On the second day of the 2024 ELCA Youth Gathering, Lutheran young people gathered collectively and in groups across New Orleans to explore together the meaning of “Created to Be Authentic.”

From July 17-19 youth groups will alternate engaging in different participation days. On Synod Day groups explore the city with others from their synod and worship with those from their region. On Accompaniment Day they join local and national leaders in service experiences, including cleaning storm drains and building community gardens, learning how their voices can make a difference through advocacy and engaging in anti-racism training. And on Interactive Learning Day they explore educational exhibits from ELCA organizations and partners that showcase how to become involved in their ministry.

On Wednesday, Elizabeth Eaton, presiding bishop of the ELCA, joined a group from Westwood Lutheran Church in St. Louis Park, Minn., for their Synod Day scavenger hunt around New Orleans. Using the app Goosechase, Gathering attendees take part in interactive challenges to explore the city, its people, and its landmarks and history.

Together Eaton and the Westwood youth located monuments, landmarks and historic areas, heard stories of native New Orleanians, and tasted pralines and beignets. During a stop at the famed Café du Monde, Eaton shared her journey to becoming presiding bishop with Sophie (last name withheld) and other members from Westwood.

Using the app Goosechase, Gathering attendees take part in interactive challenges to explore the city, its people, and its landmarks and history.

Sophie’s favorite part of the day? “The beignets.” But she was quick to add, “And the people. Everybody that I’ve talked to has been super-nice, and they’ve answered my questions. It was really fun to see the history everywhere, and to see so many different people from the Gathering.”

Following the scavenger hunt, the Westwood youth joined other groups for a worship service in which the 2,615 participants represented their state’s six synods. As the youth groups filed into the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center ballroom, they greeted each other enthusiastically and cheered new arrivals.

The worship service included music, interactive dances, a baptismal font filled with water from the Mississippi River headwaters, a sharing of the eucharist and speakers who addressed the Gathering’s various daily themes. “The forces of fear do not dictate our actions; the promises of God do,” said Regina Hassanally, bishop of the Southeastern Minnesota Synod. “You have been created to be brave, and you have been created to be authentic.”

Ann Svennungsen, bishop of the Minneapolis Area Synod, focused on the theme “Created to Be Disruptive,” saying, “We are called to shine our light on systems of injustice—to be disruptive. Jesus, the light of the world, wasn’t afraid to be disruptive for the sake of love.”

Created for love

The Wednesday night mass gathering at the Smoothie King Center centered on authenticity.

Rebekah Bruesehoff, a Gathering emcee, shared her experiences of understanding herself and her faith authentically. “When I was born, everyone thought I was a boy,” she said. “But I’m not; I’m transgender. I was 8 years old when I told my community who I was. Everyone hears that and goes, ‘Oh my gosh, that must have been so hard.’ But I’m just me. This is who God created me to be.

“I am Rebekah. I’m not perfect or simple. Neither are you. And the church definitely isn’t. Which is good, because perfect is simple and boring. Authenticity is in the complicated, real spaces of our lives. And that’s beautiful.”

Andrew (last name withheld), a recent high school graduate, spoke about Hagar’s experience as a marginalized figure in the book of Genesis, and how she refers to God as “the God Who Sees Me.” “Have you ever had that feeling when you are surrounded by friends but still feel like you’re all alone?” he asked. “God sees you, and you and you. God sees me. God sees us.”

Worship songs performed by the Gathering house band, and the dances that accompanied them on stage, similarly highlighted themes of authenticity and connectedness to God and each other.

“Authenticity is in the complicated, real spaces of our lives. And that’s beautiful.”

Emily Harkins, founder of the Dwelling, a ministry for those experiencing homelessness in Winston-Salem, N.C., emphasized the importance of seeing the fullness of each other in the way that God sees our full selves. “To be seen is to know that the full you—the shiny you, the messy you, the confused you, the strong you, the awkward you, the everything you—is so deeply and so wildly loved, and so deeply and wildly enough,” she said.

“You were created from love, for love and to love. And to love you is to see you.”

Jacqueline Bussie, an author, religion professor and director of the Forum on Faith and Life at Concordia College, Moorhead, Minn, spoke about being “anyways people” who defy norms in the name of love.

Society considers scars something to hide, Bussie said. But when Jesus appeared to his disciples after being crucified and resurrected, he showed them his scars. “Jesus shows us: authentic people aren’t ashamed of scars,” she said. “No, they share scars with people they love. We share our scars anyways. Because we followers of Jesus are anyways people. And the world needs more of us.”

During the service, emcees also announced that at the end of Gathering’s first day, $30,000 had collectively been raised so far for Generation Zero-Hunger, a youth-driven fundraising challenge to support ELCA World Hunger.

The evening closed with a set of spirited Gospel songs by Blessing Offor, a Nashville-based Nigerian-American singer-songwriter. Cheers erupted when Offor introduced his finale, the radio hit “Brighter Days,” and thousands of phone flashlights swirled around the arena. “I know there’s gonna be some brighter days,” the crowd sang with Offor. “I swear that love will find you in your pain.”

John Potter
John Potter
John G. Potter is content editor of Living Lutheran. He lives in St. Paul, Minn.

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Religious news & social issues   ELCA congregations, ELCA synods, ELCA Youth Gathering, Worship