Hello,
Sorry that I am a couple days late with the Bungee Cord. I got back Sunday night from a trip
with the youth from our church to the National Youth Gathering of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America which was held in Detroit. It was an amazing 5 days….not much
sleep (4 our so hours a night) …. but full of inspiration, motivation, making
of friends, and caring for the people of Detroit.
30,000 Lutheran High Schoolers descended on Detroit, and when that many
young Christians come together some incredible things happen. The energy in
worship is incredible. The enthusiasm
for diversity is incredible. The
gathering power of God that fills an arena is incredible. And the desire to make a difference
with the grace of God is incredible.
One of the days was dedicated to proclaiming justice throughout the city
of Detroit, a justice that is found in care and compassion for all people. So the 30,000 youth were divided into
three groups of 10,000 youth wearing bright orange shirts and the plan was to
send 10,000 Christian youth into the city over the course of three days to make
a dent of God’s grace and mercy in this city that many have written off and
consider lost.
That was the plan.
Unfortunately, things didn’t work out as smoothly as had hoped. Our group was part of the first 10,000
and we arrived downtown Detroit to catch our bus at 8:15. Well, we were stuck on the highway in
rush hour traffic into Detroit at 8:15, and we didn’t arrive until almost
9:00. We weren’t the only ones who
got snagged in traffic….it seems that the busses that were to take us to our
sites also got trapped in the traffic, and like dominos falling one upon the
other, the problems began to compound upon each other, making us and nearly
5000 other people wait in Hart Plaza all morning long, finally catching our bus
at 12:30. A second launch was to
happen at 10:15, and unfortunately the ongoing delay made it impossible for
many groups to go out and do their service project in Detroit.
Even though our departure was severely delayed, we finally arrived in
one of Detroit’s neighborhoods to clean up a couple of blocks that had been
neglected. Our target was an old
abandoned appliance store, overgrown with weeds and brush. On our way there it was quite a sight
to see orange shirted teenagers swarming around like ants doing the simple but
important work of making neighborhoods dignified places to live. Many of the residents came out of their
houses, spoke to us and thanked us for giving our time and effort to make their
neighborhoods better. Their thanks
made us feel good.
Some, however, heard no
words of thanks because they were stuck at Hart Plaza all day and never
left. As crazy as it may seem, I
believe that those who wound up doing nothing learned far more than the rest
who did something. The reason that
I say that is that they learned with frustrating clarity that Christian service
is not done in order to get something out of it, it is done because the love of
Christ who has taken hold of our hearts drives us to do something.
Sometimes….or maybe even often times….walls are thrown up and our good
intentions are thwarted, we give of ourselves and no one bothers to thank us,
or we work really hard and nothing seems to be changed. But when these things happen,
Christians don’t give up….because Christ doesn’t give up. When you think about it frustration,
exasperation, and lack of appreciation didn’t slow Jesus down, because Jesus
didn’t do what he did to feel good.
What Jesus did he did out of love, and he let nothing deter him from doing
what needed to be done for those he loved….not even the cross.
In Detroit I learned many things, but this I learned well: when you
serve Christ and hit a home run it sure feels good, but when you serve Christ
and you strike out (for whatever reason), when it comes time to step up to the
plate again, you do so and give it your best…because the love of Christ, not
the thrill of victory, shouts to the world, “Play ball!”….and that is what we
did.
Have a great week.
God’s grace and peace, (ggap)
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
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