60 months ago Meg Griffiths, Stacey Jonas, and I sat around 3014 Saint Thomas Street praying and imagining just how we were going to make this idea of an urban ministry work in post-Katrina New Orleans. We were joined by Jessica Mueller those first few weeks and our adventures were magnified by experiences with high school students from Merion High School and St. Ignatius College Preparatory.
     June 2006 has quickly turned into June 2011. We have hosted monthly gatherings for folks working to recover the city of New Orleans, offered hospitality to well over 120 people for private retreats and at least 100 thoughtful response teams for service and reflection. Contemplatives in Action has connected social justice activists to communities in need and has helped to resource a network of non-profits and staffs of volunteers. We, like most everyone in New Orleans during this special moment of history, have been deeply engaged and associated with major change, renewal, and hope for better communities.
     Although we began this ministry knowing our role was temporary, this decision to dissolve brings its many joys and its many griefs. We grieve the loss of an intentional retreat space in a city that suffers from overburdened leaders, a history of racism and classism, the effects of Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent flooding of New Orleans on neighborhoods already or close to blight, and still years of back-breaking rebuilding. And yet we celebrate the joy of the process, how God's plan unraveled each day through the people that crossed our paths, the work we were able to be a part of, and the stories we were able to listen to.  We trust that the end of CIA as a 501c3 does not mean the end of the spirit of trustworthy companionship and a community attentive to God's desire in their lives.  
     We have learned much and are still desperate to become better people, better friends, better ministers, better administrators, better companions along this journey of faith.
     I was pleasantly reminded yesterday of our "anniversary" as friends greeted us warmly and showered us with greetings of "Happy Birthday!" on Facebook. We pray that our birthday may truly point to the re-birth day of a thriving city amidst a world broken by injustice and violence yet filled with many opportunities of light and love.
     As people of faith, we celebrate the Feast of the Ascension. We believe that Christ ascended into heaven. I can't help but pray that on this 40th day of Easter we come to a better, enlightened understanding of our relationship with a triune God whose humanity we imitate, divinity we gain inspiration and direction from, and now whose spirit we breathe and experience life in its fullest. We are a people in need of enriching relationships built on trust and respect. Now, just as the original disciples before us, we spend time coming to understand just how we have been taught by Christ, broken bread with Christ, been present with others as Christ was, is and will be, and come to know God better through Christ, and now have died with Christ.

     So, it is with much gratitude that we say goodbye. Thank you to ALL of you who have helped to resource a FREE urban ministry in post-Katrina New Orleans. Thank you to our donors, members of our intentional community throughout the years, full-time and part-time CIA agents and volunteers, non-profit partners within our network and beyond it. I share the same sentiment with Paul as he states in his letter to the Ephesians (1:17-18): "I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you..."
     And we continue to be a people committed to building a more just world.

 

Peace and many blessings to you all!

Jocelyn