Homecoming

Flying above the Mississippi River, suspended between New Orleans and Minnesota, on Saturday night, on the way home, I began to once again appreciate what the thirty one Hamline people left behind and what we were entering. We left behind a few more cleaned up homes. We left behind people we now care about: Elenora, Tony, Vance, Clifford, Sarah, Allison, Miss Jo Ann, Miss Jeanette. We left behind a devastated city. We left behind the raw suffering. We left behind debris and mold and tyvek suits and masks and streets without streetlights and stores that are still boarded up and schools that still aren't full of children.
We carry with us the commitment to care, to change the physical circumstances, to unlearn our preconceptions. We carry with us the task of staying open to New Orleans while we pick up our studies, our friendships, our everyday tasks. We carry with us a changed and deepened understanding of how to perceive racial and class injustice. We carry with us a deepened understanding of what sustains each of us in the face of such tragedy. We carry with us the experience of stepping into a community that recovers, rebuilds, renews. We are part of that community.
I thank each person on the trip, and those reading this blog, for representing Hamline well, for your patience and suggestions. I know that many will return to New Orleans or to other places on the Gulf. I trust that everyone will continue to contribute to the life long challenges of bringing love and justice into our lives.