Daniel and I returned Sunday evening from a week in Detroit
for the ELCA Youth Gathering. This even happens every three years (Houston, 2018!),
and this time around 30,000 high school students, chaperones, and volunteers
flooded downtown Detroit. The theme for the event was “Rise Up, Together” with
an emphasis on our call as Christians to Bear Burdens, Build Bridges, Break
Chains, and Bring Hope. I am exhausted and my heart is full, all at the same
time.
I’ve only ever been to the Gathering as a volunteer – in New
Orleans in 2012 working the info booth, and this summer in Detroit on a hotel
team with Community Life. I know full well that this is not an event that would
have appealed to me as a high school student: too many people, too loud (still
too loud, actually), not enough patience, practically everyone offering free
hugs and high fives all.the.time.
Not my cup of tea as a high schooler, but definitely a great experience for me now. So, here are some reflections on why I’m glad I got to be in Detroit, and why I
hope to travel to Houston in 2018.
Relationships. I said hello to/hugged/chatted with
over 45 people I know, some of whom I had seen just weeks before, and others I hadn’t
seen for about five years. And that’s not even counting the folks who are from
the Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod, where I currently serve!
I never knew when I would run into a familiar face. Some I
expected – I knew they were there, and knew it was only a matter of time before
I saw them. Others were a very pleasant surprise – sneaking up behind me in the
interaction center, standing just inside the restaurant door as I pushed it
open, walking next to me as the crowd shifted just so. Seminary, camp, college,
congregations all over – it was a giant reunion, and I loved it!
The embodiment of the wider Church. I know that the
ELCA is a big denomination. All the places I moved growing up we always found
an ELCA congregation to join, and I’ve been part of many others in the time
since high school. Even so, it’s something else to see 30,000 people gathered
in one place with this one thing in common. It's especially powerful to confess our faith together with this strength of voices, and to share in Communion together.
I know that the ELCA is a predominately white denomination.
Perhaps it was just the places I lived, but I don’t recall the congregations I
grew up in to be particularly diverse. I was guilty of thinking of the ELCA as
even less (racially) diverse than it actually is, but spending time with 30,000
other Lutherans in Detroit has widened my gaze remarkably, and I’m grateful for
it.
God’s work, our hands. This is the ELCA’s tagline,
and it was definitely lived out during the Gathering. Each congregation was
assigned a service project, and the youth cheerfully and diligently worked
alongside friends and strangers. Many of the projects consisted of clearing
brush from vacant lots and painting murals with hopeful messages to board up
the windows of abandoned houses. In many cases the groups worked alongside
Detroit residents. There was never the understanding that these groups were “fixing”
or “saving” the city of Detroit; they weren’t “bringing Jesus” to the people
there. The “saving” couldn’t be done in four days even if we wanted to, and as
for Jesus? He was present long before we showed up and continues to be present
now that we’re gone.
So why was this work important? Because, sometimes, you’re so
down that it helps to have somebody say, “We see you. We care about you. You’re
not forgotten.” We know as Lutherans to look for God in places of brokenness,
places the world calls Godforsaken. This is what the world has called Detroit,
but we know it’s not true, and hope to remind others, too. It’s important because
when Jesus says, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” he means it.
New ideas, new experiences. The big youth gathering
model might not be the best for ongoing, transformative faith formation. But even
if this is the case, there’s something to be said for the exposure of youth
(and adults) to a diversity of speakers, artists, and musicians. We heard powerful
stories about racism, and immigration, and violence. Our eyes were opened
through music and poetry, preaching and teaching. These encounters, however
fleeting, may plant seeds in ways that had not been possible had we not
traveled to Detroit for this event.
...
What I learned and experienced was important, and I want
this experience for the kids at the congregation I serve. It will be a
different experience to attend as a chaperone rather than a Gathering
volunteer, but it’s an experience I’m looking forward to having in just three
short years!
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