Our church and school community invite you to share in the rebuilding
of this place we call St. Paul’s, a place of joy and service,
and also once a place of beauty. For we believe with all our heart
that this “place” can be an anchor of hope and provide
a loving support system for not just ourselves, but all our returning
neighbors in the aftermath of Katrina and the flood.
Most of us have lost our homes. Many have lost their businesses.
But we will come out on any Saturday and spend the day working
to restore this place called St. Paul’s. A friend from far
away called with an idea to help and was relaying the story of
the year she had spent in Krakow, Poland after the city had been
98% destroyed by war. The faithful rose amidst the rubble to first
rebuild their churches. She remarked she did not know if that
would have been her own priority in the situation. But when asked
what if it had been her church that had been destroyed, she stopped
short. And what if it had been your church? Your place of joy,
of service, of spiritual beauty, challenge, and confidence? A
place where, as St. Paul’s mission statement says, welcomes
all, fosters an environment of love and trust, nurtures spiritual
growth through worship, education, and fellowship, and…empowers
its people to participate in ministry.
Dear friends, wherever you are as you read this, St. Paul’s
is your church. Lakeview is your neighborhood. New Orleans is
your city. It will become what you want it to become. It is not
enough for just those of us who remain to want this “place”
rebuilt. You must want it also. We invite you again to become
a part of an outward sign of an inner grace with us as we rebuild.
We invite you to share our hope, our faith, our joy!
Our immediate need remains one for financial support. Dollars
contributed to our Restoration Fund are truly sacramental for
they represent your care and concern for us and enable us to progress.
Much of our work must be contracted professionally. The fundraiser
you may hold within your own community is no less a gift than
the wielding of an ax and sledge hammer to knock down mold infested
sheetrock. Yet however you choose to accept this invitation, your
doing so makes real Christ’s love.
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