http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfPPlZayM3Y&feature=related

This is our Mass Cast presentation at the Dome on Friday night!  What a beautiful time!  

Sunday, July 22nd was our final day in New Orleans and we left with a bang!  Literally, the city demolished a building next door to the Super Dome during our final worship service.  What a send off!


We served as communion assistants for the final service. What a blessing.  From beginning to end our trip was wonderful.  Thank you to each of you for your participation and your service to our neighbors in New Orleans. 

DO JUSTICE

Saturday was our day of Justice.  We also got up and walked to the French Quarter for Cafe Du Monde and beignets for breakfast.  The line was at least wide and looped all the way around the building.  (No Justice in that.)  We walked up the block to a little cafe and ended up having a terriffic sit down breakfast.  We all agreed that we were happier sitting down and taking our time than standing in a sweaty line for hours.  From there we spent a little time in the market and shopping in the quarter.  

We made our way to our Justice Day which began with worship.  We were bussed into the "hood" as the locals called it where we were trained in deconstruction.  Deconstruction is different than and much better than destruction (of buildings) as it provides jobs, salvages precious resources like cypress wood, and helps keep landfills from multiplying.  

In the SuperDome we worshiped, heard from some young people who have hearts for social justice...then a concert by Switchfoot.  (The 35,000 youth were crazy last night.  Mardi Gras has nothing on a bunch on Lutheran youth high on energy drinks, exhaustion, music, and Jesus!)

Some of the most hardy from our group walked back to the French Quarter late last night for the beignets that we missed in the morning.  Line was still long, but we had made that trek twice and decided to stay. I found the quarter to be a very different a very sad place last night.  There were drunks everywhere, vomit on the sidewalks (which we know from our trip in the morning that the city comes through EVERY single morning and washes the streets and sidewalks or "this place would smell like New York City" one local cop told us.  HA!  Poor NYC.)  Glad we went back so we could see what we did and have some pretty excellent conversations about it while we ate beignets and walked. 

We are up early, packing our bags which have appeared to GROW in 9 days, load the bus at 7 amd head back to the SuperDome by 7:45 to take our positions as communion assistants for section 150 during worship.  We will be heading toward home this afternoon.  See you all tomorrow between 1:00 - 3:00 pm.

Love,

The JUSTICE League

Hallelujah!

Hallelujah is defined by Webster's Dictionary as 

"a shout of joy, praise or gratitude". 

It is fair to say that our Friday here in New Orleans at the ELCA National Youth Gathering resounded in joy, praise and gratitude!  We were studying Peacemaking, and were blessed to pray as a mass for those killed or hurt in Colorado by a masked gunman, as well as for that man who did the killing.   There is always power in prayer but a collective AMEN from 35,000 is WAY powerful and sends shivers down the back.  

Then we were part of the mass cast at the Gathering.  We were ALL on stage as a part of the choir for Rachel Kurtz as she sang Hallelujah!  I can not express the feeling of worshiping like that.  It was powerful indeed.  

We all shout for JOY to the Lord!  We sing PRAISES to the King!  Our hearts are filled to overflowing with GRATITUDE for new mercies each day!

Practice Discipleship, Swamp Tour, SuperDome, and a Dance...just a typical Thursday here in New Orleans!

What do you call a day where you are up early, eat a breakfast of donuts and cereal in a hotel room, spend the morning in a fancy hotel practicing discipleship, run through the fancy hotel to make it to a Swamp Tour on the Bayou in time, hang out at the SuperDome with 35,000 other Lutherans for praise, worship and an amazing line up of speakers, and then finish the day by dancing in a ballroom on the 3rd floor of the InterContinental Hotel?  Well, we call it...THURSDAY!

We had a wonderful day!  Last night when we were "debriefing" and sharing with one another about the day I asked each person to share 3 things about their day with us. First, the most exciting or fun thing from their day. Next, the most memorable/impactful part of their day. Finally, the most difficult part of their day.  Most everyone said the Swamp Tour was the most fun.  I think it was because we all held an alligator! (Yep, really!)  The most meaningful for each one was worship and time in the SuperDome.  The most difficult for most (especially the boys who love drama!) was having to sit on the floor during the Practice Discipleship portion of the morning.  My thought is if that's the most difficult thing they encountered during the day, we must be doing pretty good!  

Check out the pictures from our day...notice the chaos of the dance party.  So many students and even some crowd surfing (which was quickly discouraged). Too many people, too tight a space, and too little deodorant = smiling faces and kids having a blast! 

Friday...we prepare to be in the Mass Cast at the Dome.  Continue to keep us in your prayers.

Love from US.

"But as I pursued that dream of upward mobility preparing for college, things just didn't fit together. As I read Scriptures about how the last will be first, I started wondering why I was working so hard to be first." Shane Claiborne