Here we are, one week away from the 2012 ELCA Youth Gathering! This time next week, we'll be at the airport. Hopefully everyone will have made it safely through airport security. Then, we'll be on our way to New Orleans!
Our group of twenty is as prepared for this trip as we can be. We've been meeting once a month, every month since January. We've been doing Bible studies together, praying together, playing together, and basically just getting to know one another, all so we can have an amazing, Christ-filled time at the Gathering. In some ways it feels like we've waited a really long time to get to this point (it's been three years since the last Gathering!), and in other ways, it feels like the time has flown by and now there's not enough time to get all of the little last-minute details planned and worked out.
Instead of worrying too much about the little things that have gone wrong or could yet go wrong, or worrying too much about everything that still needs to be done, I'm choosing instead to focus my time and efforts on thinking and praying about the Gathering theme, "Citizens With the Saints." Let me just say right up front, that I love this theme for it's play on words, what with the "Saints" being New Orleans' NFL football team and all. What makes it even better, in my opinion, is that it isn't just some phrase thought up by some people for this one event; it's actually Scripture! (Check out Ephesians 2:19) The reason I am choosing to focus my heart and mind on this theme verse in the midst of all the busyness of this week before the Gathering, is that it is a powerful reminder to me of what the Gathering is all about. The Gathering is about a group of people (in this case, a very LARGE group--35,000 registrants, not to mention the people who actually live and work in the city of New Orleans!) who don't know each other, who come from different places, different walks of life, different backgrounds, and different points of view, coming together under the one thing that unites every single one of us, no matter our differences: our membership in the household of God.
All of the preparation we have done up to this point has been done so that the youth of our congregation can experience first-hand what it is to belong to the household of God. They will have the opportunity to meet so many people, see so many things, and experience new experiences. They will learn what it means to practice justice, to be disciples, and to be peacemakers at the Gathering in New Orleans, and they will also learn how to bring those skills home so that they can practice justice, and be peacemaking disciples here on the Eastern Shore and wherever their lives take them. The potential for this event to change the lives of those who participate in it is limitless, youth and adults alike.
So, one week away from this experience of a lifetime, I ask your prayers for the members of our congregation and our friends from Grace church who will be participating in the Gathering: Hunter, Justine, Henry, Cindy, Brandon, Hayden, Hank, Bethany, Pete, Alyssa, Neven, JT, Colleen, Noelle, Angie, Zach, Curtis, Mackenzie, Cameron, and Pastor Emily. Pray for us all to have open minds and hearts. Pray for us to have courage in experiencing new things. Pray for us to have safe travel. Pray for us to be transformed by the love of Christ. Pray that we might be a blessing to the city of New Orleans, and to our fellow Gathering participants. Pray that God would use us to share God's gifts of peace, love, hope, and mercy to those who need it most.
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