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Jesus, Justice, Jazz:
A
Theological Statement of the
2009 ELCA Youth Gathering
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God’s limitless and priceless love will
meet youth of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
(ELCA) as it returns to New Orleans in July 2009 to
celebrate and participate in the acts of God’s love with the
people of New Orleans. This city is a context where God’s
boundless love has been poured out in the past, the present,
and will continue to be poured out in years to come. God’s
love was with those who lost their sisters, brothers, wives,
husbands, and children to the raging waters of Hurricane
Katrina. God’s love was there when the water snaked through
the city’s canals and knocked down the concrete walls of the
levies daring to overcome any and everything in its path.
The infinite love of God was also there when thousands of
people walked through flood waters to shelter on higher
ground. Today God’s love continues to manifest in the work
and spirit of the citizens of New Orleans and strangers from
many lands who come to help rebuild the city. The ELCA Youth
Gathering and the people of New Orleans invite young people
to join in this effort and to “serve in the manner of
Christ” in the Big Easy.
The Gathering holds promise
ELCA Youth will enter into God’s presence in New Orleans to
receive the witness of others and practice their faith
through worship, prayer, play, service, and learning. The
Gathering holds promise in responding to several questions
related to the social mission of the church. How can young
people, through their experiences in New Orleans, step into
their baptismal vocation as Christians and see themselves
within God’s narrative of love and justice? What will
empower them to leave New Orleans more committed to shaping
their congregations into compassionate communities of faith?
How will youth discover the joy of holistic living where
heart and head are joined together with life-giving
Christian practices? How will they discover anew that God in
Christ loves all humankind and all of creation
unconditionally and shows that love each day through the
abiding presence of the Holy Spirit? The Gathering’s theme—Jesus,
Justice, and Jazz—is
the catalyst for answers to these and other questions.
Called to
compassionate justice
Jesus’ life of service, care, and compassion for those who
were poor, sick, and politically oppressed gives us
confidence that we who are baptized into Jesus Christ our
Savior and role model are called to ministries of
compassionate justice in
the example of Jesus Christ. The
Gospel of John, Chapter 8, records an incident where the
scribes and Pharisees brought
a woman caught in the very act
of adultery before Jesus. Jesus realized that their intent
was to test him more than obtain justice against a nameless
adulterous woman. Jesus’ nonverbal act of writing on the
ground was a refusal to engage their question: “Now in the
law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you
say?” Jesus practiced a method of refusal and disengagement
common to his culture. As such, his non-response
was an act
of resistance to this gender
injustice. The persistent
questioning of the scribes and Pharisees only provoked Jesus
to speak a convicting truth: “Let anyone among you who is
without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Then
Jesus continued writing on the ground. Seeing that Jesus was
dismissive of their questioning they went away one by one.
When the woman was left alone, standing before Jesus, he
stood up and invited her to speak: “Woman, where are they?
Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, sir.” And
Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from
now on do not sin again.” (John 8:10b-11)
Jesus offers us an example of compassionate justice that
he practiced with the sick, the homeless, the downtrodden,
and all those on the margins of society. His very essence is
righteous caring. He was the model servant throughout his
ministry. In Jesus Christ we have the assurance that we can
live out our calling “to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly” with God (Micah 6:8b). In Jesus we have
the incarnate reality of God’s love and justice poured out
around the globe and particularly in New Orleans. Indeed, it
will be Jesus who works through ELCA youth as they seek to
serve and form mutual relationships with the people of New
Orleans. Jesus’ life of service, care, and compassion for
those who were poor, sick, and politically oppressed gives
us confidence that we who are baptized Christians are called
to ministries of compassionate justice. We are empowered to
serve with justice and love through the Holy Spirit, the
Advocate, whom Jesus sent to be with us as we strive to be
like him.
Energized by the
Spirit
The Holy Spirit energizes our life of service in the manner
of Christ. “The gifts of the Spirit form and transform the
people of God for discipleship in daily life.” The Spirit of God invites us to re-enter the water of
baptism everyday because we are called to “proclaim the good
news of God in Christ through word and deed, to serve all
people, following the example of our Lord Jesus, and to
strive for justice and peace”
in New Orleans, at home, and throughout the world. With
Jesus, our exemplar of cruciform leadership, we will learn
an essential meaning of being baptized into the body of
Christ living out justice in God’s world. The Holy Spirit
re-members us with a living God who reminds us that we’re
important to the divine plan of God’s love and justice in
the world. As such we realize that we belong to God’s family
even when we feel lost and worthless.
Living the
creative spirit of jazz
Jazz music symbolizes the evidence of the work of the Holy
Spirit in the world and specifically in New Orleans. This
art form characterized by improvisation, polyrhythmic
melodies, syncopation, and call-and-response was born in
African American communities during the early 20th
century. New Orleans Jazz has a unique sound that reflects
the culture of its people. It is the shortcut to the soul of
the people with all their joy and pain, their laughter and
tears. Whether played in marching bands, dance bands, or
funeral-processions, New Orleans Jazz is both sacred and
sacramental, and “its performance is generally circumscribed
by an aura of religiosity.” Just as New Orleans Jazz musicians improvise new
music and enliven old songs in response to the feeling and
needs of the moment, ELCA youth will return to their homes,
schools and congregations with new skills and practices to
call upon as they serve, worship, pray, play, reflect, and
bear witness to the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives.
The creative and extemporaneous nature of the Spirit, like
jazz, is transformative and empowering to those who trust
that God offers life abundant for all who serve in the
liberative manner of Christ.
Living and
serving with the mind of Christ
Led by its youth, the servant community of the ELCA will
learn to listen to the Spirit of Christ as they enter New
Orleans compassionate about serving as Christ served. It is
entering without intent to fix or make better, but to be
made open to new ideas about our environment, our
experiences, and our lens for living biblically. “Let each
of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests
of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ
Jesus” (Philippians 2:4-5). Our baptismal vocation gives us
courage to enter New Orleans with all its challenges. We
will know that we are grounded in our baptismal worth in
order to move outside ourselves and do God’s work with our
hands. Such courage helps us when we return to our
communities with new experiences, practices, awareness, and
deepened biblical insight. Together we will seek to live and
serve with this mind of Christ!
The six
Jesus Justice Jazz
Interest Areas
of the Gathering program.
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