Thirteen Days

 

A run down of the past 13 days of the 2009 flood of the Red River of the North at Fargo-Moohead, ND/MN. 

 

Friday, March 20 – River @ 18.27 (hit flood stage at about 10 p.m.)

Operations began to make 1.2 million sandbags. At a press conference the mayor announced that flooding was a “serious threat.” While a call was issued for volunteers, I admit that I (like many others) was not all that concerned—it reminded me of the 2006 flooding concerns which were in many ways a “non-event.” I happily engaged in watching NDSU play in their first NCAA D-1 tournament and painted my living room.

 

Saturday, March 21 – River @ 20.28

Public flood awareness meetings were announced, while dike building began, and sandbag making continued The realization was setting in that the flood concern was real and larger than “regular concern” of the past few years. Preparing final details for Sunday, I resolved to put in my share of time at “Sandbag Central.”

 

Sunday, March 22 – River @ 23.70

Calls for volunteers continued. It started to rain and a press conference revealed the prediction of historic river crest of 39-41 feet by the end of the week. I headed to Sandbag Central with my buddy Aaron and put in several late night hours.

Coverage out of the Twin Cities: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zjPL0ePBeg

 

Monday, March 23 – River @ 28.31

After getting things in order at the office I headed to make sandbags. Sandbag Central was full and so they had us shoveling in the parking lot of the Fargodome. My buddy Greg and I helped form an efficient team with a guy who had invented a clever bag filling funnel. At points we were making 8-10 bags a minute at our station! It became an all day affair with periods of rain making it miserable. As the rain continued and evening set in they moved us inside the dry dome. After eleven hours I headed home to sleep and load up on ibuprofen!

 

Tuesday, March 24 – River @ 33.17

With the 24 hour sand shoveling in more than full swing and the report of 450,000 half million bags produced on Monday, Greg and I are sent out to a south Fargo neighborhood to sandbag. We ended up meeting up with friends Wade and Theta and the students from United Campus Ministry. The neighborhood supplemented Salvation Army and Red Cross food supplies and we had the best food of the week! It was hard work, but when those semi-trucks full of sandbag pallets arrived, we all cheered (literally) and got back to work. With colder weather on the way the big push began to get sandbags down before temps dropped.

 

Wednesday, March 25 – River @ 37.34

It was cold and snowing. The day started with city leaders saying that we were 95% done—but by noon higher crests were predicted and Aaron and I were sent out as part of the effort to bring all the dikes up one foot. We were taken on a bus to the neighborhood sandbagged to protect the water intake/filtration plant. The bus ride was surreal—the feeling of living in a war zone began to sink in deep. The snow and cold made the day miserable (and there was no hot beverage to be found on the whole block!). I ended up in the back yard where they were doing the live standup for the NBC Nightly News. I am pretty sure I was in the backdrop working on a line. All week, earthen dikes were put up in places never before in north Fargo where I live. The road along the park and golf course became a dike waist high and higher in some places. The dump trucks rumbling through the neighborhood was eerie at best. Across the city hospital patients, along with elderly and vulnerable people were being evacuated.

The live shot on the Today show was done from that same back yard I was in. If you watch closely the pool house behind the reporter was completely covered by the time we got there after lunch. And no, I cannot find the footage where I was in the shot! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl7TPfi2eos

Here is coverage from CBS and shows an animated map of what would happen if protection failed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CawtARpTnpk

 

 

Thursday, March 26 – River @ 39.98

With city workers dedicated to the flood fight, the streets did not get plowed. They encouraged folks to work in their neighborhoods to continue raising up levels. Warmly dressed, I hiked over to the dikes in my neighborhood (which had previously not been as much of a concern). The snow was supposed to stop the day before, but continued off and on all day. Wade came and joined me on the north side and we topped off dikes and in some places laid new sandbags where previously there was no concern. I had gone home and crawled into warm clothes and under a blanket on the couch to watch the news when I heard the announcement that the crest prediction had been raised again to a possible 43’ and we might need to raise the levels again. Cold and tired it was the first time I was overwhelmed by the situation. I did not have a break down, but it came close! I took a deep breath and waited for official word from the city which came about 8pm. Civilian help “out in the field” was not being requested—the National Guard was taking over the dike building. Feeling helpless, Aaron and I headed out to make sandbags at the Fargodome. When we got there we found out they needed volunteers later so we grabbed a snack from the canteen and found a place to plug in to relieve folks who needed a break. Around midnight, we were going strong and keep on working until 3 a.m. Many friends and neighbors sent their children with one parent (usually mom) out of town as a safety precaution. As we filled sandbags, Aaron declared that we were now living in a “city of men!” The place almost had a party atmosphere.

This video by USA Today gives a great feel for some of the work in the snow and what was going on at the Fargodome:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p64x_h-Gg0Y

 

Friday, March 27 – River @ 40.81

I slept in and woke up to find a neighbors in a few houses on the block moving out! Not just boxes of mementos, but actual furniture (including one guy I saw hauling out his refrigerator!). I called my neighbor Brad to make sure we were not on evacuation notice. He said no. I asked him, “Do they know something we don’t?” That just began a crazy day. We were under travel restrictions and so I stayed in the house went about trying to decide what was important enough to get out of water’s way should a dike fail. A “Code Red” was called in our neighborhood and Brad and I walked over to the dike to help. Everyone else who had been cooped up feeling helpless also came out and I suspect we had around 200 or more people in the back yard of one house! Can anyone say block party? After walking back home, I took side streets to avoid the restricted areas and went to Wade’s for Horbacher’s rotisserie chicken and a little down time watching non-flood related TV—a much needed mental break indeed.

 

Saturday, March 28 – River @ 40.82 – Crest at 1:30 a.m. (40.39 by end of day)

Moving boxes and books continued. I tried to engage in a normal Saturday morning ritual: coffee, my favorite chair, and NPR. Eventually my clergy colleagues Rich, Peg, Wade, and I planned via multiple phone calls a joint service between Edgewood, Faith, and First UM Churches held a First Church. During the historic flood of 1897, the water stopped at the steps of First Church—so we thought it fitting to worship in a place that had not been touched by flood waters. I spent lots of time on the phone checking on church members and getting the word out on the worship plan for the next day. Wade called me to say he thought the river had crested. I thought he was crazy. Turns out he was right. He happened to be on the NOAA website right as they posted the first reading of the river going down. We learned later that a problem at the 2^nd Street dike may have been more serious than initially reported. While it was fixed, it could have led to the loss of downtown and large part of the city.

President Obama’s weekly radio address focused on the flooding: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/09/03/27/Weekly-Address-Crisis-and-Service/

Raw aerial footage from Saturday after the river had crested:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giA3pjpH8Og

Sunday, March 29 – River @ 39.59

I woke up to the news that the flood wall had a breach at Oak Grove Lutheran School. I know many people (a few in the church) affiliated with Oak Grove. A very sad way to begin the day. It was good to lead worship with my colleagues and to be among our faith communities in one place. Our DS and Bishop were present and took us to lunch following the service. (Thank goodness the mayor deemed restaurants part of the “essential services” that were allowed open! And after a week of Salvation Army sandwiches, Mexican Village was a feast!) Our bishop did an excellent job of being our pastor in this stressful time. We also discussed the work UMCOR would be doing in our community and how we as a clergy team would be part of that process. This was difficult at times since we all were very tired and because damage so far had been minimal. It was hard to talk about worst case scenarios when we desperately hoped that our city would be spared. The weather was beautiful and so I joined my neighbors walking about and gawking at the dikes. Snapped a few pics and enjoyed the fresh air (sans sandbag slinging!). Again, the “war zone” feeling continued to sink in. Parts of the city were like a ghost town and hummers with soldiers were ubiquitous. Blackhawk helicopters patrolled the river (but that was not new and to be honest I did not even hear them anymore). As dark came, I met up with Greg and Wade at the Fargodome for reserve sandbag making. By the end 3.5 million sandbags had been made (and that is not counting the bags made on the Minnesota side of the river!). As we left last night at around midnight, the pallets filled every nook of the dome and over half of the floor (imagine a football field of waist high sandbags filled to the 50 yard line – I snapped some photos, they will be posted on Facebook).

Sunday evening report on CBS:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n22lUVzgOCc

 

Monday, March 30 – River @ 38.56

The day started with getting up and going to the office for the first time in a week. It was refreshing to do something routine! As the day went on we learned that restrictions would go into place again in the afternoon and through Tuesday because of the snow and the need of the Guard and city workers to be able to get to breaches quickly. The weather circumstances are so unusual that no one really knows how the snowstorm and high winds will effect the dikes and sandbags. The river continued to fall. But the evening brought the news of projected second and third crests of 37-41’ in coming weeks when the new snow melts.

The Daily Show poked some fun at the media coverage of the flood. I laughed pretty hard: http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=220617&title=cnn-stop-the-press

 

Tuesday, March 31, 2009 – River @ 37.51

It snowed, dumping around 10 inches. Travel restrictions continued and were even more important since street/road conditions made quick response to issues at dikes difficult. The cold kept the precipitation out of the river and the level continued to drop. Authorities reminded us that we were not out of the woods yet and announced a second (but most likely lower) crest after Easter—likely around 37’. As the combination of adrenaline and anxiety began to leave my system, cabin fever set in—in a big way! I had a hard time sitting still or trying to get work done while cooped up on the snow day. I tried to find ways to channel my energy and realized that the “let down” will take some time.

 

Wednesday, April 1, 2009 – River @ 36.98 (as of 3:15 p.m.)

Life began to return to normal in Fargo-Moorhead. Evacuation restrictions started to be lifted, but dikes remained in place in preparation of a predicted second crest. Travel restrictions were lifted, helicopters became fewer, retail stores reopened, and announcements were made that schools start back up on Monday. With river levels falling below 37’ the whole city took a deep breath and began to move forward. In all we lost five homes in Fargo, five homes in Moorhead, and Oak Grove Lutheran School was also damaged by water (however, it will be some time before all the wet basements are counted). But north and south of the sister cities are many bedroom communities that suffered great lost. One development lost 18 out of 20 homes. The mayor has called for new conversations about long term flood protection—a whole new stage in the “flood battle.”

A slide show of flood pictures: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qt_1KgHfSrw

 

*NOTE: river levels shown are the highest reading of that 24 hour period, usually from the measurement at 11:45 p.m. (except the crest day). 

Inauguration Day

Today was an amazing day. 

I always say that observing politics is my strange little hobby. Maybe it is because I enjoy history, maybe its because I was a journalism student. Regardless of why, I usually stay current with what is going on in the world of politics and government. Yet, I spend most of my time in this hobby with an analytical or critical temperament. This is most likely because the lens with which I view the world is theological--focused by my faith.  And the ways of my faith do not always correspond with the ways of the world. 

My identity as a Christian surpasses any other label that might be assigned to my being; Democrat, Libertarian, Republican, even American. Therefore, I do not ascribe to any party and view my citizenship in this land second place to my citizenship in the Kingdom to which I have been baptized. And so I show no loyalty to any flag or president. I follow only one King and Lord. 

Yet today, I was moved by the historic events I witnessed with friends and the rest of the world. The peaceful transfer of power from one party/government to another (that does not happen in many places in the world). The inauguration of an African American President (sorry Morgan Freeman, love ya, but your term was fictional). A call to greatness for a people (in so many ways, it is a new day for this nation). 

And still it was a day of mixed emotion. I found myself critical of aspects the language used and the pomp ans circumstance seen. As powerful as today was, I was also reminded that regardless of who is president, regardless of when I agree or disagree with him -- I will remain living in the tension of my dual citizenship. And my loyalty will always be first and foremost to my King. 

Partly sunny, 20°

Icons

While visiting friends and family for Christmas, I went to see the featured exhibit at The Museum of Russian Art in the Twin Cities. The exhibit features 54 magnificent 17^th and 18^th century icons from the Yaroslavl Art Museum in Russia. These icons are quite extraordinary considering they are from the “The Golden Age” of Yaroslavl’s cultural life and survived the Soviet’s anti-religious campaign after the Revolution of 1917 when thousands of icons were destroyed. In the early 1920s a small group of scholars and art restorers from Yaroslavl formed an art restoration committee and rescued hundreds of valuable icons by relabeling them “folk art” and removing them before churches were destroyed.

TMORA’s gallery space is a rehabbed Spanish-revival church (former home of Mayflower Congregational Church) and as I moved about with other icon viewers the subtle sound of Russian Orthodox chanting played over a sound system. Most of the icons are from various tiers of iconostases (the 5-6 level wall of icons separating the nave from the altar in an Orthodox Church) and therefore many were between 5-6 feet tall. I had never seen such large icons. Each one told a story either from the Gospel narrative or from an aspect of tradition (such as depicting a martyr). The use of rich colors, offset by glimmering gold created depth and light and an otherworldly effect. The sheer size and rich detail drew me into each one. At several moments I forgot I was admiring art in a gallery and found myself prayerful and in an attitude of worship.

I have always been fascinated by icons as a form of art and as an important part of our Christian heritage (partly due to my affection for Eastern Christianity). A hand painted icon from Greece portraying the Lord’s Supper sits on a shelf in my office and a reproduction of the famed “Old Testament Trinity” hangs in the entry of my house. However, it was during this museum visit that I began to better understand icons as a portal to the holy—a vehicle, if you will, to the awareness of the presence of God in one’s midst. In these brief holy moments, I have experienced the mystery and allure of icons in a remarkable way.

Unlike many other forms of Christian art, Icons have often been as controversial as they are revered. At one time seen as idols, their use was often banned by many Christian sects. Today they are often simply seen as being out-dated and foreign in relationship to our contemporary American Christian faith. However, icons still have a place in our faith today. More than just a connection to and appreciation for the past, icons can provide an inspiring and much needed means of focusing on God in a world of distractions and idols clamoring for our attention.

Anyone in Minneapolis in the coming weeks should visit The Museum of Russian Art. “Transcendent Art: Icons from Yaroslavl, Russia” ends January 24, 2009. 

Sunshine, 2°

Winter Solstice

Today is the Winter Solstice -- the longest night of the year. 

Living this far north of the equator, you learn to appreciate the significance of the Winter Solstice. The length of daylight is very short, with darkness coming in the mid-late afternoon. Most people in my community drive to and from work each day in the dark. Combine that with the cold weather and it is a recipe for lethargy and a desire for comfort foods. 

But then, after weeks of being in the preparatory attitude of Advent, the dark comes for the longest it will be and with the morning sun the days begin to gradually become longer and the light begins to overtake the darkness. There is a sense of hope and optimism that springs forth. It is simply ideal that the early Christians chose the ancient Roman feast of the solstice to celebrate the birth of Christ. In a world of seemingly endless darkness, the light of Christ pierces through and provides hope. 

Christmas coinciding with some of the longest and darkest nights becomes a privilege of living on the northern frozen prairie because it is a reminder that no darkness can overpower the light of Christ. And when we each live in the Way of Christ, his light and love shines brightly. 

I think I write this tonight because it is a word that I need to hear. Rather than being discouraged by the darkness all around me, I must resist the temptation to give up and go into some sort of spiritual hibernation--going only through the motions and only doing what is comfortable. 

As followers of Christ, we are the light bearers and where we live our faith the light overtakes the darkness we encounter in the world. 

Tomorrow the sun will shine a few moments longer than it did today--and it is another opportunity for me (and each of us) to live the light and love of Christ. The darkness will not win. Amen.

Clear, -14°

Blizzard Sabbath

Hit by a big blizzard, most things are shut down today. A Sunday morning without church has provided me with the gift of an unexpected Sabbath in what has been a busy past few days. This morning I found myself leisurely watching Meet the Press and then enjoying waffles and coffee while listening to some NPR.

A major theme of the morning was the economy, which is not much of a surprise since it has been dominating the news for a few months now—especially since the annual shopping extravaganza is in full swing. Over the past two Sundays the economy has found its way into my sermons as well. The “Advent Conspiracy” has guided our worship themes this Advent with its “spend less, give more” philosophy dovetailing each week with the headlines.

This morning I would have preached on The Song of Zechariah (Luke 1:68-79)—also known as The Benedictus. As I prepared this week, I tried to avoid using economic illustrations fearing overkill after the last two weeks. However, now I am glad that sermon will never see the light of day because The Benedictus is a song about the days we are living in.

Zechariah, struck silent due to his lack of faith, bursts into song upon the birth of his son John the Baptist. N.T. Wright suggests that Zechariah’s nine month silence is a reflection of what had been going on in Israel at the time. After all, prophesy had been thought to be silent for a long time and seemingly there was a lack of faith among the people about God following through on the covenant made long ago with Abraham. Zechariah’s lack of faith that leads to silence becomes an odd little sign that God is about to do something new; that a new prophet has arrived to lead people back to God’s ways. Wright suggests Zechariah, Elizabeth, and Mary “stand out real people, hesitating between faith and doubt, called to trust God at a new moment in history.”

We also live in a time of hesitation between faith and doubt. Prophecy seems silent. And God is calling us to trust God at a new moment in history.

Another point of this was made apparent to me this morning as Parker Palmer was a guest on public radio’s Speaking of Faith. Talking about the economic crisis he pointed out that the way we have been living in this country has been an artificial altitude and was bound to fall. This was equated with his own struggles with depression and the personal breakthrough he had with a therapist who invited him to see the depression as a friend who is bringing him down to earth—to ground safe to stand (after seeing that he had lived life at inflated heights). What a remarkable insight—to not see depression as an enemy but as a friend, showing us the errors of our ways, showing us reality. What an insight as we stand at the edge of economic depression.

We are at a new moment in history. We have been living at inflated heights. The chasm between rich and poor is wide and grows wider. National tragedy inspires us to shop.  Christmas consumerism has reached an all time level of ridiculousness in recent years. But as with all times where there has been silence and God is about to do a new thing, God calls forth ordinary people like Zechariah, Elizabeth, Mary, John, you, and me to be a part of preparing the way of the Lord—to be a part of prophesy for a new day.

May each of us who follow Christ see the economic situation as a friend guiding back down to earth. May we see the continuing struggles and decline in our churches as a friend showing us where we have not been faithful. May our hesitation between faith and doubt not lead to be struck with silence, but rather cause us to burst out into song—a sign that God is at work.

Blizzard, -8°