South
Congregational Church
United Church of Christ
Kennebunkport, Maine
|
Music
|
|
South
Congregational Church
|
||||||||
|
Greetings from Biloxi
Preamble - Twenty one of the South Church community head out January 14 for a week of service to Back Bay Mission in Biloxi MS. We are a diverse group ranging in age from 14 to nearly 80 and includes nine high school students. While we have ventured to the Gulf Coast for five years now, all those trips have been based in New Orleans. As funding in that program is now depleted, we join the well established effort of Back Bay Mission (www.thebackbaymission.org) a United Church of Christ specialized ministry which was founded over eighty years ago to serve the poor and marginalized of that area. Since the 1970's, they have included work camps at the core of their housing recovery effort and have a well organized program. We encourage you to take a look at their website to learn more of where we will be, carrying your support in our hearts and living it out with our labor. We will strive to send updates during the week to be posted hereon our South Church website. For your support in fund-raising these recent months and that of our Outreach Board, we are grateful. Friday, Jan. 13 - Welcome to this
electronic diary of the South Church mission trip to Back Bay Mission
in Biloxi MS, a ministry of the United Church of Christ. I arrived today,
a day before our group, after taking my daughter Anna back to college
in PA. I attended the 'wrapping up session' of the groups about to depart,
one from eastern PA and the other of the UCC church in Duxbury, MA. Then
shared dinner with them, learning more of their week of home repairs,
siding, sheet-rocking and caulking. We'll build upon their work most likely
as two homes are ready for interior painting and flooring. A warm welcome
I received from these 'strangers', quickly in tune with a common spirit
we all share. And I anxiously await the arrival of our group tomorrow.
But first, off to the grocery store to get supper and breakfast to get
us started. Saturday, Jan. 14 - Safe and sound,
20 South Church folks arrived (a bit tired from a 7am Portland departure!)
at the airport, rental vans were quickly secured (!?) , drove to Back
Bay Mission buildings via the coast and settle in. Ellen Matten, long
term Mission volunteer, welcomed us and helped orient us to our surroundings.
A new building post 2005 Katrina built specifically for work camps, bunkbeds
in two separate wings with common area between for gatherings and meals;
and full industrial equipped kitchen. Nancy, Mariah, Rev. Charles, Olivia,
Grace and Kristen were on the supper crew; prepped some fine spaghetti,
garlic bread and salad. Ice cream for dessert didn't hurt at all! Great
to see folks jump in and assist the initial crew with dinner, clean-up
found more help. Dayton made up some a pot of coffee. Some headed for
bed early (that is even before half-time…. Yes we have television
access to the Patriot) exhausted from a long day. Great energy and spirit
already present, Back Bay Mission is a new location for all. God is already
present. I met Kenny who works at the Mission, his first day on the job
for the weekend support crew - chatting about who we are and from where.
"COLD I IMAGINE," he said . Sunday, Jan. 15 - We attended First Missionary Baptist Church of Gulfport this morning…. And did we ever go to church !! We still have goosebumps of love and the Spirit. An hour and 45 minute service with singing and prayer and preaching and welcoming spirit , the Afro-American church as rich as anything we have ever experienced!! We couldn't stop talking when evening came. A celebration of our Bible story of heroes on this Martin Luther King weekend, reminding us we are to be the 'next heroes' that God is calling. We had called the church two weeks ago saying we'd like to attend services, and upon arriving we were welcomed in to three pews marked 'reserved' and settled in for ride of the Spirit. Rev. Charles had a heads up during announcements that a spokesperson for the group might bring greetings. When Pastor Sonny Adolf said, 'you're a preacher, right?', up to the pulpit went Rev. Charles simply saying who we were as an extension of Back Bay Mission for the week. We were touched and proud. The service then found is rhythm and energy as organ and percussion and the stories of Abramham and Sarah, Isaac, Jacob and Moses all came alive in the charismatic message of Pastor Sonny. As we move toward closing, we were reminded of Martin King's service and history of our brothers and sisters, a call to accountability for one and all, and as he spoke of life of Jesus who was struck down himself, Pastor Sonny said, "Help me, here...help me now... how do I knnnnoooowwwww he got up again? - because he walks with me.... and he talks to me.... and I know I am his own." But we weren't done. With the closing music of a choir of 40-50 of all ages, Pastor came down
as if to greet the folks at the back of the church.... he came by our
pews, slowed his step and motioned to Rev. Charles (actually twice, as
the preacher from Maine was a bit hesitant it seemed) and asked, "Will
you give the closing prayer, my friend; come right up front to the pulpit,
offering the closing word?" With a continuing chorus of 'Amen' and
'Tell us more' and 'We're listening', Rev. Charles reminded one and all
that it is a long ways between Maine and Mississippi, a long ways between
our homes but- not so far anymore. We were reminded that we are the paint
but God is the artist, revealing yet a picture of what is to come. And
might there be peace We were still talking as we made up sandwiches back at the mission building, together headed down the road a couple miles to the Katrina Memorial where we met a woman who rode out the storm in her home five miles inland, how she couldn't tell her elderly mother she had survived for another three days because even the police and rescue personel had no cell phone connections to anywhere. We went different directions for the rest of the afternoon before having dinner of mighty fine chicken, mashed potatoes, and salad done up by Jane, Joe, Hannah, Sue, Dayton, Nancy, and Caroline. Warm brownies (another food group) led us into a leisurely and spirited time of reflecting upon the day and final words of prepping for our first day of work tomorrow. As Pastor Sonny reminded us, 'You got a story to tell.' And so we shall. Monday, January 16 - Today began early with meet our site leaders, safety orientation then to the worksite. However, with Martin Luther King, Jr holiday, we took a couple hours off to join the wider community to attend a parade of honor and celebration of this great leader. With 110 units participating (schools, bands, civic organizations, churches and more) we were touched and awed by being a witness - to say nothing of the festive spirit including beads and candies tossed from the parade participants. We watched and wondered and later reflected how novel this experience was for nearly all of us, given either our age or early years of youth or place of our schooling. It was then to Keller Street work site for our bag lunches and rolling up our sleeves. Half our crew worked indoors, scraping plaster and mud off the plywood floors in prepartion for laying flooring in a couple days. On the exterior, four folks worked off scaffolding 25 feet up finishing some painting and the remainder underneath caulking, filling holes and later starting to paint. Sound like backbreaking work down there? Not. For this rebuild is raised up eight to ten feet on elevated stilts, to comply with new codes of highwater flood levels of FEMA and local ordinances. We befriended four young children of next door, and later an ice cream truck rolled down Keller. (A first for some of our youth!) Dinner was home-made chili with corn bread (Maine Diner mix!) Evening
reflections and down time. God is in our being connected upstairs/downstairs
in a common work site, humbling realizing we are working on someone's
home (not simply a house), reminding us of the call to service on this
Martin Luther King, Jr. day of recognition. Tuesday, January 17 - Today was a
full work day. One half the crew at Keller Street, the other at Hoxie
Steet. Both homes are at similar stages, both are up high on stilts and
ready for some paint under the eaves (done on 2 and 3 levels of staging
and/or ladders), final coats of paint on the underside with some foam
spray via Olivia to fill cavities and today making final preps for interior
painting. Most likely Keller Street will begin interior painting tomorrow
and Hoxie did two (three?) rooms all primed today. The hope is in those
rooms to complete first in order to begin laying tile in the next 24 hours. Our people have been tremendous. Living in community is a challenge and while we feel the strain, the learnings and gains far exceed. Shari P., the Mission's Executive Director spent some time with us at day's end. A German 19 year old, long term volunteer here just two weeks, we have befriended (with our youth, it is no surprise) and joined us as we all went out as planned for bbq at a rather funky place - "The Shed". Also joining us this week are Penny and Dean from the national UCC office and David- a pastor as well from eastern PA for a portion of his sabbatical; and former classmate of Rev. Charles. This is a working group, a laughing group, a serious and faith-seeking... God seeking group; one that rises quickly to the occasion to bring in 28 bags of groceries from the car and realizes they / we are participating in something far greater than ourselves. It is humbling, it is exhausting, it is exhilerating..... and it is time for bed! Wednesday, January 18 - Hump day.... traditionally Wednesday is a 1/2 day of work. Keller Street began interior painting of walls with primer as did the Hoxie Street site. It is a bit unusual that both current projects are at similar stages. And speaking of staging, the underside of the eaves are now done on the north side at Hoxie Street.... and ALL the staging (three levels) had to be dismantled and moved to the south side. A job not for the faint-hearted and not exclusively male or female. All hands on deck for this one. After lunch at the Mission building, most folks took off to New Orleans for the rest of the afternoon while another group took a back water river eco- cruise. The guide said towards the end, 'You know if you had asked if people really care about each other either here or in this country, I'd say probably not. But since Katrina, I'd have to say that is no longer the case. We / they do care.' For the New Orleans bound group, the time was primarily spent around Jackson Square which included a visit to Cafe DuMonde and later dinner at Acme Oyster House before a trolley back to the cars. Thursday, January 19 - A full day of work. Both houses now have all ceilings done, all walls primed and now all interior walls done in a soft beige color. Exterior green is being applied at Hoxie Street residence. Amazing how much has been accomplished ! Dinner was done by our youth group, fine potato salad and grilled hot dogs and hamburgers. Dessert was a King Cake from a local bakery and a chocolate cake unexpectedly given to Dayton who was working in the Micah Center (a program geared to coordinate services for the homeless, now open for two years) from a local citizen. Word is that we are in for a large card game of 'Apples to Apples' tonight. Friday, January 20 - Our last day of work, hoping perhaps all our painting of the interior would allow us to start of sub-floor (maybe even laying some tile) in the kitchen and bathrooms. At both sites, however; it was clear that a second coat of paint on the walls throughout was necessary. We wouldn't have been satisfied if it were our homes with many areas where the paint was thin…. It should be no different for these folks. Thus it was back to rollers, trays and brushes. Initial disappointment but no question of what was called for - sometimes life is like that. We did make sure the crews could see each other's work site by end of the day, along with picking up those who worked the morning at the Micah Center (a program coordinating for services to the homeless) who joined us for the afternoon. Both homes now look more and more like homes, clean/crisp white ceilings and a light coffee color for the walls. Folks often have a choice of interior/exterior colors from a list however the design of the house is fairly standard. We were back to the mission building by 4pm for a 'wrap up / reflection session with Craig who oversees the entire program before tacos for supper and closing gathering. Folks volunteered to speak in church on Sunday to begin bringing home the message and the story of how Back Bay Mission has become a part of our daily vocabulary and our faith walk. It is likely too early to process all that took place, images of people and homes, stories still resonating in our minds, places where God is still appearing. It isn't always pretty living in community yet Jesus calls us to find the richness before our eyes and the peace in our souls which await re-birth. For our group of 21, this new birth is now taking place. On building a house, Craig's guiding phrase is; "One nail driven this week is one less to be done next week." The same could be said for each stroke of the paint brush. Saturday, January 21 - Saturday was 'clean up morning' to leave the facilities set for the next group. Rev. Charles got up at 4am for a 6am flight to retrieve his car in Newark, then driving to Maine. We finished up clean-up, three folks did a quick trip to the Jefferson Davis Home just up the road and another group did brunch at "The Waffle House." Flights had some delays (a couple hours across the board with storms up/down the Atlantic seaboard) and Miriah is still awaiting her suitcase, but all returned safe and sound to Maine. And Rev. Charles drove up to the Portland Jetport to see the rest of us off the plane at 11:45pm ! Rev. Charles |
