In addition to the resources of the Bible, our prayer book and hymnals, which are always available, here is a suggestion for a congregational gathering you may find useful.

• Gather the congregation at a mealtime.

• Evening is probably best, but if breakfast or lunch works better for your community, choose one of those hours.
• Provide a meal, simple but abundant. If possible, have it simply arrive without announcement. Pot-luck if necessary. Avoid the temptation to charge. This meal should be a reminder of how God provides.
• If there is live television coverage on the air, have a TV set turned on in the gathering space.

• Have something to nibble and sip available as people arrive.

• When the community has gathered, invite people to take their places at table.

• Read a brief passage from the Gospels; something about the abundance of God’s grace.

• Invite the community into a time of prayerful conversation.

• Encourage the community to recall what has happened.
• Invite people to share their responses and feelings.
• As it seems appropriate, punctuate the conversation into a moment of prayer.
• When the conversation has finished, conclude with a collect.

• Serve the meal.

• Encourage people to talk about the kind of response the community and its members might make to the disaster.
• Provide a means of gathering those suggestions for the benefit of congregational leadership.

• When the meal is over, offer a prayer of thanksgiving.
• Sing a hymn.
• Dismiss the assembly.

When we are forced to witness an event in which our brothers and sisters suffer, our confidence in the possibility of life is threatened. We need the opportunity to gather in order to share our feelings and concerns and to organize a response. The outline presented here suggests a eucharistic model in which to frame the event. Praying in a time of crisis, in the context of an ample meal, reminds us that God promises a life of abundance. The meal we share reminds us that we are responsible to be the agents of God’s grace for those who suffer in the Gulf Coast.