Mission Trip to Mississippi (2)

January 29

One morning while I was in Ocean Springs I needed to run out and get some groceries.  I had to do so early since Bob Stark needed to use my truck to go to a job site.

It was about 7:00 a.m. and I was standing in the one and only open check out line at a Super WalMart (not my favorite place to be – but that’s a subject for a different discussion).  I was about 6 people back in line and it was moving slow.  I don’t know if it was the disgusted look on my face or the volunteer badge I was wearing but a manager came over and said he’d check me out himself at a different counter.  I followed him over and he struck up a conversation with me as he rang things up.

He asked if I was working, “with that Lutheran church up the street.”  I said I was.  He proceeded to tell me that in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, there were only two organizations which had impressed him.  The first was the power company which had crews in working while the winds of the hurricane were still blowing.  The second was “that Lutheran church up the street which has been helping people since the very first day.”

I am so moved by the people of Christus Victor Lutheran Church.  They have given up so much over these last five months.  Their church home no longer feels like a home.  It has been invaded by countless volunteers who treat it differently than they would.  The choir has been pushed from one room to another in search of a practice space.  The “Cry Room” has become an office.  One Parish Hall has become a massive dining room.  The other Parish Hall has become a huge dormitory.  Offices have become bed rooms.  The parking lot is like Grand Central Station.  There is no “quiet” space left. 

The people of Christus Victor have sacrificed comfort for ministry, safety for faithfulness, contemplation for proclamation.  They are a model for all congregations – especially those who aren’t in the middle of a natural disaster.

Of course, faithfulness and proclamation and ministry have a cost.  Fuses can be short and feelings can be hurt.  Legitimate differences of opinion can rise. 

Jesus said, “Pick up your cross and follow me” he didn’t say, “pull the lever on your easy chair, watch the world go by and only look out for #1.”

For our part, I hope we were sensitive to the challenges facing the people of Christus Victor as they seek to do God’s will in the world.  Mike Lucas and Don Truszkowski from our group labored two long days, including late into Friday night, working on both drywall finishing and priming in the sanctuary so that when the people of Christus Victor showed up for worship on Sunday morning it might feel just a little closer to “normal” for their worship on Sunday morning.

The lessons of our experience in Ocean Springs are not just meant for hurricane relief on the Gulf Coast.  They are lessons which we can take back to our own congregations.  Lessons which will, no doubt, challenge our own understanding of what it means to be “the Church.”

Pastor Jay Schrimpf