July 27, 2009

NEW ORLEANS – Do not forget what you have seen here, said the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), to 37,000 Lutherans at the Louisiana Superdome July 26.

"God is not finished with you yet," he said. "God is calling you and God is counting on you."

Hanson preached to the Lutheran youth, chaperones and volunteers gathered at the Superdome as part of the closing worship for the 2009 ELCA Youth Gathering.

The Lutheran youth spent the gathering participating in events at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center and the Superdome. The gathering theme was "Jesus Justice Jazz." The teenagers also fanned out across the city, performing nearly 200 volunteer service projects to help the city in its recovery from Hurricane Katrina.

Projects included hosting a health fair in City Park, planting grass in Louisiana wetlands, cleanup and restoration of Holt Cemetery, reading fairs at which volunteers handed out books to children, and painting and cleaning numerous houses, schools and other buildings in the city.

Hanson said that it would have taken one person working four hours a day, 365 days a year more than 98 years to put in the hours the youth did during the gathering.

Mayor C. Ray Nagin, who spoke to the gathering the previous night, said the Superdome is a "place of pain" for the people of New Orleans, Hanson told the gathering. Nagin told Hanson that he wanted to bring all of New Orleans to the Superdome while the teenagers worship to "heal" the pain in the city, the presiding bishop said.

"We will pray for that healing," Hanson said.

The teenagers, weary from their long week, listened as Hanson urged them not to forget what they had learned about Jesus, justice, jazz and serving fellow human beings here.

"As energized as you are at this moment," he said, "you will go home but God is not finished with you yet. Go home, brothers and sisters, and get rid of injustice."

Hanson told the youth to combat racism in the church, to protect all of God's creation through sustainability and to continue to serve God.

You may not feel that you count, Hanson told the youth. "But in God's eyes you count for everything," he said.

He said that the youth have been a source of faith for the people of New Orleans the past week, and that they must bring that faith into their own cities.

"You need to be that source of faith for this church," Hanson said.

The worship featured musical performances by Agape (Dave Scherer), Rachel Kurtz, Peter Mayer and the Gathering House Band, the choir from the Multicultural Youth Leadership Event (MYLE) and 11-year-old accordion player Guyland Leday. The MYLE is a leadership development program for high school students of color.

The closing worship was the service at which Holy Communion was served to all 37,000 participants.

Information on the 2009 ELCA Youth Gathering is at http://www.ELCA.org/gathering/, on the Web. Information on Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson is at http://www.ELCA.org/bishop/hanson/, on the Web.

ELCA News Service
Carrie L. Draeger is a senior communication major with a concentration in journalism at Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, Wash. This summer she is an intern with the ELCA News Service.