National Youth Gathering: Friday July 17, 2015

Friday July 17, 2015 - Proclaim Justice Day

Today was a day defined by the phrase "hurry up and wait."

The day started wet. We woke up to rain, which made us nervous because today is our Proclaim Justice day. It's the day that we have the opportunity to join 10,000 other youth in orange shirts and go out into the communities of Detroit in service.

Proclaim Justice day has two launch phases due to a limited number of buses, and we were scheduled to be on bus 55 of the second launch. The late launch left us with two options this morning: sleep in, or attend morning worship. We gave the youth the option, and they decided they wanted to go to worship in Cobo center at 8:15.

Worship was a wonderful experience with a mixture of traditional liturgy and non-traditional music. Bishop Eaton presided over communion. Rachel Kurtz, a well known lutheran singer song-writer, and Agape, a Lutheran rapper, led us in music. Worship was a refreshing way to begin our morning.

After worship we went to Hart Plaza - the launch point for all Proclaim Justice buses. Our check-in time with our servant companion (a college-aged volunteer who serves to lead us to and from our service project) was 9:30am. At 9:30 we hurried to our servant companion, sat down, broke out the cards, and waited. Hart Plaza featured a DJ and MC who was in charge of entertainment and stalling while we waited for our bus to arrive. The kids enjoyed dancing the hustle, cha-cha slide, wobble, and more while we waited.

At 12:30 they called our number and we walked to the bus. We were on bus 55 with 4 other groups. One of these groups was from Macedonia Lutheran Church in Burlington, NC.

We drove 20 minutes to our service project site on the SouthWest side of Detroit. Near the town of Highland Park, there is a 100 block neighborhood dedicated to renewal. The effort to renew the neighborhood is led by a group called Focus: HOPE. Focus: HOPE is a community center dedicated to education, job and skill training, and advancing the surrounding community by embracing the diversity of people, beliefs, and ideas and working together to overcome racism, poverty and injustice.

There mission statement is:

"Recognizing the dignity and beauty of every person, we pledge intelligent and practical action to overcome racism, poverty, and injustice. And to build a metropolitan community where all people may live in freedom, harmony, trust and affection. Black and white, yellow, brown and red from Detroit and its suburbs of every economic status, national origin and religious persuasion we join in this covenant."

See more at http://100.focushope.edu

Here is a great article about the Focus: HOPE area:

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20150721/NEWS/150729986/before-and-after-how-volunteers-transformed-100-blocks-of-detroit

We, along with 8 other buses, spent the afternoon cleaning up the streets on the corner of La Salle Blvd and La Belle Street. The streets were overgrown with weeds, shrubbery, trash, and used tires. One youth member commented on the number of tires lining the streets.

During our service work, a man by the name of Cummings drove by in his landscaping truck and trailer. He made it to the end of the block and then turned around. He parked his trailer and pulled out a lawn mower, gas powered hedge clippers, and other professional tools. We were using a limited number of shovels and rakes, so his professional tools were more than welcomed. I spoke with him as we worked and he said, "I was driving by from another job and saw everyone working, so I thought I would help. I only wish that once you all were done here they would keep the work up, but they won't."

Cummings went on to tell me that he grew up in Detroit working with computers. Once he was laid off due to budget cuts he started flipping houses and providing landscape services. As his kids grew up he made the decision to move away from Detroit so that he could raise them in an area where they would receive a good education and grow up in a safe environment. Cummings still makes the 45min trip to Detroit to care for the lawns of several senior citizen customers who prefer his service.

After our service project we were pressed for time to get to Ford Field. We were invited to participate in what they call "mass cast." The mass cast is made up of youth group volunteers who agree to arrive early to Ford Field for rehearsal and then participate in some capacity during the evening programming. We were tasked with sitting in assigned seats and initiating glow sticks when cued during the final song. The glow sticks formed the shape of a heart. There were four hearts around the dome.

We hurried to our mass cast orientation, which was scheduled for 5:00pm and only took us 10 min. We then had 2.5 hours to wait.

The highlight of tonight's dome event (at least for the adult leaders) was a Mo Town performance by 2 of the original Temptations, 1 member of Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, and 1 other perform. They performed a medley of the greatest Mo Town hits, including some Jackson 5. We never guessed that we would get to see the Temptations in Mo Town!

Today was a GREAT long day! I hope you enjoy the pictures!

A few reflections:

"I discovered my love of Lutheran Rappers and saw 30,000 people do the whip simultaneously. I'd say 'we've got swag'" - Erin

"Another amazing day in an amazing city full of amazing people....simply amazing!!!" - Ryan

"Our power comes from Jesus!" - William

"I was struck today by the number of people who came up to us and said thank you." - Greta

Pictures