A Diverse Experience of Christian Community in New Orleans

Wow. What a week.

We traveled hard and well. We have been bumped into by the Spirit, by ourselves, by one another. Through the official Gathering experiences we engaged hard and complex topics – belonging, racism, loneliness, mental health, gender and sexuality, war and occupation, environmental destruction – why? Because these things matter to the Holy Matter in whose Love we were made and whose image we bear. And so these things matter to the church.

No big surprise, these things already matter deeply to these kids who both love and fear the world they are inheriting. It was powerful for them to hear these topics held in the Gospel, amplified in the collective church, and to hear words of  challenge and encouragement.

A Welcome to a Big Church

Not every Christian conference speaks into these things or welcomes these speakers – and we talked about that in our group. A divorced man. A queer pastor. A Palestinian woman. All evidence that we as Lutherans have discerned and encountered God’s bigness and engage all of the Holy stories being lived. As Robin said, not every speaker was for everybody, but everybody had a speaker that resonated with a truth they needed to hear.

And boy these kids are articulate. It wasn’t lost on them. The magnitude. The power. The challenge. The call. And that messy feeling they could never quite articulate – who is not a feeling but the presence of the Holy Spirit stirring within them.

After a six year hiatus, there were definitely hiccups in The Gathering planning and logistics, but when it came to the stuff that matters, the Lutheran church didn’t pretend, placate, or pander to these kids. I was grateful. They have encountered a big church – and that Church looks like one of inclusion, of celebration, and of deep care for the brokenness and beauty of the world.

A Travelling Community

On a more communal level, our kids did what they always do – impress me. We have come a long way since the first group got on a bus after covid with all their social and emotional bruises. It was refreshing to simply remind ourselves back into community practices rather than starting at ground zero.

They quickly found their way into being a traveling COMMUNITY and that is why they stand out. Throughout the week I heard from so many Gathering staff, other group pastors/leaders, and our beloved bus driver just how unique this group is. In their joy, in their curiosity, in their engagement, in their respect and presence (we call that reverence). In a sea of 17,000 they truly stood out to people. And we named that for them. Not as arrogance but as stewardship. This is how the church becomes compelling, this is the work of God within and through them.

Does that mean they’re perfect?  No. Does that expression of community just happen? No. These kids have their own stories, hurts, bruises, scars. And these are teens who bump into each other in sometimes dramatic and less than perfect or kind ways. But we practice what we sing, and pray, and praise in worship and in that authentic and hard work, they become community.

Throughout the week we processed their pain and stories, we sat with one another in hard conversations, we worked through our drama and tension with honesty and forgiveness, we called ourselves up to better inclusion, we made ourselves vulnerable. Oh it was exhausting and beautiful and hard. This is being a person of faith. Doing justice. Loving kindness. Walking humbly.

39 different journeys colliding for one trip.

A Lesson at Every Corner

This is not my favorite trip recipe – and the kids know that.  I love taking them out of the stimulation. Bringing silence,  pause, reflection and solitude to their lives. They’ve come to love that too, so this trip was hard for a lot of us. But this trip absolutely has a place in their journey. As one of the kids said, this is the pace and noise of my real life, so I have to also learn to be a person of faith in that world.

Indeed, it’s easier to be on a cabin deck looking at the stars and pondering Holy mystery than in a crowd of 1000 kids and adults waiting for the elevator pondering the Holy mystery…but She’s in both.

And, you know I love them, but our kids are quite privileged in that they are allowed to and often can find, make, demand, and purchase, their own comfort at most turns. Learning to be uncomfortable, to have to be one among many, to delay your own demands and needs, to remember those serving you are serving more than just you…..it’s not easy but we made some progress. A lesson at every corner was this trip. And hopefully for that, we will all be better travelers in all our literal trips and on the journey.

Last night, we held sacred space with one another one last time as we reflected, sang, shared, and read your letters. Our beloved Sammy joined us as well. Afterwards he came up with tears in his eyes and told me he’s done over 20,000 trips – and joined in countless church group activities, and youth conversation– and he has never seen anything like what he encountered last night.

We certainly don’t do “youth ministry” the way most churches do. And part of that is the adults that surround and care for these kids. I believe we were the ONLY group in the entire gathering that took phones away for any amount of time. Word got out, and a number of other youth workers/pastors asked me how we pull that off. Indeed it was an extra hassle for the chaperones (picture each chaperone with 7 phones charging in their room each night), but the kids need it and after a while, they are grateful for it. We have expectations for these kids mixed with deep grace and constant teaching so that they can live more deeply than the knee jerk reactions of their media and technology influenced lives.

Speaking of these chaperones….

How many times with one teenager do you say in your home “do you have everything?”, “what did I just explain”, “ keep your voice down”, “turn off the lights and shut the door”, “I need you to listen”, “why would you think that’s a good idea?”…..now magnify that by 33.

It’s like standing at a stove with 33 pots of jumbo and trying to keep each pot simmering but not boiling. Constant stirring, tending, adjusting ingredients, removing from heat, etc.

But it’s also so beautiful. You watch the group, but you end up seeing 33 individuals stretch into something new, or shed something that they no longer need. These adults not only kept your kids safe but delighted in them…and maybe that’s part of safety as well.

This trip is harder than any other. Even when the kids get breaks, the adults are actively preparing, re-arranging, tending to, planning for….it is 6 days of 6 a.m. -12 a.m. hard work. It is not for the faint of heart. It demands so much from their bodies, and minds, and hearts. It is the hardest week of my year to be sure – and I’m the only one paid anything to do it. Please please please, give thanks to them and for them.

Thank You

I’ll stop because this is already too long, but I’d love to tell you more.  Six years ago we told the Houston Gathering travelers they were my last youth group at GS… I have been deeply blessed to return. But it is a return to a different world. I have a lot of reflecting to do on just how much has changed in and for youth and the world they inhabit and will inherit.

As always thank you for the honor and privilege. This is indeed the hardest week of my year – hard in 1000 different ways,  but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

God’s Peace,
Sarah

 

This post is excerpted from a letter that was sent to parents of youth who attended the 2024 National Youth Gathering