled folks that could be done in the rain. Turns out that trash pickup is it! One crew headed back to Pearlington and picked up construction refuse from houses that had been worked on earlier, the other headed to Turkey Creek (part of Gulfport) to clean up both sides of Rippy Road.

The skies cleared at about 3pm, just as both teams were finishing our work. So we met up in Gulfport and headed down to see what the beach looks like. Turns out it's beautiful!

After this little frolick, we took a tour along Highway 90, the coastal road between Gulfport and Biloxi. Since your main blog photographer was driving, there aren't photos of this amazing journey. Everything -- we mean EVERYTHING is devastated. Huge buildings completely blown out, palm trees uprooted, markers for house slabs because it's not obvious where they are. Folks were comparing it to after Hiroshima, or the predictions of classic movies like The Day After. Of course, what's being rebuilt quickly? The big casinos.

We drove around Biloxi a bit and were amazed at how completely wiped out it was -- still. Very little rebuilding of homes. There was one option for local eating in East Biloxi -- none in West, except for chains. If you need a Waffle, MIssissippi is the place to come. You can't say "Waffle House" in the time it takes to get from one to another.

After dinner, we headed back to Turkey Creek to join the Winchester group again. We watched a locally-made documentary about the effect of Katrina on Mississippi, then heard more from Derek Evans. He's a powerful speaker, and very well-informed -- we're thinking we want to host him as a speaker at home, and his organization is definitely going to be the recipient of the rest of the Chocolate Auction and special offering money. There's so much to tell that it's hard to figure out how to summarize!

One of the most inspiring things here is the fact that everyone running the relief and recovery operations are long-term volunteers. No one is getting paid to do this, It's really mind-boggling that the whole relief/recovery effort has been done by volunteers.

sunset on mardi gras

2007-02-20T22:38:00.000-05:00

We began our day in Metairie, with a parade of huge floats. Got lots of beads. Heard lots of the same songs over and over. It was a good chance to get some got pics of the group, though, so here, except for Andy and Parisa, is our crew in all their glory:

Max and Miles, this one is for you:

We had a hankering for the real New Orleans after Metairie, so we headed uptown to see what we could see. We caught the end of yet another parade, and after just a few smacks to the noggin with the flying beads off the floats, made our way to the French Quarter.

mardi gras: a motrin kind of day

2007-02-20T09:39:00.000-05:00

Here are some additional photos from Monday's work project:

Wishing for a wheelbarrow? Put it together yourself!

Nikki was the champ with the wheelbarrow, pushing loads of dirt that must have weighed three times what she does. All of our youth are great with a shovel, a pick, and a wheelbarrow. Don't tell B&G!

It was much warmer last night, and is definitely warmer today. We passed on an invitation from the camp folks to leave with them at 4am to stake out space on a parade route in New Orleans. They strongly recommended that we leave at 6am; we strongly declined again. We're taking our chances with leaving at about 9am.

Elise woke up this morning and proclaimed it "a motrin kind of day."

We didn't mention that red clay dirt is really heavy, and our job yesterday was moving it around and trying to get it to comply with plans (and appropriate slope) for a wheelchair ramp and a level play area (sort of a landing between spans of the ramp) for Alexis, the 9 year old with spina bifida who will call this house home. The hope is that work will be done by the end of this week so the family can move out of their FEMA trailer and into their new home next week.

Last night we went to Gulfport with the Cantabridgians and joined the impossibly large Winchester group (60 of them!) for dinner and a presentation from Jinnie Tribulsi, the local volunteer coordinator, and Derek Evans, a local resident (who lived in Roxbury for years) who started the Turkey Creek Community Initiative, and advocacy organization that has recently branched out to house and dispatch volunteers.

As Jinnie put it, there were two disasters that happened with Katrina: a natural disaster, which hit Mississippi, and a civil engineering disaster (the breach of the levees), which hit New Orleans. Folks in MIssissippi have become embittered at the level of attention New Orleans has gotten, and have been quite forgotten by much of the rebuilding efforts. It's clear that very little rebuilding has been accomplished here-- but there are ample brand-new casinos lining I-10. We'll be hearing more about that tonight and helping with some of the advocacy work later in the week (in preparation for a hearing that Congresswoman Maxine Waters will be holding on Friday to ask for some accountability for the spending of federal relief money).

Today, we're off to see what we can of Mardi Gras, and then back to Gulfport for some more learnin'.

Lundi Gras

2007-02-19T18:45:00.000-05:00

The world of Unitarian Universalism is small indeed, but mighty! We were on the same flight from Newark as Gini Courter, the UUA moderator. Meeting her at the airport and getting a shot of her inspiring energy was a great encouragement after a long day of travel!

We finally arrived at Camp Coastal and settled into our bunks by about 1am. We didn't find out until the morning that this is what our cabins look like:

It was a cold, cold night. So we were happy to make it to the dining tent in the morning, where a gigantic heater and lots more people helped us warm up.

"Success is not measured by the goals achieved, but by the obsticles overcome while achieving the goals" Booker T Washington. That statement is printed in the Camp Coastal office. Below it hang 10 clipboards, each holding the paperwork for a home rebuilding project that the Camp is involved with. There's a photo on the coversheet of each, showing the property that is being worked on. Clipped underneath each clipboard are index cards with tasks left to complete on each project. Most of the projets are in Pearlington, which is only a few miles inland from the Gulf. We are working on a project to build an access ramp for a wheelchair, and driveway, and a patio. We worked with the group from First Parish in Cambridge. We spent the morning getting organized, buying additional tools at the Home Depot in Waveland, and figuring out what 30 or so adults and youth need to do. By the end of the day we had most of the driveway and access ramp, and all of the patio built up and graded.

(this post was by Andy and Parisa)

2007-02-18T16:59:00.000-05:00

Here's the crew just before boarding our flight out of Boston. We made it on to the plane and all the way to Newark, where we've got a layover before the flight to New Orleans. It's looking like there is a lot we'll be playing by ear as we make our way through the week. We're all in the slow process of letting go of the rest of life to arrive at our destination: remembering things that should have gone in the mail, tv shows that needed to be dv-r'ed, things we meant to pack and didn't. By the time we arrive in New Orleans, we will have made our peace with it, and will be ready to face the next challenge: making the journey to Kiln, Mississippi in our rental vans.

Our final destination in Camp Coastal Outpost: www.campcoastaloutpost.org

We're only a third of the way there, Christa points out, and all is well so far!

2007-02-13T15:00:00.000-05:00

We'll build a land

2007-02-13T14:04:00.000-05:00

Twelve of us from First Parish in Milton will leave for our first trip to be part of relief efforts on the Gulf Coast on Sunday February 18th. It's a big step for our congregation to make a trip away as part of our social action efforts, and a big step for many of us who are going to enter into unknown territory, to do work we may not feel qualified to do, and to be with fellow church members we may not know all that well. You could say it's a leap of faith.

On Sunday, we read a responsive commissioning during worship, a sign that we share the same mission whether we are at home or away, and that this in particular is a mission that takes the values we celebrate in worship on Sunday into the world far from our doors. It went like this:

All: Our faith calls us to witness by our actions the
promise of building a just, peaceful, compassionate world.
We do this as individuals in our daily lives when and where we can.
We do this as a community by sending forth those among us
who are willing and able, to bear witness to the struggles
of our brothers and sisters, and to offer solidarity
through their presence and action. Congregation:
We send you forth with our blessings and support,
eager to hear of your journey and expand our growing faith
through your action. Gulf Coast Team:
We go forth lifted up by the support of this community,
mindful of the fact that we represent First Parish in Milton
and our free faith as we make this journey.
We commit to returning to share our journey with you,
and extending our new understandings to the work we do in this community.

The twelve of us have been preparing to make this journey slowly over the last several months. I think it's just setting in for most of us that we will actually be in Kiln, Mississippi at this time next week. This blog will be a place where we can post our reflections as we make the trip, and share photos with the congregation during the week we are away. We hope this can be an interactive experience, with readers posting questions and responses to our posts -- either during or after our trip.