We started off our Sunday at Pastor Robinson’s churches. He has a two-point charge: St. Paul’s in Biloxi and Pleasant Valley UMC in the Turkey Creek section of Gulfport. The sermons were about prayer, God providing our needs, security, forgiveness, peace, healing, … our everything. The Gentle Giant preached about faith, love, hope and joy in a powerful way. The congregations were filled with singing and Amens. It felt like the Holy Spirit was with us, like we all had exactly what we needed. Pastor Robinson also had an altar call for anyone in need of a blessing today – aren’t we all in need of a blessing, whether in post-Katrina Biloxi or AZ, CT, NY…or anywhere in the world?!
Our team felt blessed by the thankfulness of the congregations. One lady thanked us for not forgetting them, which made my eyes well up. Others said they were happy to see another New York Annual Conference Team. People even waved at our conference Disaster Relief vans on the road. Already we were blessed.
We started work on Sunday afternoon – a small tear-down job on Magnolia Street. Team members John, Bob and Wayne were up on the roof of a house sawing and dismantling, throwing sheets of corrugated tin, tarpaper and wood to the ground, while team members carried the debris to dumpsters. We made good progress and nearly finished between 2:00pm and 5:30pm.
Later in the evening, after dinner we gathered for prayer and debriefing. John led us in a centering prayer based on Psalm 62, verses 5-7 NSRV. Our hope is in God. Then, we each gave a word to describe our day. The following words best describe the team’s collective experience of the day:
Happy – Miss McSwayne was here and some team members saw her for the third year. After Katrina she lost two homes and four family members and she still says she’s blessed. She said she was down in the ashes and we lifted her up.
Gratitude – That we could all be together, all of God’s children black and white, brothers and sisters worshipping as one body.
Passionate – The congregations we worshipped with were so open to God, so enthusiastic in their worship. We’d like to be more like that.
Appreciative – To see faces light up and people waving at our vans. We were so warmly greeting at the passing of the peace during the services.
Juxtaposition and Surprise – Some parts of Biloxi are built back up and others still show the destruction. The down seems desolate, but the pre-Katrina population was 65,000 and is now 60,000. The land seems dry, but is still covered with shells washed up during Katrina.
Cooperation – We all worked together to clear debris from our work site.
Humor – The community laughed off small blips that occurred. They demonstrated taking it in stride, not sweating the small stuff.
Meaning – In all the welcoming and gratitude before we even began there was meaning. Our presence meant something to the community. We felt like we were bringing the right things, caring and hope, not just tools.
Wet – When we finished our days work in the heat and humidity we were soaked. All in all, our day was a blessing. Team Blogger
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This was a day of blessings – two worship services – with great people and fellowship – we shared communion. And also, I personally found a new message of the meaning of the Lord’s Prayer. We also worked as a team today – helping at a site. We were tired, but felt good about our service to others. Marilyn May
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