Then and now

Fifteen years ago, there was this hurricane. Yes, I wrote a novel about that time in the life of some New Orleanians. I titled it The New Normal. In 2020, in the midst of a pandemic, that phrase seems to be on everyone's lips. Even selling a few copies of the book on Amazon, presumably from people searching on the phrase and finding it. 

Back then, an entire city emptied out as people fled to other places. Eighty percent of New Orleans was under water and uninhabitable. The parts that didn't flood were mostly in higher areas closer to the Mississippi River -- hence the phrase "the sliver on the river." I live in that sliver, and my house missed the flood waters by four blocks. 

I wasn't pastor of the First Presbyterian Church at that time -- Cliff Nunn was -- but I had a close relationship with the church. The buildings flooded. Close to three feet of water in the sanctuary, the offices, and the preschool. The nasty dirty water stood in the heat in those buildings for three weeks.

Nobody was sure if the church could ever be restored. But the congregation was still around, and they wanted to be together. Cliff and I talked. I had a double-parlor house that hadn't flooded. He emailed the congregation and said, "We're going to Kathy's house. She has air conditioning."  

And so on the first Sunday of October 2005, World Communion Sunday, thirteen people gathered in my double parlor, and we had a worship service. We met there for the month of October. Then, when the heat finally broke, the steadily growing congregation moved to the upstairs fellowship hall of the church -- which didn't have electricity until Christmas. 

And that's how the congregation came back together after Katrina.

On the third Sunday of May, 2020, the congregation came back together after two months of isolation from the pandemic and worshiped once again in the sanctuary. Twenty-eight people were present, wearing masks and keeping social distance. It was joyous.

Not everyone is comfortable with coming back yet, and that's okay. When they're ready to come back, the church will be there, and they will be welcomed back with joy. Maybe not with a hug. But most certainly with joy.



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