FROM THE PASTOR

Created to Be

When I was in seventh grade, my sister (four years older than I) went to the ELCA National Youth Gathering in St. Louis – “Dancing at the Crossroads.” I was so jealous!!! I was the churchy one – not her! She did bring me back a bible and a cross, both of which I still have to this day, but I couldn’t wait until it was my turn to go.

Fast forward three years, and I was ready to take off for Atlanta. However, we had a new pastor at our church, and he wasn’t a big fan of events with 30,000 people. Instead, he decided to take our youth group on a trip to the Northwoods of Wisconsin to prepare the Boy Scout camp trails for the Boy Scouts. I have plenty of stories from that experience, which we affectionately call “Tickapalooza.” It was certainly memorable…and it too was a time of significant spiritual growth.

I am so glad that Spencer will be going to the youth gathering in New Orleans from July 16-20. We’ll send him off this week with a special blessing, along with chaperone Gerry Mears. They will be joining a group from Trinity, Des Plaines; St. Mark’s, Mt. Prospect; and Grace, Mt. Prospect. I trust they will have a memorable experience as well.

The daily themes of the gathering will be:

• We are created to be brave, to show up with an open mind and heart, willing to be challenged.
• We are created to be authentic, to bring our whole selves and know that we are loved by our Creator.
• We are created to be free, to be transformed by the gospel.
• We are created to be disruptive, to work for justice for all our siblings.
• We are created to be disciples, to be sent out into the world to love our neighbor just as we are loved by God.

Take a deep dive into the theme with this video.

These are themes we hope will also continue to transform our congregation in powerful ways as we live out our lives as brave, authentic, free, and disruptive disciples of Christ.

I look forward to featuring reflections from Spencer and Gerry when they return!