The Churches of the Massachusetts Conference UCC
In Partnership with
Good Shepherd United Church of Christ
Metairie, Louisiana
A modest brick building, across the street from one of the ubiquitous canals of Jefferson and Orleans Parishes (parish = county), houses a spiritual powerhouse of the body of Christ. The people of Good Shepherd UCC know in very personal ways what it means to be the “Wounded Healers.” They know first hand the daily experience of living in the “Cloud of Unknowing.” Most are not able to inhabit their own houses, many have lost their homes, two-thirds of the congregation evacuated - some for good and many just don’t know. There is so very much about which they don’t know - housing, jobs, schools, health, church - they don’t even know where they can gather just to relax, talk and re-create.
 Like victims of a fire, the worst victims of Katrina are left with nothing. Except that, perversely, they can often see the clothing, books, furniture and heirlooms of their lives. But the polluted, bacteria-filled water has left them dragging their life’s treasures out to the curb with tear filled eyes. Houses stand empty with studs holding up the roof and walls like skeletons deserted to the sun and wind. Parks, once graced with live oaks and flowering shrubs, are now encumbered with mountainous ridges of rubble and debris, removed by front end loaders from streets and curbsides. If parks are not filled with the burden of trash then they may be inhabited with subdued groups of tired people in tents or trailers.
Tragically the macabre scene of empty mud coated houses goes on for miles and miles and miles, family after family, neighborhood after neighborhood. Like Ezekiel of the Hebrew Scriptures they can “look out over the plain and it is filled with bones as far as the eye can see.” And I stand in the muddy dust of a well-loved, now dead, front yard and with tears on my cheeks, raise my face to the heavens and mourn: “Lord, will these bones live again?”
Almost three months after the storm, the lower ninth district has just been cleared of debris and wires so that residents can begin to enter, with face masks and clothes covered, to check on their homes and search for the dead.
A city of 400,000 residents has lost 300,000 - people who fled the storm or lost their lives. Cruise ships and house trailers provide FEMA housing for police, fire fighters, teachers and city workers. Businesses - from fast food restaurants to area banks - offer thousands of dollars in “signing bonuses” to those who will commit to a year of work. There are few homes for workers and commuting is expensive. Employers vie for the time and energy of the small remnant of residents. Outsiders stream in with RVs and trailers- all too many of them to reap the bounty from overpriced workmanship.
It is unimaginable - the likes of which this country has never seen, a work for which this country seems totally unprepared.
 What can we do? How can we respond? Four Ways to Respond
Good Shepherd, UCC, one of the UCC churches in greater New Orleans, has committed itself to become a base from which they and we can reach out to churches and individuals as they struggle to rebuild. Their members are awed by the outpouring of concern and help from UCC churches around the country. They are upheld by the network of our prayers.
The Massachusetts Conference UCC has committed to seeking out partnerships within our congregations for Good Shepherd UCC. We hope your local church will chose to join us as a partner.
Now and in the months to come we hope to hold up for you a myriad of possibilities for partnering – both practical and creative ways that you and your congregation can connect and support our brothers and sisters in Christ. (See more detailed list below.)
1) We must reach out financially to help these congregations, that would serve their communities, remain open and functioning for the long task ahead.
Our financial support for Good Shepherd UCC is vital and urgent so that they may revive themselves and be a center of revival for the entire region.
Contributions are needed to:
- Help cover staff salaries
- Pay for church reconstruction, furnishings and supplies (Items are best purchased by Good Shepherd locally so that they are able to choose exactly what they need, avoid shipping costs and help stimulate the local economy.)
- Help cover administrative and leadership costs of work camps
Please send contributions to: MACUCC, 1 Badger Road, Framingham, MA 01701 and note in the memo "Good Shepherd Partnership Project.”
For more information and to sign up to provide specific items from the wish list, contact Andrew Gustafson, Associate Conference Minister for Stewardship & Financial Development at: gustafsona@macucc.org
2) We must reach out in prayer, holding individuals, families and churches in God’s healing light.
- Praying for each individual in the church… Joining their prayer chain…
- A Lenten Meditation Booklet responding to issues of Gulf Coast recovery will be available by the end of January 2006. For a copy by e-mail, contact Rev. Betsy Waters at melizabethwaters@verizon.net
3) We must join them, in work camps, to walk beside them in the long hard task of rebuilding.
- Worcester Area Mission Society, UCC in affiliation with the Mass. Conference will be leading work camps for adults and youth to Good Shepherd April 16-23, 2006. For more information contact the Rev. Shantia Wright-Gray at ShantiaWG@aol.com.
- The Mass. Conference under the leadership of Carl McDonald, Associate for Youth and Christian Education, will be leading a work camp for youth to Good Shepherd in August, 2006. For more information contact Carl at mcdonaldc@macucc.org.
4) We must find ways for them to find respite and renewal as the months and years go on.
- Be a Bed and Breakfast for a couple or family, offer your timeshare or second home for a week…
- Do you have frequent flyer miles you can share?
- Pay a campership for youth to come to the Christian Youth Conference in Ocean Park Maine in August, or a campership to their Conference’s camp in Texas.
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