Youth Gathering in New Orleans
Every three years, high school-age youth in
the ELCA come together for worship, service and fellowship on a grand
scale. In 2009, youth and advisors from
Zion joined 37,000 Lutherans for Jesus,
Justice, Jazz in New Orleans. Before
the Gathering, our group met up with the Container for Christ packed by our
members with supplies for the Mission Center at Peace Lutheran Church in
Slidell, LA.
Here is the experience through the eyes of one of our group:
The Youth
Gathering in New Orleans was an unforgettable experience. Zion Lutheran teamed up with a few other
local youth groups to do community service work prior to the ELCA Youth
Gathering event. Being able to work in
some of the areas that were damaged by Hurricane Katrina was an amazing
experience. The gratitude on the
homeowners’ faces was clearly evident, as all of them were extremely thankful
for our help. Once arriving at our hotel
in the center of New Orleans, the amount of people was incredible as youth from
different Lutheran churches were arriving from all over the country. As we asked people to sign our white t-shirts
and we handed out our signature Jersey ties, everyone greeted our group with
smiles and excitement for the upcoming events.
As the days continued, we were all stunned by the Superdome, the performances
and speeches, and especially the giant project of which everyone participated,
as we were all shipped off to different areas of New Orleans to help rebuild
the houses destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.
My group had the experience of working on a new Habitat for Humanity
house, while other groups helped rebuild homes.
Ultimately, the entire experience was eye-opening. Experiencing the unique
culture of New Orleans, listening to the inspirational speeches and songs, and
working firsthand on rebuilding the area created an unforgettable four days
that impacted everyone who attended.
The ELCA is headed back to New Orleans for
the next Youth Gathering in 2012! If you are entering 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th
grade or will have just graduated from high school in 2012, you can go! Learn more at http://www.elca.org/Growing-In-Faith/Ministry/Youth-Ministry/Youth-Gathering.aspx
Keep an eye out for our yellow-sleeved Jersey jerseys in these videos.
Count all the people wearing ties that they got from our group!