Mission by mail

Social media is a very mixed bag, but sometimes it can bring people together in the way most of us once hoped it would. That’s what happened recently when I joined a Facebook group promoting a shared interest in the culture of New Orleans.

The group boasts close to 200,000 members, (you heard that right!) from all over the world. Some are fellow or former residents of Greater New Orleans, while others have found themselves resonating with the city’s vibe during a visit. Of course, there are plenty of people planning their first trip or hoping to experience it all some time in the future. Suffice it to say that the city’s fan base is huge.

And I completely understand. When we moved here in 2018, we were pleasantly surprised. It was easy to dive headfirst and with gusto into most everything the culture has to offer. For us, the adventure has been not only educational, but exhilarating. Still, after nearly six years of exploration and discovery, we aren’t experts by any measure. In fact, my reason for joining the online group was to learn more.

For people who don’t live here, Mardi Gras engenders a lot of interest and even more questions. Most of our lives, Fat Tuesday was simply the day before Ash Wednesday. And while that is technically correct, the first time we experienced it in New Orleans changed our perception entirely. The truth is that we had no idea of how clueless we were about what the carnival season looks like where it’s celebrated in earnest.

I’m not sure anyone could grasp the scale of what goes on here without witnessing the city’s explosion of joy firsthand. In an effort to share it, I posted a simple offer to members of The New Orleans Culture group Facebook page on Mardi Gras Day. “If you’re willing to pay shipping, I’m happy to send you a flat-rate box of ‘throws,'” that is, beads, toys and other parade trinkets traditionally thrown to the crowds at one of our city’s more-than-50 parades.

In the first three hours, close to 40 requests came in. There was the man in Texas who missed the stack of festive cups every New Orleans home has collected. An Alabama woman and her 88-year-old mother who had watched several parades together on the internet. A church volunteer in Kansas City busily planning a family event. A mother and daughter in Tulsa who weren’t able to travel this year because both of them had required surgery. A woman who has felt sad on Mardi Gras for almost two decades because she had been permanently dislocated by Hurricane Katrina. And another in the Pacific Northwest who loves everything about New Orleans but hasn’t yet been able to make it here in person.

For some, the city I live in was once home, or part of a warmly remembered personal past. For others, it is a mysterious place to dream about and imagine. Whatever the case, it seems that the prospect of receiving a tangible piece of New Orleans is giving them something far more valuable than the items they will find in the boxes that arrive at their doors.

I did not expect that the promise of a box of trinkets sent by a stranger could become a mission. But that is precisely what has happened. And why not? God can and does use anything and everything to reach us, to communicate his love, to connect us to one another. It seems that a mission to spread the joy of the Gospel can be conducted by mail.

Memories and dreams are powerful and every one of us has them. What we don’t necessarily have is people in our lives with whom we can process or share them. What we catch in life is intended to be shared. Our family has managed to accumulate wagon loads of stuff at Mardi Gras parades. (My 89-year-old mother is an absolute Throw Queen.) This Lent, it will bring pure joy to 30 strangers. And while I don’t expect I’ll interact with any of them again, I suspect the packages they receive will make every one of them feel seen and loved.

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