Major Moves: Crossing the River

On my way out of Terre Haute toward Nashville last Saturday I saw lots of familiar sites, I went through lots of construction zones, which Governor Mitch Daniels was happy to remind me that this construction was a part of Indiana's "Major Moves" program. I drove past the big peach and the giant Santa Claus, things I've seen several times before. As I crossed the Ohio River, I realized I was stepping into more unfamiliar territory. After a Katie Couric-worthy series of goodbyes in Terre Haute, I was off to live for a year in a place I had never been. It was a feeling sort of like what Peter might have been feeling when Jesus invited him to step out into the water and walk--a major move in itself.

It's now Tuesday of my first week with the Nashville Epiphany Project. This is our orientation week, before we start our job placements on Monday. We took another major move across the river --the Cumberland this time-- this morning when we ventured into East Nashville for the first time. The house I live in with my three fellow Young Adult Volunteers (more on them later) is very small, and is nothing to look at from the outside, really, but is very adequate for our needs, and will definately allow us to become a community this year. The neighborhood we live in is quite a contrast to our house. The Green Hills section of Nashville is, to put it bluntly, where the rich folks live. The homes in our neighborhood are mostly quite large, have walls with gates and well-manicured lawns. When I've been out taking walks, I've noticed the abundance of BMWs on the streets. The place we went this morning was a contast to be sure.

The Martha O'Bryan Center was founded by Presbyterians in Nashville over 100 years ago. It currently sits in the middle of public housing projects where the median annual income is $4400. Crime and drugs are major problems in this area. Our job this morning was to deliver Meals on Wheels to the residents of the neighborhood served by the center. Our group delivered to three routes (Susan by herself and the others of us in pairs). Each route had a sheet with very specific instructions for how to get from house to house, and which houses had people who couldn't get to the door very quickly, and which ones had "dogs that will try to bite you," and those with a friendly dog named Pepper. This morning's experience will be much like the experience we will have nearly every day in Nashville, and like the one each of us faced in moving to a place we had never even visited (only one roommate had been to Nashville before Saturday). Leaving the comfort of safe and familiar surroundings to cross over the waters with Christ who makes himself known in the poor and oppressed of this world will happen every day for us as we go to serve those in need this year. I know it will be a transforming experience.


I will be blogging more often once my new computer comes. I made it to the library today so I could reconnect with the world for an hour or so on one of their computers. We continue orientation this week with a dinner tonight with the NEP committee and pastors of Second Presbyterian. We will have a scavenger hunt around Nashville and visit the agencies where we will be working (the Campus for Human Development for me: www.chd-nashville.org) tomorrow. I'm looking forward to sharing the exiting adventures we have already had with navigating around our small house and with the local wildlife. I'll also post more details about what I'm doing and who is here with me as time and computer availability (there is a one hour limit here at the library) allows.