A Final Reflection by Pastor Zorn

It is good to be back home and especially good to be sleeping in my own bed after a week in the top bunk that did not accomodate me comfortably in Slidell! It is difficult to put these hurricane relief trips into words. Somehow, "great," "awesome," and "wonderful" just don't seem to be appropriate in light of such grief and destruction. Given the nature of our work and the people and stories that we encounter, it feels inappropriate to offer any words that convey positive feelings.
Within the context of that spirit, I would simply offer that I am grateful for our Church, the ELCA, and for our church, Lutheran Church of the Resurrection. The ELCA is still a very visible presence in this part of our country that has a long way to go to restoration. In Louisiana, where the Roman Catholic Church and the Baptists are dominant, people are learning about Lutherans. Our mission is not one of knocking on doors, but rather, is a witness of sharing God's love through tangible acts of kindness. Many people in the Gulf have told us that the Lutherans have been one of the most prominent groups involved in Katrina relief.
Lutheran Disaster Relief (LDR) is well organized and will be on the scene for years to come. In partnership with Peace Lutheran, Slidell, they are constructing a building to house fifty relief workers. At Gethsemane Lutheran, Chalmette, the church that we worked on, they are converting some of their preschool space into dormitories and showers to house relief workers there. Their pastor explained that the mission of their church has changed midstream and they are reacting to new "opportunities" brought about by Katrina. This church will be the light of Jesus in the darkness of Chalmette for years to come and residents there will come to know Jesus through acts of love and kindness carried out by the members of Gethsemane.
I asked one of the LDR coordinators if this week (Thanksgiving) will be a slow week for them. To the contrary, she said they are staffed up for several large groups, over fifty people, from Lutheran congregations across our nation that will spend their Thanksgiving week doing relief work!
I am also thankful for our congregation. We have completed our third relief trip and twenty-five different people have participated, many of them in more than one trip. We are already talking about trips in 2007; there will probably be two more.
While I just can't put positive words on the relief experience, I will say that I am grateful for the ELCA and equally grateful to be pastor/member of Lutheran Church of the Resurrection. Sometimes we wonder why the word "Evangelical" appears in ELCA. While we may not be an evangelical church that knocks on doors, we are nevertheless, evangelical in our works of kindness and love in the Name of Jesus who is Lord.