Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Day 5 & 6: Worship and the trip home

What is worship really? Is it a set amount of time? Is it the right words? Is it when you stand or sit? Is it quiet and solum? If the worship service we attended on Sunday morning was any indication of what it is or can be then worship can be anything.

What we experienced Sunday morning was a blending of the fantastic Lutheran liturgy and the excitement of the gathering atmosphere. The house band was once again awesome and got us pumped up for worship. There was a processional of the cross but also items signifying the service we had accomplished this past week in the form of doors, cones, windows, work gloves, work lights and so on. The alter was carried in by sections: saw horses, 4 doors, and a tarp to cover it. It was the most crude and perfect alter I have ever seen.



The service itself was very familiar and the sermon was given by Bishop Hanson. He spoke to us about how we are now leaving this place and how we can take it with us. How we as a group of 37,000 people have made a difference and can still make a difference in our own homes and communities. That it is up to us to be the change in the world.

He also told us about the mayor of New Orleans, how he attended the large gathering last evening and when they entered in the Superdome he cringed a little because even though years have passed and the dome is fixed it still is viewed as a place of tragedy, sickness, death and pain. But the mayor when on. He said that this gathering of young people is a ray of hope. That it has made the Superdome a place of joy and happiness. He said that the community has seen a wonderful change in their lives and he wishes that we could surround the dome join hand and pray for the healing of this community. Well we didn't have the ability to do just that buy our service and prayer that morning was one for healing.

We also celebrated communion that morning. It is the most amazing thing to think that 37,000 people were communed in 30 minutes. It just shows that people are willing to volunteer not just for getting their hands dirty buy also for the clensing and renewal of our bodies. Every station had a yellow umbrella where we received the body and blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We were also anointed with oil reminding us of the cross that is always with us.

The service ended and we were sad to leave. It was a time of renewal and an exhausting week. The rest of the afternoon was spent walking back to our hotel one last time, loading up the bus in a little bit of rain, and heading to lunch. We ate on canal street. Heather, Kim and I went to Mother's restaurant and had some good southern cookin'. It was fantastic.





The ride home was lots of fun too. We went across the causeway over Lake Ponchatrain which is the longest bridge over water in the world. 24 miles of water underneath us. There is even 8 miles of that where we couldn't see land.

That evening we ate dinner and watched a beautiful sunset, sang happy birthday to Tate Miller and loaded the bus for the long haul of the night shift. But I wasn't going to let this day go down easy. I broke out the glow sticks and but on the dance music and we had ourselves a bus rave! It was a lot of fun and apparently my butt called Pastor Ron a few times. How weird is that?





We all fell asleep to Pirates of the Caribbean part 3 and tried to sleep as best we could on a bus. Bodies were everywhere and there was not chance we in the front could get back to the bathroom because of the tangled mass of teenagers on the floor and strewn across the aisle. We did a did have a short stop at a few rest stops along the way and saw an amazing sunrise.

Breakfast was in Clear Lake Iowa at a Perkins. The look on the face of the woman when I said there were 41 of us in a group was priceless. Most because there was another group that had come in 30 minutes before us. The food was awesome and handled very well. We even saw Mari helping out with the drinks.

Then it was back on the bus for the final two hours of the trip. It went fast.

In the end this was a great trip. The youth of Word of Peace are amazing people and I know they will change the world, heck they have already changed the world. We wouldn't have trusted them more in New Orleans. They were fantastic and a joy to be with. My hope and prayer is that this experience will go with them always and they will never forget the love they felt in New Orleans.

Thanks for following this trip and this blog. Check back often for more Word of Peace youth group antics.

Dain

ps: we will be leading the worship services on August 9th and 10th with the Vacation Bible School kids sharing our experiences with everyone at the 8:30 and 10 am services. Come and check out pictures, video, the stories we have.

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