‘Get a plate and then pray for one another’

A luncheon at Belle-Terrace Presbyterian Church in Augusta, Georgia, fills the bellies and hearts of their guests on PDA’s solidarity visit

by Mike Ferguson and Rich Copley | Presbyterian News Service

Joyce Dejoie, a ruling elder at Belle-Terrace Presbyterian Church, shares her account post-Helene with members of PDA’s solidarity visit. (Photo by Rich Copley)

AUGUSTA, Georgia — On Sunday following worship, members and friends of Belle-Terrace Presbyterian Church in Augusta, Georgia shared both their food and their hearts with members of a team making a solidarity visit following Hurricane Helene that includes Presbyterian Disaster Assistance and the Synod of South Atlantic’s Executive and Stated Clerk, Valerie Young.

Those on the solidarity visit — including PDA’s the Rev. Edwin González-Castillo and the Rev. Jim Kirk and members of the PC(USA)’s communications ministry — fanned out to worship at Belle-Terrace, Reid Memorial Presbyterian Church, Covenant Presbyterian Church and St. Andrew Presbyterian Church. They were then fed at Belle Terrace, first with food and then with testimonies.

“If it wasn’t for God’s grace and mercy, we wouldn’t be sitting here right now,” a Belle-Terrace deacon told those seated around tables. “Go get a plate and then pray for one another, because when prayers go up, blessings come down.”

The Rev. Sharon Caldwell serves Belle-Terrace Presbyterian Church in Augusta, Georgia. (Photo by Rich Copley)

A handful of Belle-Terrace members had trees knocked onto their houses by Helene, said the Rev. Sharon Caldwell, Belle-Terrace’s pastor. “We thank God that some of the older members’ adult children came and got them before the storm hit,” she said. “The spirit has not been shaken, but the physical stuff is upsetting.”

The church suffered “a little damage,” Caldwell said, including the loss of some aluminum siding, and “we had several leaks that have been taken care of.”

Church members were quick to form a crisis response team to get hot food, water “and anything else that was needed” to people, Caldwell said. “Here at the church, we know that we are blessed. Some of us had devastating property damage, and some of us were untouched. To those who found time to stop by Belle-Terrace [to aid in cleanup and repairs], we appreciate it that you came here.”

Three people from Reid Memorial came to the house of Belle-Terrace Ruling Elder Joyce Dejoie with chainsaws, “and they were not spring chickens,” Dejoie said. “They brought good spirits, love, selflessness and energy. They cut off limbs and took them to the curb, even though there was damage to their own homes.”

“We ended with prayer as friends,” she said following their second stint at her house. When the fellow Presbyterians finish their work on their third visit, “I will take them out for margaritas,” she said.

Ruling Elder Dwanette Pullings was privileged to serve meals at a shelter alongside Vice President Kamala Harris. (Photo by Rich Copley)

Ruling Elder Dwanette Pullings, who was born and raised in Augusta, called the storm’s aftermath “a shocker to me.” Before the storm, her son, who lives in Athens, Georgia, called to ask if he could bring Pullings and her mother there. “I said, ‘I’ll be OK,’” she said, instead choosing to volunteer with the Red Cross after the storm to help at the Henry H. Brigham Community Center near the church. “People came in and we served them hot meals. We interacted with them and the volunteers who came to Augusta to help,” Pullings said.

One day, Vice President Kamala Harris stopped by to help serve meals alongside Pullings and others. “I talked to her. It was brief,” Pullings said, “but I was able to say hello.”

An educator, Pullings volunteered as long as Augusta schools were closed. When they reopened, she returned to work.

Worship at Covenant Presbyterian Church featured a Kirking of the Tartans. (Photo by Rich Copley)

Covenant Presbyterian Church celebrated Reformation Sunday with a traditional Kirking of the Tartans, including bagpipe music from the Aiken (South Carolina) Sheriff’s Pipes and Drums and a procession of banners bearing the names of Scottish ancestors.

The Rev. Andy Cooke of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Augusta, Georgia said it was good to do normal things, like the annual “Kirkin’ o’ the Tartans” service, even while the church and church members struggle to recover from the impact of Hurricane Helene. (Photo by Rich Copley)

Rev. Andy Cooke said it was “good to do something normal,” acknowledging the annual service that was not a certainty following the storm that ravaged the church’s neighborhood. Many evening activities at the church have been cancelled because the sheer volume of debris in the area makes driving at night hazardous.

Covenant lost 113 trees in the storm, and evidence of those losses remains around the church campus. The church sustained minimal structural damage.

Covenant Presbyterian Church in Augusta, Georgia lost 113 trees in the winds and rain of hurricane Helene. (Photo by Rich Copley)

The two-mile stretch of Walton Way between the Covenant and Reid Memorial churches was an obstacle course of fallen trees still blocking lanes of traffic. Tree-removal crews were hard at work on Sunday morning.

At Reid Memorial, the Rev. Dr. Brandi Casto-Waters preached a Reformation Sunday sermon, continuing a sermon series on polity, theology and church history with Matthew 21:12-14, Jesus overturning the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who sold doves in the temple, used as Casto-Waters’ preaching text.

Here, Jesus is “speaking up and speaking out, which is disruptive, which is fitting for the Reformation,” she said.

As Reformed Christians, Presbyterians “believe faith should be confessed, and the creeds and confessions do that,” she said. “The church declares who it is, what we believe and what we resolve to do, every Sunday. We stand to say what we believe because we stand with people in ages past.”

Casto-Waters asked worshipers to name the confessions included in the Book of Confessions, and most got a mention.

“Consider what it is you believe,” she said. “I invite you to remember all the people who went before us, all the people God invited to speak up and speak out.”

“It wasn’t just the Reformers,” she said. “God continues to call us to speak up and say what it is that we believe.”

The Rev. Dr. Brandi Casto-Waters delivers the benediction at the conclusion of worship Sunday at Reid Memorial Presbyterian Church. (Photo by Rich Copley)

The Rev. Boyd Lien voiced the prayers of the people. “Through the last month, you have been by us and with us, calming the storm and guiding us into the future,” Lien said. “Gather us close and, through Christ, calm the storms that rage in our lives. If possible, in some way, provide a heavenly hug for us.”

“We continue to pray for those who mourn the loss of someone they loved very much, those who worry just how long the money will hold out, and for those who have not shared their concerns with anyone else.”

“That’s what it means to be the church — to extend our love and care as if we were doing that to Jesus Christ, because we are.”