Sitting at the Superdome for the first mass event (37,000 teens and counselors), my muscle memory kicked me hard: my only previous visit to the Superdome and New Orleans was for the ELCA youth gathering in 1997. Not only is this Gathering different because I actually have my own teenager participating, but also and mostly because I couldn’t get the CNN images of post-Katrina Superdome and Convention Center out of my head. In 2005 the world stopped to gawk in disbelief not so much at the physical destruction from the storm, but rather the aftermath of how people responded (or didn’t) to the crisis. And since then, the focus has mostly left New Orleans as a place that will take many years to recover, out of the news spotlight.
And yet in my Superdome seat, peering over the sea of t-shirts declaring “Jesus, Justice, Jazz” customized for congregation or synod, listening to the Peter Mayer-led House Band, watching the half-dozen giant-size monitors for close-ups of the stage, I sat quite comfortably, as if waiting for an NFL game. Indeed, among the championship banners hanging in the rafters, was a special one for the 2006 Fans of the New Orleans Saints football team – for supporting the team in the chaos-filled season immediately after Hurricane Katrina. In a way, this Gathering seemed like other youth gatherings, filled with inspirational speakers, cheering when one’s home city or state in mentioned, dancing in the aisles to the Christian rock/hip-hop warm-up music and mass worship with 37,000 young folk sharing communion.
But it was more than that. Much more. For three consecutive days, dozens of buses departed from multiple locations at coordinated launch times. 12,000 people per day fanned out across the region, an ocean of orange volunteer t-shirts spreading across the metro area, to fill backpacks with school supplies for the coming school year, to work literacy programs with grade school students to paint murals for schools re-opening for the first time since Katrina, to clean up Katrina-muck still mired in the Ninth Ward and many more projects. It was a herculean task just to deploy that many people, let alone work their projects.
Bethel’s own project was removing weed trees (Chinese Tallow) that invaded and dominated what had been majestic oak and pine trees. 80% of those trees were destroyed overnight – changing the ecosystem classification from a forest to shrubbery zone, almost literally in the blink of eye – and any oak and pine saplings have been choked out by the invasive species ever since. Our youth did a great job that day, clearing a small but significant swath in the Fontainebleau State Park that will hopefully allow some oak and pine to thrive. Our site administrator wasn’t a park ranger but a retiree who volunteers his time for the Sisyphean task of almost single-handedly fighting the weed trees. He had no idea what to expect that day, but had to quickly shift from working with a handful of folks to mentoring and supervising 120 orange shirts. By his own admission, he didn’t shift quickly to his new role but he persevered, glad to know that his mentoring work would cover the next two servant event days. I had to break the news to him that our workgroup was the first of three different workgroups; I’ve never seen a man’s face so subtly yet clearly laugh and cry simultaneously without twitching a muscle.
We worked hard and enthusiastically that morning, “being the change” – the unofficial Gathering slogan – and after the work was done, some of us jumped in the clean, fresh, cooling waters of Lake Pontchartrain (just a few hundred yards from our work zone) and then picnicked on Subway (restaurant) sandwiches before climbing on the bus back to New Orleans. I didn’t jump in the lake (insert your own punch line here), but found a shady spot in the picnic area with others in our group who judged that our work clothes wouldn’t dry out in time for the return bus ride. We struck up a conversation with two sisters who had brought their families for a day out. We shared our stories (on our work bus there were also congregations from Jamestown, NY, and Wasilla, AK), and the sisters recounted to us their tales of evacuation to separate cities (Shreveport and Tulsa), despite their best intentions to remain together. We discovered it was their first time back to this state park since Katrina and the park had only re-opened just a few weeks prior. We later learned that the official park ranger had lost his home in the floods (along with many irreplaceable historical artifacts collected by him and his wife) and relocated nearby the park, mostly because they (and many others) could not afford the new rates for New Orleans insurance.
As we reacclimated to the New Orleans city rhythm that evening, THE ice-breaker question (as we waited in many lines) to/from strangers for this Gathering was “Hey, what was your service event?” which replaced the previous Gatherings’ ice-breakers of “Where are you from?” and “What did you think of last night’s speaker?” And as much as we made new friends among the Gathering with a sense of camaraderie at the Superdome events, the most telling sign of our presence in New Orleans was among the locals.
I’m pretty sure it wasn’t just our (as in Bethel’s or all the other teens’) presence. It was God’s presence, as in Jesus-died-and-rose-for-us and the Holy Spirit called us to New Orleans to be God’s presence to rebuild and redeem Creation as God had intended it.
No, our presence in New Orleans was reflected in a joke by a passing motorist as we walked by a statue (as I discovered later ironically it was General Robert E. Lee). As we were about to cross the roundabout, a driver stopped and asked us “Hey, y’all know why that statue is facing north?” We shrugged our shoulders. “’Cause you never turn your back on a Yankee!” He then added in softened, sincere tones, “Thanks for all the work y’all are doing here.” And proceeded on his way.
For me, those 2005 CNN images of the Katrina-ravaged Superdome have been replaced by more than just 37,000 young adults recently rocking out in it. It’s also been supplanted by the park rangers and volunteers, the picnicking sisters and the somewhat random sarcastic/sincere grateful motorist, sharing their stories and their appreciation. This Gathering may not have garnered much national media attention (although ELCA Bishop Mark Hanson did read a letter of thanks from President Obama at the Gathering’s last evening) because feel-good stories, especially religious/church-led efforts, don’t make for good news. But they do make for Good News. And that blessing is more than enough for me.
To see some of Bethel’s photos and videos from the trip, please visit http://byg-jjj2009.blogspot.com/
