New Orleans Dispatch I.

Tag sales are over, the fundraisers seem now a distant memory as we are awoken in the middle of the night to meet at St. John’s to travel to New Orleans. We meet to climb aboard a silver bird and fly away to our destination. It is dark and wet outside and we find Bobby, Michael, Lukas, Jimmy, Andrew, Casey, Rehema, Jack, Jason, Andrea, and Suzanne huddled in the upper room like Jesus’ disciples – all but one missing: Judas (Pastor Henk). Please note all YOUTH were on time.

Our stomachs feel empty and they are, but a messenger of mercy brings us muffins, croissants and other delicacies. Thank you, Carolynn Dilworth.

Soon car keys turn and engines revv, and we head down the Hutch. We are leaving for the Big Easy but it hasn’t been so easy…. All of our fundraisers, many meetings, preparation courses seem as if they are the headwinds for our flight south to the land devastated by Katrina and Rita. But ironically these efforts were not a drag on us but enabled us to go. The first leg of our journey has everyone laughing and enjoying themselves as the plane takes off into a bit of turbulence.

Just think a piece of junk nobody wanted, a bowl of chili that someone made and sold, all of those Christmas wreaths and the Lucinda Pins that all many ordered, and that Cabaret Night where everyone brought their dishes. All these efforts added up to taking 13 of us on a trip that will live forever in our memory bank. Hey, New Orleans may not be the same after we make it our home for a week, or at least after we and the other 36,000 young Lutherans will leave on Sunday afternoon.

We want it to be home. We want to see this famous place in the history of our country that has experienced so much tragedy, heartache and pain when the levees broke only a few years back. We want New Orleans to get into our blood and into our hearts as we meet the people who live there. They are our brothers and sisters, just as the 36,000 Lutherans who will be coming from Iowa, California, South Dakota, and even Brooklyn. We come to learn, to be enriched, and to grow from this experience. New Orleans has a lot to offer and we want to be open to its great food, its music that makes you snap your fingers, and its unique architecture that inspires and takes you back to another time in Southern life. That is not the only trajectory of this journey because we will encounter a whole community of people who are labeled Lutheran. They will come in all shapes and sizes, different political beliefs, and different ways of being a disciple to our Lord. They can teach us a few things and even inspire us to bring home a few ideas for our congregation and community.