by: Ellie Abraham

At the 2018 ELCA Youth Gathering, I left each Mass Gathering feeling a buzz of energy, passion, and excitement that coursed through every extremity of my body like a wave of adrenaline. This feeling came from the power of experiencing God’s love, grace, and hope in community with tens of thousands of other equally energized worshippers.

However, on my final day at the Gathering, Savanna Sullivan invited the audience to not let this joy die out after we left Houston. She said: “If our joy is only for this place, if our joy is only for us, then it is not God’s joy. God’s joy is for everyone.” I took this to mean that the surge of passion I felt that week in Houston didn’t do any good just sitting inside of me, so I should take this newfound passion and energy and use it to share God’s love, grace, and hope with other people back home.

Savanna urged the audience to seek out inequalities and injustices in the world and use our newfound passion to contribute to their defeat—in such a way that we might live for a greater purpose than ourselves. So when I returned home to Brookings, South Dakota, I worked with my pastor at First Lutheran Church to start a volunteering group called Face of Grace at my church. 

So far, we have served free meals to people in Brookings, fundraised and constructed 20 beds for kids who don’t have a bed, organized clothes for a free clothing drive, roofed a garage for Habitat for Humanity, and sewed new costumes for a church that flooded and lost everything. What I am doing isn’t world-changing, but I am glad to be making a difference in my community and sharing the joy that still hasn’t left me since the Gathering.

by Claire Embil

I am thrilled to have the opportunity to serve as one of the Gathering Hosts for the 2021 ELCA Youth Gathering in Minneapolis, MN. This will be my third Gathering and I can’t wait! I went to the 2015 Gathering with my home church as a participant, and in 2018 as a volunteer with Lutheran Campus Ministry. In Houston, I helped lead youth through building house frames during their Interactive Learning day. Each Gathering has been different and brought something new to my faith. I am so excited to see what God and the Gathering teams have in store for each of us in 2021 and in these next 16 months leading up to it.

I am currently a junior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison double majoring in English-Creative Writing and Religious Studies with a minor in Photography, mainly digital but I do some film work. After college, I plan to go on to seminary and become an ordained pastor in the ELCA. Outside of school, I spend time serving with Lutheran Campus Ministry, ELCA Young Adult Leadership Team, and Lutheran Student Movement. When I’m not studying or doing church activities, I enjoy attempting to learn to play guitar, traveling (I’m currently at 28 out of 50 states), and I am also a competitive gymnast.

It was actually in the exhibit hall space for Interactive Learning in Houston that I finally stopped running from God’s call for me. The Association of Lutheran Church Musicians had a section set up for youth to go through stations of some of the parts of worship. This included a station for dress up. I wanted to try on the vestments and take a picture behind the altar. I stood up all dressed in Green for Ordinary Time, and it hit me. There is a very distinct sound that can be heard when a gong is rung. This feeling that hit me was just like that except I was the gong. I could feel something resonate in my entire being, and I knew that God had a call for me that would change everything. I found my place in the world at Gatherings and I can’t express enough how grateful I am to get to participate again in a ministry that completely transformed my faith twice over.

Claire Embil is a junior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison studying English creative writing, religious studies and photography. She is actively involved with the ELCA Young Adult Leadership team, the ELCA Youth Gathering, Wisconsin Campus Ministry, Lutheran Student Movement, and competitive gymnastics.

by: Adam Knudson

I am an ordained pastor and serve on staff at a Lutheran Church, but I am not an ordained ELCA pastor. My background is Presbyterian. My first Gathering experience was in New Orleans for the 2009 Gathering, Jesus Justice Jazz. I didn’t know what to expect. I’d never been to Louisiana before, I’d never attended such a large youth event before, I was afraid of what it would be like to lead a group of a couple dozen youth and adults around a city that I had never visited. Why did I agree to do this anyway?

Our church is in California and while there are MANY churches and many large churches in California, there are not a lot of Lutherans and even fewer large Lutheran churches. Attending the Gathering offers the youth from my church an opportunity to understand their place and their identity within a larger community. When the ELCA gathers tens of thousands of youth from across the country and beyond, some of our best values and our highest priorities are showcased, highlighted and lived in vibrant and compelling ways. 

When our youth attend the Gathering, I don’t need to teach a lesson, read a Bible story, or prepare a class on what we believe or how God calls us to live in the world. The core values of our faith are written large on giant screens, crowded buses full of folks with bright orange shirts ready to serve, and youth and adults willing to listen to the stories of our hosts as we enter their communities and their cities.

The ELCA Youth Gathering has opened my mind to understand the great breadth and depth of what it means to be Lutheran. The Gathering has given me a chance to share this perspective with our youth, to hold up their faith as a mirror in which they can see who they are and in turn, our youth return home and share stories with our congregation. For me, the Gathering is an opportunity to participate in the kin-dom of God and to recognize God’s family as a place where I belong.

Adam Knudson has served as Youth Pastor at Hope Lutheran in Fresno, CA for thirteen years. He is involved in youth ministry networks in his community and Synod.