Cris here - I wanted to write down the thought that I expressed during joys and concerns, more precisely.
This thought occurred to me in a flash while painting a room. The thought was that it was not a group of volunteers that was acting, but the church itself. The moment would not have existed apart from the UUAC (and Follen Church too, of course). We were acting as agents of the congregation. Of course we could act as individuals, or even as a group, which we might imagine in some fantastical thought experiment (individuals and simple groups have clearly done similar work), but the outcome would be much different, and in my case, probably not at all. All that the members of the congregation do, no matter how insignificant it may seem, contributes to the life of the church in ways that cannot always be measured, and the NOLA missions are but one outcome of the life of the church. No truly accurate appraisal of anyone's contribution is possible. Nobody can know, not even I can, the sum total of the factors that keep me attending church and that converged to motivate me to go to New Orleans along with the others. Of course I am conscious of some of the factors. I always remember that it is something of a privilege to have the resources to leave my family for a week. Also it is clear that the actions of some individuals are more causally effective than others, in ways that can be observed. But beyond that, I was aware at that moment that I was most of all the agent of a body of human beings whose united effect is larger than the sum of its parts.
At the same time we are drawn to New Orleans by a powerful force. This force can't be known precisely either. But the community of New Orleans as such, visible to us in isolated glimpses, has a power that draws us to them and takes us in, accepting our offer of help and enriching us at the same time. (Anybody who has spent a few minutes talking to me about community knows that I do not use the word lightly.) Just as in the situation on our side, sometimes we can see the contributions made by some people. The individuals and families who graciously accept our help, the mostly anonymous members of the FUUNO congregation, the NOLA based workers, and others are the people we can identify who exemplify the New Orleans community. Beyond that one can only imagine the vast numbers of people whose actions indirectly draw us to this glittering city with facets that range from nightmarishly terrible to supremely beautiful, and which unfortunately happens to lie below the sea level.
