Andrew Genszler Director for Domestic Policy ELCA Washington Office

There is a lot of false hope here in the Big Easy. Many residents note wryly that the actual immediate storm force of Katrina just missed the city. People were gathering with friends and relatives in backyards to celebrate this near miss when their collective “phew!” was submerged under an enormous water surge a day later.

Two national developments also spoke of false expectations here today. It was announced that close to $1 billion in government grant money was given to the wrong people and spent on a number of things not related to disaster relief. FEMA volunteer camps have charged non-profits $100 per day for the facilities before pulling up stakes a few weeks ago. We also heard that Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson is unveiling his new housing plan for the city - especially addressing new ideas for low-income housing. People are expectant, but wary.

I was taking a photo of a long row of cars under a highway bridge and a guy standing there looked over. I don’t know if he was referring to my hit and run photo or the cars when he said, “hard to know what to believe nowadays.”

“Katrina did not do this to us,” said Pastor Ron Unger of Christ the King Lutheran Church. Tell people that. The storm had abated when the levees built by the corps (Corps of Engineers) broke and the waters rushed in. People are still debating about the partial admission of responsibility from the Corps of Engineers last week.

So there is hope, offered by salesmen, presumably resting on renewed commerce, and then there is Hope, as in faith, hope and love; organically grown fruits of the Spirit that rise out of the Gospel and its grateful workers.

It matters that FEMA money was misspent, trailers have yet to arrive and their volunteer camps are leaving too soon. It matters that a concentrated large number of people flooded out in this city are a color other than white and living in poverty. It matters that Jefferson parish allegedly did not send rescue workers to Orleans parish, 100 yards and a canal away. It matters that contractors are moving in and gouging homeowners for materials and work at three times the normal price.

But we shouldn’t diminish our Christian vision because of these reports. Our best house-to-house relief efforts need the fundamental help of the government, if only because of the scale, but also because Martin Luther called government a potential divine gift and instrument when it is used for the good of all.

Carol Flores, LSSS Camp Noah director, told me that to really get what I was seeing in a neighborhood, I needed to always consider how a place should look - what it was, but also what it should be. There is Christian vision, there is hope, in that statement.

Let’s talk about government - but also talk to the government about accountable, efficient, and responsible policies for people least able to change its course. Let’s talk about hope, but let’s plant our hopeful vision in the good soil of Gospel reconciliation and biblical justice. A new New Orleans will not be a new Jerusalem. That is God’s work. But a new New Orleans can be a witness that God’s work is being done through us. Here. Now. Hopefully.

Sincerely,

Drew Genszler

	A stoop stands in for what was and for what might be rebuilt in the 9th Ward near a levee breach.

	An elevated stretch of Route 10 serves as cover for a long line of wrecked cars towed there for storage.

	A partially reconstructed house standing in north central New Orleans near a levee breach displays its opinion over the garage.

	A FEMA trailer camp for displaced people patrolled by a guard. I was allowed to take a photo from the neutral ground of the median in the street.