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Throughout the past five cities…

February 3, 2009 | posted by Jon under united states, updates

…..we’ve encountered church in its many manifestations. Hospitable, worshipful, solemn, uninviting, impersonal, friendly, interested, uncaring, alive, thriving, and bold. In each of the days of riding between New Orleans, LA and Port Arthur, TX, we have either stayed in or been provided for by some faith-based organization, and it’s been an interesting journey. Lars and I have been discussing our recent church sampling over the hours we spend on our bikes everyday, and we wanted to share some of the insights and also questions from our time spent moving from congregation to congregation. Here’s the rundown:

New Orleans, LA : Iglesia Amor Viviente

The Big Easy - a city of contrasts. Bourbon Street blocks away from the Catholic church on Jackson Square, thousands of church-goers and practicing witches, Mardi Gras and Lent. A mixture of cultures, customs, and religions that is evident in the city’s cuisine and music. While in New Orleans, we stayed in a luxurious 4 bed, 2 bath apartment provided by Iglesia Amor Viviente in Metairie, just outside the city. Their church was doing a week of prayer and fasting along with nightly meetings to worship and pray together. We joined them in two of the services, but unfortunately not in the fasting :). The church experience there was alive, caring, and interested in our journey, recommending contacts for us in Latin America as well as where the best shrimp Po’ Boys could be found. I continue to be surprised and renewed by the diverse group of people that associate themselves with the term “Mennonite.”

Morgan City, LA : Ministerial Alliance

A town of industry, much of the business route into Morgan City was dominated by shipping and oil structures. We eventually found our way to The Healing Center Fellowship - a non-denominational church pastored by John Smilie (yes we liked his last name, too). His wife, Jean, took us in and offered something to drink while John told us about the Ministerial Alliance - a coalition of churches in Morgan City who fund food and hotel vouchers for “transient” people such as ourselves. So after a short background check, we were eating McDonald’s and staying in a hotel courtesy of the churches of Morgan City. As delighted as we were to encounter this program (and, being recipient, we can’t knock the program), it raised some questions for us. Is this program, wonderful as it is, doing the work of the church in a less personal manner? Is there anything lost when buying a hotel room for someone rather than hosting them in your church or home ?

Abbeville, LA : St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church

Abbeville is 90% Catholic. Not all practicing, but it certainly seemed that way as we pulled into town right before the 4 PM Saturday mass. Cars were parked triple wide on the street, but it didn’t matter. Almost everyone was going to church. So, naturally, we did too. After the service, (and realizing that I hadn’t been to enough Catholic services to know when to do what), we got to talking to Father Don, who led the worship that day. In ten minutes we were in his car headed for one of the nicest seafood restaurants in town. In two hours we were full of great seafood and had a hotel room for the next two nights. That was how Father Don was. You couldn’t refuse his hospitality. He didn’t give you a chance, and you had to have a good reason not to accept. His hospitality knocked our combined socks off, and we laid on our hotel beds bewildered, wondering how we so quickly went from a church service with no place to go to a hotel room with 2 continental breakfasts to look forward to. God is good, and sometimes more than good for no apparent reason. How can we emulate the grace and “pushy” nature of Father Don’s hospitality? How does it become so natural that it seems rude to decline?

Lake Charles, LA : First Methodist School

After trying our public library standby, and getting turned down by two huge churches telling us “they weren’t equipped to host us,” we decided to try a preschool connected with a Methodist Church in town. Unconventional, but it worked. The director, Sharon, let us in and gave us a 1/2 gallon of grape juice and four Lean Cuisine microwave dinners, which were delicious. After dinner we spent the night in the Frog Room, next to Dora the Explorer Huggies and LOTS of colorful laminated signage. So why did we get invited in by a preschool and refused by churches with gyms, weight rooms, and intramural sports? What should the church’s response be to people like us? What message does “not being equipped” send?

Port Arthur, TX : The Rock Community Outreach Center - Assemblies of God

According to Pastor Baugh, pastor of The Rock Community Outreach Center, the town of Port Arthur was planned on the basis of witchcraft and used to be entire white upper class. That has since changed, and the booming oil town of yesterday has gone and with it a “white flight” occurred. The town is now mostly people of African American, Latino, and Vietnamese decent, with quite a few rundown housing projects. We arrived in Port Arthur early, and were trying to decide our next steps when a man at the corner gas station recommended a church two blocks away. So we stumbled upon The Rock. The pastor answered the door, and we soon had a nursery to stay in for the night. Pastor Baugh told us many fascinating stories of passing out food and clothing in the projects, as well as prostitutes and drug dealers weeping when he told them he was there for them. “You just need to go out there and love people” was a quote of his that stuck with me, and one that I think we can all learn from.

So it has been a whirlwind tour of different beliefs, experiences, cultures, and people these past couple of days. One thing I have come to depend on is God as the Orchestrator of all things. In looking at the constants throughout these 5 cities, one thing that remains is that we were provided for, in some way or another. Where someone dropped the hospitality ball, someone else picked it right up. Not that we’ve come to expect people to take us in, it has just happened to us every day for the past four weeks. Even skeptics should start to see a pattern here….

Another constant is that we met and interacted with people trying to follow God. Each in their own way, and with their own twist on things, but that core desire to live a life pleasing to the Lord remains, and we have seen evidence of that pursuit in many people, each serving as a witness to their own spiritual experience.

May the delicate intricacies of this web of connections, people, cultures, religions, and backgrounds that we are attempting to weave throughout this trip be strengthened and guided by God….