It’s time for lunch, so let’s talk food.

New Orleans is famous for its restaurants. Yesterday, I enjoyed an yummy and affordable meal at Lil Dizzy’s. It’s in the Treme neighborhood, a culturally rich area — one of the seedbeds of the African American community.

Hurricane Katrina brought water to the restaurant’s doorstep, but never ventured inside. The Treme neighborhood is adjacent to the French Quarter, the high traffic tourist area that was largely spared in the storm.

Lil Dizzy’s serves gumbo by the cup or bowl. You can order off a menu or from the buffet line. And you can get plenty to eat for under $10. The restaurant is owned by Wayne Baquet, from one of the celebrated families in New Orleans cuisine. (more…)

Willie Franklin hadn’t been home for four years. He fled to Texas the day before Hurricane Katrina struck.

Franklin’s small house is on a patch of land not far from the Clairborne levee. The levee was high enough to handle the soaring waters. It just wasn’t strong enough. When the water broke through, it swallowed nearly everything in Franklin’s neighborhood, the Lower Ninth Ward. (more…)

“Lifting, Loving, Learning” read the headline in this morning’s New Orleans Times-Picayune.

Underneath was a large photo of Lutherans streaming into the downtown convention center. A long story about 2009 ELCA Youth Gathering followed.

The event is a hopeful sign to the city because it’s the largest convention booked since Hurricane Katrina struck four years ago. Secondly, the youth gathering is sending out thousands of youths and adults to work on recovery projects on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Here’s an except from the article:

After Katrina, “there was no way we could not come to New Orleans,” said Donna Wiegel, a Lutheran planner and an early, passionate advocate for the city in the critical days of 2006 when church leaders had to finalize their 2009 meeting plans.

To order a copy of today’s paper, call 1-800-925-0000.  It will cost $2.15, including shipping.

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Pastor Sean Ewbank told a room full of youths that Lutherans are scarce in the New Orleans area.

With only a few congregations around, many people aren’t aware of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

But this week, they’ll learn. ELCA members will be evident everywhere working in the muggy heat to help the area with ongoing Hurricane Katrina recovery. The teens will be working in schools, cemeteries, wetlands, parks — just about everywhere — in hopes of making life a bit better here.

Some 37,000 ELCA youths and adults are expected in New Orleans for the 2009 Youth Gathering, which begins Wednesday. The 300 volunteer leaders of the Servant Life projects, as they are known, met this morning for a final worship service together.

Ewbank spoke to the volunteers about the ELCA tagline, or motto: “God’s Work. Our Hands.”

“We’re here to be those hands,” he said.  “What an amazing witness that is.”     (more…)

With heads bowed, ELCA volunteers prayed.

“Whatever we’re engaged in, let it be an act of worship.”

“Even today, even in the midst of last minute planning….”

“Wherever we find ourselves… let it be an act of worship.”

The 300 volunteers are leaders of dozens of work projects across New Orleans to help with Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts.

They gathered one last time to pray before the 2009 Youth Gathering begins on Wednesday in New Orleans. Some 37,000 youth and adults are expected to help in projects across the area.

“While we’re here in New Orleans, let’s worship God in all that we do and all that we say.”

“[Even] If we find ourselves at a work site and the tools aren’t there.”

“Let’s let everything we do be an act of worship.”

“This is holy ground.”

ELCA volunteers, on their feet, belted out the song lyric at worship this morning at the New Orleans Convention Center. Afterward, they took their seats and listened intently to a local ELCA pastor talk about the death and devastation left by Hurricane Katrina four years ago.

“Make no mistake,” Pastor Sean Ewbank of Hosanna Lutheran, Mandeville, La., told them. “You are on holy ground.”

A huge cheer erupted from the 300 ELCA members. They were dressed in T-shirts, shorts and sneakers — a sign that they’d come to the Crescent City to work and to pray. This was their last time to pray together before 37,000 ELCA youths and adults converge on the city Wednesday through Sunday for the 2009 Youth Gathering. (more…)

Volunteers from Holy Comforter Lutheran Church, an ELCA congregation in Kingwood, Texas, are among the 300 people gathering for worship in the New Orleans Convention Center this morning.

The volunteers, known as servant compansion, are spearheading the dozens of projects that ELCA youths are undertaking to help locals with Hurricane Katrina recovery. The overall outreach is known as Servant Life.

Some 37,000 ELCA adults and youths are expected at the Youth Gathering that begins tomorrow evening.

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The praise and worship band of Hosanna Lutheran Church rehearses before this morning’s worship at the New Orleans Convention Center. Three hundred volunteers known as Servant Life volunteers are gathering for worship before the 2009 ELCA Youth Gathering begins tomorrow. The band is from Hosanna Lutheran Church, an ELCA congregation in Mandeville, Louisiana.

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Hundreds of ELCA work project leaders are flooding into the New Orleans Convention Center this morning. They’re worshipping together one last time before the 2009 ELCA Youth Gathering begins tomorrow evening.

Some 37,000 adults and youths are expected at the Youth Gathering. They’ll be devoting much of their time to helping Hurricane Katrina survivors with recovery projects.

The ELCA outreach is known as Servant Life. The youths are reaching out to others as Jesus instructed. Some of the group leaders are known as servant companions. Some will be in charge of the youths riding on busses to the work sites. Other leaders will be in charge at the site itself.

Photo: ELCA Pastor Sean Ewbank meditates as he walks around the worship space. He’s leading worship this morning for the servant leaders. Ewbank is pastor of Hosanna Lutheran Church in Mandeville, Louisiana.

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A group of 18 youths and adults from North Carolina was among the many Lutherans arriving in New Orleans today for this week’s ELCA Youth Gathering. This group, from Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Lincolnton, N.C., was spotted at the Hilton Hotel around noon Tuesday. They’d caught an early  flight into the city, then a shuttle to the hotel.

“Our driver was a Hurricane Katrina survivor,” said Karen Lounsburg, 43, youth group leader. “He was gracious and shared his experience with us. Once he started talking, the entire bus got quiet. The kids were very attentive.”

Once at the hotel, the youths were eager to check into their rooms and head to lunch. The universal refrain: “We’re starving.”

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