I know I talk a lot about New Orleans on my blog. I guess that's because New Orleans is not just a place you live - if you let it, if you embrace it as a city rather than mock it or look down upon it, it becomes a part of who you are. I feel a confidence that whether I live here 2 years or 20 years, New Orleans will always be a part of who I am.
Tonight I had a great discussion with a group of friends about rebuilding the city. The easy work is mostly done in New Orleans. Anyone who has come down and gutted out a house might not say that it's easy work. I don't mean easy work in terms of physical labor but in personal cost. It's easy to come down and gut out a house. At the end of the day, you've accomplished a goal, you know that you've made something better for some one. Christians have served New Orleans well in this. They came first, they came consitantly and they continue to come. The city would not be in the place it is today without the thousands of people who have come and continue to come. I don't downplay that contribution at all.
Now the hard work comes. Now the resolve that "we will rebuild" has faded into reality. The reality that most of the time it's not safe to walk down the street at night. The reality that you may have something stolen at any time. The reality that the Saints aren't winning this year. The reality that "for sale" signs are popping up everywhere because people can't take it anymore. The reality that the students in our schools probably can't or won't make it to college - and 2/3rds of them don't care. The reality that people are broke, they are tired, they are running out of hope.
So, how does a group of people who are followers of Christ be salt and light in this New Orleans? How do we stand against racism? How do we care about schools for those who don't care? How do we celebrate the good in life? How do we come alongside people who are ready to pack up and leave because they just can't take it anymore?
I don't know the answer to that question - all I know is that we can't be content to play "church" or to have a faith that's personal but doesn't reach out. When I read the story of the early church in Acts I see an amazing community. They celebrated, they gave generously - they risked everything to show Christ to the world. We can't be safe Christians in New Orleans (Christians who focus on our church or organization while naivly saying God will make everything better). The call for those who claim to be fully-devoted followers of Christ in this city is to live out that faith - by loving the city, by being part of the solution, by offering hope, by standing against racism...violence....injustice, by celebrating and inviting others into our celebrations.
Honestly, this kind of Christianity is much harder to live. It's messier. It means that we may work really hard, give lots of time, money and energy while nothing changes. However the alternative is to stay within a Christian bubble - to just be content with the groups we've brought in to rebuild homes. To pat ourselves on the back and say we've "done good" - while a dying world sits at our doorstep. That doesn't sound much like the God we claim to follow....the one who loved us so much that he GAVE his son to bring us life. It's not the Christian that I want to be in this post-Katrina New Orleans.
So my prayer for the Christians of this city is that we would have the courage....not just to stay but to give like never before.....to show a city what it looks like when we are the hands and feet of Christ.
No comments:
Post a Comment