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2009 ELCA Youth Gathering E-News
April 2009 ► Issue 12

The Gathering E-News will be sent to you each month and deliver Gathering information and news to you on New Orleans and beyond. Previous issues of the Gathering E-News are archived.

Our first

Lutheran youth, their family and members of their congregations and synods have historically been very generous! They come to the Youth Gathering with arms full of gifts to contribute to the offering, items like cans of food, children’s books, or gift cards. The 2009 ELCA Youth Gathering’s focus on service and recovery in New Orleans makes it necessary to gather gifts earlier so that they can be in New Orleans BEFORE youth arrive.

The Gathering offering involves three different opportunities for giving and generosity:

• Change in New Orleans on-line offering catalog
• Change the World: ELCA World Hunger Appeal (on-site offering opportunities)
• Sunday Worship Offering (designated for selected international and domestic ministries)

We've extended the response deadline to April 30. If you have youth in your group who received a questionnaire and have not yet responded, please encourage them to complete the questionnaire on-line by using the link on the Gathering home page, or by using the paper copy they received in the mail. Any questions? Contact Victoria Flood at Victoria.Flood@elca.org.
 

A Youth Ministry MissionPlus investment is an easy way to put aside funds for the 2009 Youth Gathering in New Orleans -- or any youth event -- and have immediate access to the funds when they are needed.

With a Youth Ministry MissionPlus investment:

• Your congregation earns interest on the funds that youth raise for Youth Gathering expenses and other events
• Funds are available when needed for travel expenses -- before, during and after the Gathering*
• You can add funds to an investment at any time
• Youth leaders may redeem funds (cash checks) on the investment during the Gathering at the MIF service center -- no need to search for ATMs or banks that will cash out-of-town checks*

Purchase a Youth Ministry MissionPlus investment today and be prepared for the Youth Gathering!

* Only congregational youth leaders who are signatories are authorized to act concerning the investment. The ministry may complete an Authorized Signatories Form to enable a youth leader to access the account.
 

Please check and review your on-line registration records, because as we get closer to the Gathering, other information will be posted there.

General program information will be posted at the Gathering Web site. As the weeks and months go by before the Gathering, you'll find information on ServantLife projects, speakers and musicians, Community Life, what to wear and bring to your specific ServantLife experience, transportation information, etc.

The following details will be posted in your on-line registration record (as assignments are made):

• Daily schedule rotation order: Purple, Green, and Gold
• ServantLife bus location, bus number, and launch time (for your service experience in the city)
• Interaction Center day and time (in the convention center)
• Learning day and time (in the convention center)

Primary Leaders should log back into their online registrations (using the Congregational ID# and the Primary Leader's e-mail address) to see assignments as they are posted. And, just before coming to the Gathering, congregations must print out the final confirmation letter to bring to New Orleans. The final confirmation letter will not be mailed; it will be posted on-line so that the Primary Leader can print it and bring it to the Gathering. Each congregational group will need their confirmation letter when they check in at the on-site registration in New Orleans.

The final confirmation letter contains the balance due information, as well as each congregation's daily schedule.
 

I was at a meeting in New Orleans several weeks ago during which one of the long time residents said -- and most of the people I have met there are longtime residents -- "Everything 'public' is being negatively affected because of the flood." Rather than refer to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, New Orleanians often reference the after effect of the hurricanes, i.e., the flood waters that drowned their city after the levees broke.

I wasn’t sure what she meant by ‘public’ so I inquired. She said that the public services, and those who count on them, are suffering in New Orleans. For example, the only public hospital, Charity, founded over 250 years ago as a "Hospital for the Poor," will not be reopened.** Where will people who are poor go when they need medical care?

The ‘public’ school system is struggling to serve the city’s children and youth, while charter and private schools are growing stronger with tuition dollars and private sponsorships. The children in New Orleans are among the most at-risk in the U.S. because of poverty and the trauma of the flood.

‘Public’ housing is not being rebuilt. Some of the public housing facilities are being torn down to make way for more expensive housing that is designed to attract people with greater financial resources.

All of this begs the question: Who is the new New Orleans being designed and rebuilt for? What is New Orleans being strategically designed to become?

It seems to me that ELCA youth will have an opportunity to provide a ‘public’ witness to an alternative way forward, a way shaped by gospel values that flip-flop the values currently driving our economy and our organizational practices. The least are greatest in Jesus’ community; the last are first in Jesus’ community; the weak are the most powerful in Jesus’ community.

Two Psalms come to mind:

"Because the poor are despoiled, because the needy groan, I will now rise up," says the Lord; "I will place them in the safety for which they long."  Psalm 12:5

As baptized children of the risen LORD, called and sent to serve in the way of Christ, it is our responsibility to protect the poor, weak, and needy from the systems and conditions that oppress them or discount them. This is compassionate justice.

"I know that the Lord maintains the cause of the needy, and executes justice for the poor."  Psalm 140:12  

I know that the LORD secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy. As baptized children of God, called and sent to serve in the way of Christ, it is our responsibility to help the voice [cause] of the needy be heard. Those whose service experiences include learning about advocacy and community organizing, can use the skills they learn to join the voices of the needy in their community.

Heidi Hagstrom
Director for the ELCA Youth Gathering
 

** Louisiana has one of the highest rates of uninsured people in the United States. About a fourth of New Orleanians had no insurance pre-Katrina, and Charity was the only medical care available for them. After Katrina, Louisiana State University reopened University Hospital to provide care to the region's uninsured. University Hospital, however, does not provide the same range of services that Charity offered; it has 171 beds compared to the 550 the two hospitals had previously. Clearly there is a large segment of society that is not being served, especially people with chronic health conditions that have been worsened by a lack of access to medical care doctors since the floods of Katrina.
 

Download Gathering logo art for making your own shirts and things.
 

Flying into New Orleans? Need to arrange for an airport shuttle?

If you are flying into New Orleans and need to reserve a shuttle to and from your hotel, make your reservations in advance! Go to the Airport Shuttle New Orleans Web site to take advantage of discounted rates.

Congregations will not be able to transport themselves to service sites in New Orleans. Last minute site changes will occur that will leave congregations lost if they try to venture out on their own. Congregations will be given information and a brief training for their experience while being transported to the service site, as well as being guided through a modified prayer journey by their Servant Companion. Traveling together will build community and deepen the experience for all participants.

The Gathering's needs for subcontracting buses from congregations has been filled. Thank you for the incredible response!

• Getting Ready resources
• Gathering E-News
• New Orleans resources & links
• Learn more about the ELCA Youth Gathering
• Learn more about Youth Ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

You are receiving this e-mail because you subscribed to the 2009 ELCA Youth Gathering E-News.  Unsubscribe from this list and stop receiving further Gathering E-News.  For general questions contact the ELCA Youth Gathering office at gathering@elca.org or 1-800-638-3522, ext. 2100.