It has admittedly been far too long after the beginning of this program since I have started this blog, but I am truthfully very anxious to share my seemingly small and unimportant thoughts with the larger world. I will try in this next year to push my experiences and stories out into the internet world in hopes my small sparks can start a fire. So, instead of playing catch up, I will begin with my current state during my orientation of New Orleans in these first days.
In the past few days we have been watching a movie called “When the levees broke” and it has been a gut wrenching and uncomfortable but entirely necessary experience. Perhaps not unlike this year of intentional community and service. I will be working with a site placement where I will have the opportunity to serve my neighbors who still grieve the effects of Hurricane Katrina, poverty, violence, and a disappearing wetland. I will also have the opportunity to dance in the streets joyfully with those same neighbors in the vibrant and unique celebrations of Mardi Gras, Jazz Fest, or a passing Second Line. This particular program in New Orleans offers so many opportunities for me to engage the city on many different levels and seek God in all of the tension between sorrow and celebration within the roots of this magnificent place. I think this idea brings me an immeasurable amount of excitement but also trepidation. These people have been through so much tragedy and suffering within the past 10 years of recovery and I have sat idly by as the world bustled by around me unbothered. However small my contribution I am ready to insert and immerse myself into this vibrant and resilient culture.
In the past few days we have been watching a movie called “When the levees broke” and it has been a gut wrenching and uncomfortable but entirely necessary experience. Perhaps not unlike this year of intentional community and service. I will be working with a site placement where I will have the opportunity to serve my neighbors who still grieve the effects of Hurricane Katrina, poverty, violence, and a disappearing wetland. I will also have the opportunity to dance in the streets joyfully with those same neighbors in the vibrant and unique celebrations of Mardi Gras, Jazz Fest, or a passing Second Line. This particular program in New Orleans offers so many opportunities for me to engage the city on many different levels and seek God in all of the tension between sorrow and celebration within the roots of this magnificent place. I think this idea brings me an immeasurable amount of excitement but also trepidation. These people have been through so much tragedy and suffering within the past 10 years of recovery and I have sat idly by as the world bustled by around me unbothered. However small my contribution I am ready to insert and immerse myself into this vibrant and resilient culture.