BestofNewOrleans.com posted an article on the reactions of the people of New Orleans to what the JJJ09 youth brought there.  An excerpt:

We’re humbled. Humbled at their generosity. Humbled at the sight of so many young people traveling so far to do so much hard work during their summer vacation. Humbled that the “Katrina fatigue” felt by so many Americans was replaced, for a few days, with an enthusiasm even some of us find hard to muster some days. Regardless of your faith, or lack thereof, these excited young volunteers were an inspiration, and just one of them accomplished more good than all the preachers and politicians in the world who saw Katrina as either perverse justice or crass opportunity.

Here’s the full article.

(Thanks to Carrie Draeger for bringing this to my attention!)

As far as I can tell, just about everyone is home from the Youth Gathering by now, but that doesn’t mean the experience is over.  For one thing, the ELCA’s Gathering website makes it easy to catch up on everything that happened in New Orleans, as pictures and videos from JJJ09 are still being added.

Speaking of which, the window of opportunity is still open for you to add your own pictures and videos to the ELCA’s official JJJ09 online media collection.  If you’ve got pictures you’d like to add to the greater good, send them in an email to gathering@email.smugmug.com with the subject line “jjj09” and they’ll be added to the collection!

One further note: the Gathering is over, but the Jesus, Justice, Jazz musical tour is still ahead.  Agape, Lost and Found, and Rachel Kurtz will be touring the country from September through February, so take a look at the list of locations to see which one is nearest to you!

“God’s Work. Our Hands.”

And feet.

This is what the hands and feet of some ELCA teens looked like midway through their

service project planting wetlands grasses 75 miles south of New Orleans. The outreach

was part of the 2009 Youth Gathering. Three miles of wetlands can stop water from rising

 a foot, according to Bayou Rebirth, the agency that hosted ELCA youth.  Rebuilding

wetlands is critical to protecting New  Orleans from another devastating hurricane.

(more…)

During the 2009 Youth Gathering in New Orleans, these 16-year-old youth from Holmen, Wis., had one of the messiest service projects — which they embraced with enthusiasm.  They planted wetlands grasses in a muddy area 75 miles south of New Orleans.

Pictured from left to right are: Taylor Pederson, Mackenzie Schriver, Rylee Drugan and Alex Brown. They say getting dirty is all part of doing “God’s Work. Our Hands.” (more…)

When I first met Patrick Allen, he was sitting in a hotel lobby, quiet and unhappy. He’d come to New Orleans for the 2009 Youth Gathering looking forward to helping with Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.

On work project day, his group was assigned to clear litter and weeds from a neighborhood hit hard by Katrina four years ago. Patrick had hoped to do hands-on work that was more than “cosmetic.”

“I didn’t think it was worth our time and effort,” he told me in the lobby. The 18-year-old from Richmond, Va., felt that he’d somehow let the people of New Orleans down.

After I wrote about Patrick’s disappointment, people from New Orleans posted comments saying the effort had made a difference. They seemed to sense the sincerity of this young man in striving to serve others as Jesus commanded.

One reader wrote: “You have NO IDEA how much a CLEANED LOT, or one gutted house, one slab removed, affects us in our spirit to GO ON, to know that God is there.”

After reflecting more on his experience, Patrick sent these comments along, describing the spiritual transformation that happened for him in New Orleans. Thank you, Patrick, for sharing your thoughts:

(more…)

Clarence McGee, a wiry man in knee high boots, shoveled dirt with the precision of a cake decorator. In a graveyard where bodies are stacked upon bodies, he had no room for error.

Graves are only four feet deep and dug by hand at Holt Cemetery in New Orleans because the cemetery is at water level. Sweat dripped from McGee’s brow as he struggled to find footing on the sloshy ground.

His co-worker, Warren Ernest, 44, stood ready to relieve him. In the background, dozens of orange-shirted teens from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America busied themselves cleaning the historic African American burial site.

The city owns the cemetery and Ernest was on the maintenance staff for 18 years. After Hurricane Katrina struck four years ago, the city said it wouldn’t maintain the grounds any longer.

Ernest lost his job. He still digs, for a minimal fee.

On this hot, humid July day, he points across the grounds to a pole where an American flag is hanging.

“Over there,” he said. “That used to be my station.” (more…)