by Kelly Allen

September 4, 2005 — Sunday, September 4, 2005, The Lord’s Day.

A day of worship. A day to give thanks. A group of 20 or so Presbyterians in Gautier, Mississippi decided to do just that, despite the fact that several of them had lost all or part of their homes, and the contents of their church building lay in piles in the church yard. They gathered in a circle on folding chairs in their darkened sanctuary with their pastor, Chris Bullock, and began their service of worship. Presbytery Executive of South Alabama Samford Turner had delivered a box of hymnals and Bibles and a guitar to the pastor in time for the service. A dog was in attendance and held lovingly and tightly by his owner, a young man who did not know where the dog was during the hurricane.

The congregation softly sang, tearfully, yet confidently “There is a Balm in Gilead” as Rev. Bullock led them on guitar. Chris’ soft voice and sad eyes met those of the congregation as he read from Ecclesiastes Chapter 3: …a time to laugh and a time to weep, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to love and a time to hate. He asked them to listen to a passage in John’s Gospel as well: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? (John 14).” After a few words of reflection, Pastor Chris began to mention names of those who were not present. Members responded with knowledge they had about the whereabouts of their brothers and sisters in faith. We moved into a time of prayer, naming those who were not with them, lifting up names of nearby pastors and giving thanks for the generosity they were seeing and the presence of help and support around them.

An offering was taken. A second basket came around and each person was asked to draw out a name of a church member to pray for each week. I drew Jane. I don’t know whether she was even there this morning, but she will be in my prayers this week.

Pastor Chris offered me an opportunity to speak. Tearfully I told them their whole church was weeping with them in their heartbreak over their church building, their homes, their community, and wanted to support them and their pastor as they recover. Sitting there I was seeing, hearing and smelling the building of the congregation I served in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, which was inundated by water in the “Great Flood of ‘93” It was a flashback to the intense experience of grief, exhaustion, fear, hope and gratitude that can strangely coexist in times of disaster.

Moving toward the “sending out” of his congregation, Rev. Bullock reminded church members to let him know when they were available to volunteer their help to the church, one another and the community. The closing hymn was “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” and we were blessed out into the church courtyard where work began immediately sorting through equipment, furniture and supplies that were drying in the sun. The session was due to meet later that day to set some immediate direction for the congregation.

At 11 a.m. on the same day, David and I arrived in Pascagoula and found the First Presbyterian Church, a stately, grand building that looked deceptively healthy across the street from houses torn apart by the storm. Pascagoula sustained enormous damage of both modest homes and large historic structures. There was a lone car in the debris-strewn parking lot. A door into the church was propped open. We walked into a dark, damp, hallway of he church and began looking around for life. Leaves and small tree limbs, curriculum and buckled carpet lined the hallways. Eventually after a loud “is anyone home?” a small voice shouted “who’s there?” I replied “Presbyterian Disaster Assistance” to which the small voice replied “O Good!” The voice was Marguerite Green, the wife of Interim Pastor Roger Green. Rev. and Mrs. Green were salvaging some items from the pastor’s study before returning home. They had been at the church for Roger to lead them in Sunday worship on the lawn. A group of about 30 parishioners had gathered, with most of the rest of the church members now located far from this decimated community, having relocated with relatives and friends to other communities. Making contact has been a big challenge, but information is slowly trickling in.

In his sermon on this Lord’s Day, Reverend Green spoke of two plateaus. The first would be to say “When I am afraid, I will trust in God.” But our hope would be to move to a more full place of trust in this midst of pain and fear, saying “I will trust, and not be afraid.” Rev. Green shared with the congregation that he felt he had three alternatives personally in responding to this disaster: Alternative 1: turn to drugs or alcohol. This was tempting. Alternative 2: Ask Where is God? How can anyone possibly believe in God after something like this? Alternative 3: believe in an all loving, all merciful God, one who knows our pain because this God has experienced this human pain in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This was the alternative Rev. Green is hoping he and his congregation will be able to turn to.

Rev. Green has received many calls and offers of help. Peachtree Presbyterian Church in Atlanta is sending a small team to the church to determine how their congregation can help. The church building is reparable. The big question is whether the church community as it was will ever be gathered again.