ELCA NEWS SERVICE

July 27, 2009  

ELCA Presiding Bishop Urges Youth to Remember Lessons from New Orleans
09-169-CD*

     NEW ORLEANS (ELCA) -- 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.
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     * 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.

     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.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask]
http://www.elca.org/news
ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog