I am Bourbon Street

Our youth and adults traveling to New Orleans arrived back safe and sound on Monday, after a few glitches with an early morning canceled flight. You can read all about our adventures on this blog and at another unofficial Gathering blog. Thank you for all of your prayers while we were gone.

I am Bourbon Street
I have chosen to title this post-Gathering reflection "I am Bourbon Street." Bourbon Street in the French Quarter is of course famous for many things, most of them revolving around what I would all "excess." Bourbon Street is, of course, almost a parody of itself. Because of so much excess, it is easy for most people, I imagine, to speak of Bourbon Street as some place those people go to do those things. But what if we all admit that deep down we are all Bourbon Street. The interiors of our lives are plagued with sins known and unknown, things done and left undone. It turns out we are all Bourbon Street.

But here is the great news. You see, each morning a full crew of garbage collectors and sanitation workers with soapy, pressurized water descends on the French Quarter to clean things up. They don't ever consider not doing this. It is simply what they do, day in and day out: clean things up. So it is with God's forgiveness of us. Not because it is something that God has to do, but because it is fitting with the very nature of God: It is something God chooses to do and wants to do. God descends upon the Bourbon Streets of our lives in Jesus Christ and cleans us up. Sometimes this cleaning is with gentle scrubbing, sometimes it is with the blast of pressurized water. These sanitation workers presented for me an image of Baptism: the life-giving water that rescues us from sin and cleanses us through daily repentance and forgiveness.

And, grace upon grace, the wonder if all this forgiveness and washing is that it precedes our sin. God's forgiveness is the first act. Jesus Christ is not Plan B. Before the foundations of the world, the Cross stands looming.

I am Bourbon Street, caked in sin. But I am also Bourbon Street, new every day, washed in the waters of Holy Baptism and made new in the blood of the Lamb.

Channel 11 News Feature
Our Church at Cherry's theology discussion made last night's evening news. I want to be clear about a few things. First, neither Pastor Jim Miller nor I nor the bar owner invited the news. It was not done as a publicity stunt. Second, I want to give due credit to where we got the idea: We swiped it from Pastor David Nevergall in Elmore who got it from the Roman Catholic Diocese with their "Theology on Tap" program. And I'm pretty sure that they got the idea from Jesus himself.

While it would have been nice to have a heads up, I am thankful, not for the publicity for our community, our churches or even Cherry's, but rather that the Gospel was spoken publicly.

Baptismal Remembrance and Footwashing

This evening we read from Romans 6 and John 13. It was raining as we waded into the fountain behind our hotel. [It had been there the whole time and none of us had noticed it before.] We remembered our Baptism with watery crosses on the forehead and then washed one another's feet.

Worship

In less than two hours we will gather for worship, 38,000 strong. We gather as sinners, desperately in need of healing, of a word of forgiveness, of our Lord's precious and life-giving Body and Blood. We gather as servants of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, that we might be found worthy to be found in Him, always seeking the very last place. And we gather as saints, not by what we have done (or left undone), but because that is how God, through the life-giving waters of Baptism, chooses to name us and regard us and treat us and call us. And we gather as the hungry, to feast upon the Christ who is our Bread, that by his hand the world might be fed.

Oh, and I was wrong about the number. Turns out there are those around the world in the Church on earth who also Gather this morning to sing praises to our Lord Jesus. And turns out there is a heavenly multitude beyond number, whose ceaseless praise of the Most Holy Trinity is quite deafening. So join us, as we join into worship that is already in progress...

Gathering Worship

In a few hours we will be off to the last official act of the Gathering, worship at the SuperDome. If you have already worshipped at home, you can also watch the live streaming video feed of the Gathering, beginning at 10:00 am EST (pre-worship music) or 10:30 am (worship). They have been streaming the evening events and I imagine will also stream Sunday morning worship.

From that page you can also find links to a whole host of things: pictures, summaries, etc.

Crazy Hair Day

I am not sure if this qualifies as a bad hair day or a fantastic hair day. Skyscraper hair maybe.

Ribs

After a great evening at the SuperDome, a local vendor set up rib shop on Poydras Street. I couldn't resist. Love those ribs!

@ the Dome

The happy bunch at the Dome on Friday night.

Ninth Ward

Much has been written about the now famous Ninth Ward, completely submerged and destroyed during Hurricane Katrina. Here are a few photos of some of the "missing houses." It is almost a no man's land. While there are houses here and there, it is largely a series of vacant lots and overgrown yards. Imagine several square city blocks with only a few houses on each.

Plantations

While some groups were given some hands on (construction or clean-up) service projects and others were given human interest (reading to children) service projects, others were sent on more of what I would call a "learning adventure." We visited two plantations west of New Orleans.

Serving Day

Friday was our service day. Here we are decked out in our orange serving shirts.

Day 3: Bourbon Street and Forgiveness

Most people have a good idea of what happens at Bourbon Street in the evenings, but what may not be as well known is that a tireless band of sanitation workers powerwashes a good part of the French Quarter every morning. The picture of these cleaners is at St. Joseph's square. As I walked along these roads and snapped these photos, I couldn't help but think of forgiveness. It may be a longer essay someday, but what struck me is how faithfully and thoroughly these workers work each day to clean and to make things new.

May forgiveness wash over us today!

T-Shirts and Identity

This year I've seen a remarkable number of t-shirts. I am amazed at the amount of creativity that went into many.

God's Work. Our Hands.

The ELCA's "theme" this year is "God's work. Our hands." You can see it emblazoned on our servant t-shirts. This theme I think attempts to draw on the rich imagery used in the New Testament that names the Church as the Body of Christ. As the Letter to the Ephesians so richly testifies--and what I have so deeply witnessed here--is the variety of members that make up the Body and the rich variety of gifts that animate the same Body in the power of the Holy Spirit.

I have missed some of the "connective tissue" in the Gathering so far. We have participated in acts of serving in many places throughout New Orleans. And we have heard a lot about justice, serving the poor, etc., but not enough about why and how we do that precisely as members of the Body of Christ, joined to Jesus himself in the mystical waters of Baptism. It is our union with Christ that not only saves us but animates our serving in his Name and as his Body.

Consider adding the letter to the Ephesians to your devotional reading list this week.

SuperDome

Here's a shot of the SuperDome from the outside. It looks surprisingly like a spacecraft. We will "launch" from here tomorrow for our servant event.

Lost and Found

Band Lost and Found at the Interaction Center. Check out their song "Give Us Ears," a wonderful summary of the Gospel of Mark at NewSongsforWorship.com.

Fun Hat Dude

What I love about youth gatherings, among many things, is sheer amount of fun and energy teenagers bring to the table. Props to this guy who had a great hat and graciously allowed me to share this photo.

_________, Justice, Jazz

When I first had this idea of multiple people blogging (unofficially) the Gathering on the ground a friend of mine asked if he should be nice. What he meant, I think, was how to handle those awkward moments when you need to constructively criticize what is happening. So I guess I'll just jump right in and stick my neck out.

While our three speakers this evening has some great things to say (and one had incredible presence), I found it disturbing that Jesus was not explicitly mentioned until the third speaker. Now don't get me wrong. I'm all for loving acts of service, of Jesus' work being done by whomever and whenever. But I think as Christians we have not only an obligation but a deep desire to ground what we are doing in the One who animates our serving, in the One who gives us new life. And his name is Jesus.

Also, what is up with Lost and Found not headlining this event? Their music is good, their theology is both sound and deep, and they know how to work a crowd. And Jesus appears rather regularly in their work.

Sand Volleyball at the Interaction Center

Change for Change Brick

Working on a brick for the offering for World Hunger ("Change for Change").

Tall Guy

This one guy in the Arts and Culture entrance venue was really tall.

New Orleans - On the Ground

I had some profound conversations with several people who are native to New Orleans. The woman I met this morning was here from New York for a funeral of a family member. She was able to give me a sense of the devastation of Katrina beyond the news stories and the hype. The security guard I spoke with this afternoon told her story of having been taken in with ten others by a family in Tennessee during Katrina, only to have the same family take the money that the small town had collected as a donation for them. The cook at Mother's restaurant shared his story too.

It is amazing to be honored to be a part of listening to someone else's story. And in the process, we find ourselves transformed.

Interaction Center

Getting ready for our "Jazz" day the Interaction (convention) center.

Jazz Day

Today was our "Jazz" day, I think. The Gathering theme is Jesus, Justice, Jazz and each day corresponds to one emphasis. Since we are on the purple track, we got to explore the Interaction Center at the convention center. Think of the interaction center as a venue for exploring creatively arts, music, service, sports and everything else under the sun.

T-Shirt

Opening Gathering

The opening gathering went well. We heard from Bishop Hanson and two speakers that spoke of what "faith in action" looked like in their lives.

What struck me most, however, was the evidence of Katrina that remained on the exterior of the Superdome and the adjacent building. Hope penetrating despair and despair penetrating hope.

Jazz

Jazz is at the heart of New Orleans. What will it mean to improvise a new/old song to/for the Lord?

Called Saints

The earliest Christian writers (including St. Paul in his letter to the Philippians, a focus text for the Gathering this year), calls Christians "saints" or "holy ones." Rather than a description of pious people, these earliest Christians knew exactly what they were doing: testifying to God's action in "setting apart" (a definition of "holy") a people for God's purposes.

I'm looking forward to being with the Saints from our neck of the woods, seeing some old Saints and meeting some new ones, locally grown and from around the country.

City Bus

Instead of taking a shuttle from the airport, we took the city bus with a group of 38 from Staples, Minnesota. It was quite a long ride in from the airport (especially when you're sitting on the heater/engine in the back of the bus) but it gave us a chance to see a variety of things, including homes still damaged from Hurricane Katrina. I'm sure it will be overwhelming to hear the stories of those who lived here during the storm.

Ice Crystals

At first glance this may seem like an odd picture. I think it was taken at about 35,000 feet somewhere between DC and New Orleans. The ice crystals on the window struck me. We must be high in the air, I reasoned, for ice crystals to form on the window.

To think that God is above and beyond us is almost incomprehensible. I wonder how our conceptions of God will be expanded and deepened and changed this week.

Planes, Trains, Automobiles

This is a shot of our shuttle bus ride from the "outlying area" at the Washington, DC airport where we had our connecting flight. As I hear from friends around the world flying, driving and riding buses from all over the country (and beyond), I am reminded that "Gathering" is not just a noun, it is a verb.

Light

This was one of those "lucky" shots. Better: one given by grace. The light bursting forth from the stage beneath the large cross gives me pause as I reflect on Christ, the uncreated Light who is in our midst, even as we gather in his name.

Opening Evening at the SuperDome

Being Present

This is going to be the most blogged about, Twittered about, techno-fiddled Gathering in history. Heck, I'm even joining the fray. But as I look around and see the youth texting and plugged into iPods and the adults quick to draw their cell phone as soon as they have a free moment, I wonder: What is all this technology doing to us?

Shane Hipps has recently convinced me, in his book Flickering Pixels, that no technology is neutral; all of these things deeply form and shape us. The key is understanding what is happening and then embrace or reject (or both!) each form of technology.

As I look around and ponder these things, here is what I observe: These new technologies are...

1. connecting us, though I imagine in ways that are not entirely neutral (nor always positive). On the positive side, many of those who could not make the trip can be a part of it virtually in a variety of ways. Perhaps all this technology helps to connect us more deeply as local congregations.

However, there is a strange twist to this. Because we are so electronically connected, instead of immersing ourselves in this new place away from home we are connected virtually to a dozen other communities back home. This is related to my next concern...

2. making us less present... to the moment, to those surrounding us. Instead of being right here, right now we are engaged with someone else, often somewhere else.

3. potentially undermining a strong belief in the incarnation. A central confession of the Christian Faith is that the Lord Jesus, fully God and begotten eternally from the Father, is also fully human, born of Mary. Flesh matters. Bodies matter.

And so AT & T was ironically wrong many years ago when the company invited us to "reach out and touch someone." An embrace is not possible virtually. Wiping a tear is not possible virtually.

It's not as if I'm immune from these pressures. But during this I'm going to try to keep my cell phone in my pocket as much as possible [except when I'm Twittering--see how difficult these waters are to navigate?], so I don't miss the God (who is everywhere present and fills all things) right in front of my face. Wait, is that my cell phone?

Philippians 2

The Gathering theme this year is drawn from Philippians, chapter 2. Verse 5 invites us: "Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus..." and then describes Christ's self-emptying (kenosis) for us and for our salvation. I wonder what it will look like for us to empty ourselves, in the Way of Jesus, during this Gathering.

Jesus, Justice, Jazz UNofficial Blog

I have set up the UNofficial blog for the New Orleans youth gathering and have invited several "on the ground" authors as contributors. While this page will feature some of our group's adventures, the other blog (http://jjj09.blogspot.com/) will hopefully give a variety of perspectives from authors from around the country.

Blog, Tweet, Pray: New Orleans Youth Gathering

Our contingent from Bethlehem will be joining about 37,000 other youth and adults from around the nation in New Orleans for the National Lutheran Youth Gathering. The theme this year is Jesus, Justice, Jazz.

You can follow along (virtually) in a couple of different ways:

1. I hope to post at least a few blog posts here on this site (http://7daydevos.blogspot.com/).

2. You can also follow the Twitter stream on Twitter (username: houseofbread) or in the right hand sidebar of the same site (http://7daydevos.blogspot.com/).

3. The Facebook Page (search for Bethlehem Lutheran Church) should also capture these feeds as status updates.

4. No promises, but I might be able to upload pictures or audio.

5. This should really be #1: Please pray for all attending this Gathering, that we all might grow in what it means to walk in the way of Jesus.

Levitcus 25 and Matthew 18: Jubilee and Forgiveness

In my morning prayers this past week I was reading through the last chapters of Leviticus. Chapter 25 has always been one of my favorites, with its detailed description of the Year of Jubilee. This was a "sabbath of sabbaths," the great 50th year following the sabbath of sabbath years (7 x 7). The emphasis of this Jubilee seems to be the return of everything back to how God intended it. Land is returned, relationships are restored, etc. It is a literal enactment, though perhaps only a taste, of the final Day of the Lord where God will be all in all.

The Jubilee Year got me to thinking about forgiveness. In Matthew 18:21-22 Saint Peter asks our Lord Jesus how often he should do this forgiveness thing. Some translations give Jesus' answer as: "77 times." I once heard someone say: "Anyone who has been married for more than a year has already hit that number!" A better translation is the more difficult 70 times 7, pointing us not just to 490 times (still keeping track!) but to an impossibly perfect number. If seven is the number of perfection, then 70 times 7 points us to perfection squared... and then some. In other words, something like the Year of Jubilee. Perhaps even a Jubilee of Jubilees.

The emphasis seems to be not just on "keep forgiving" (although that is certainly the point too), but on forgiveness as the main thing, the central thing, forgiveness as a way of life, forgiveness as God's intentions for the whole creation. In choosing to forgive, we choose not just a set number of times (How many times as a parent have I begun my threats with "Next time..."?), but to enter into a pattern, a way of life, a Jubilee year that points us toward God and to God's final plan for the fullness of time.

In other words, when we forgive like God forgives, we walk on holy ground, we glimpse and taste the Divine.

Want to read more? See the verses that follow: Matthew 18:23-35.

Forgiveness

Preaching Conference
The preaching conference (Poets, Prophets, Preachers) I attended early this week was outstanding. The only downside, I suspect, is that expectations are automatically raised when you go to one of these events. :) Perhaps by the grace of the Holy Spirit I'll be able to deliver.

Church at Cherry's
Join us for "Church at Cherry's," a series of theology discussions at Cherry's pub in town, hosted by Pastor Jim Miller and me. We begin this Tuesday with a discussion of the End Times. We'll continue on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of July and August (all at 7 pm).

Forgiveness
This week I'd like us to begin to think about and practice forgiveness.

Sometimes the best thing I can do as a pastor is direct you to someone who teaches/preaches better than I do on a given subject. So... rather than give you a long series of written reflections on the topic, I suggest you listen to Pastor Rob Bell's June series on the subject of forgiveness. I think he does an outstanding job. Simply go to the the Mars Hill Teaching Page and click on each of the titles (also listed below) to listen to the audio. You can also subscribe to the podcast via iTunes if you are into that kind of thing.

06.28.09: It Stops Here! - Rob Bell
06.21.09: Tortured By Books - Rob Bell
06.14.09: Drop the Jawbone - Rob Bell

May the Forgiving God who loves you and restores you in Jesus Christ begin to work that forgiving love in you.

Haiku for Herod's Banquet

This coming weekend we will hear the gruesome telling of the story of the beheading of John the Baptist in Mark 6:14-29. It is a tough text to wrestle with. I think it is best understood in its juxtaposition with the Feeding of the 5,000 in the verses that follow it (Which we will hear about for the next six weeks in Mark 6 and John 6). The implicit question seems to be: Do you want to go to this (Herod's) meal that ends in death, beheading and love of self... or do you want to feast with Jesus, at his banquet, that ends in life, where there is food for all?

I offer this Haiku as a meditation on the text.

Herod's Birthday Feast
Quickly descends: gruesome death
Contrast Jesus' Meal

[Image (c) 2009, used with permission, Augsburg Fortress Liturgies, annual license #20800]