wfn.org | ELCA Youth Told "Ubuntu" Must Be Made Real

[NEWS@ELCA.ORG]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

July 19, 2003

ELCA Youth Told "Ubuntu" Must Be Made Real
03-YG-09-JB

     ATLANTA (ELCA) -- Participants attending the 2003
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Youth Gathering
must do what they can to serve others and share their wealth,
said the Rev. Barbara K. Lundblad, Bible study leader for the
Gathering.  She urged the participants to make real the theme of
the Gathering, "Do Life! Ubuntu."
     The Youth Gathering is meeting July 16-20 and July 23-27 at
the Georgia Dome and Georgia World Congress Center here.  The two
events bring together some 40,000 high-school-age and adult
Lutherans from across the country and around the world to
participate in worship, community service, Bible study and fun.
     Lundblad, an ELCA pastor, is a professor at Union
Theological Seminary, New York.  She commented on specific daily
themes and scripture that relate to "Do Life! Ubuntu" during
morning programs at the Georgia Dome.  Daily themes included
"Molded by God," "Marked by Christ," "Moved by the Spirit," "Made
for Love," and on the final day of each week, "Do  Life! Ubuntu!"
     Ubuntu is from the Bantu language of sub-Saharan Africa.
Roughly translated it means "humanity" and carries with it the
concept that to be fully human, one must be in "community" with
others.
     "How do we get Ubuntu off of our tee-shirts and under our
skin?" Lundblad said in her Bible study July 19.  "How do we get
it into our hearts, into our hands and into our feet?"
     To Africans, Ubuntu is much more than a word, Lundblad said.
In South Africa, following oppression and apartheid, it meant a
Black woman sitting across the table from a White policeman who
tortured her son, "trying to find a place of reconciliation," she
said.
     To the Gathering participants, Ubuntu cannot be just a word
or a slogan, she said.	It must be made "real" or participants
shouldn't wear it on their tee-shirts.
     Lundblad urged the Gathering participants to exercise their
"power" in how they live their lives.  For example, she said
advertisers and global corporations believe high-school-age youth
have economic power, because they tailor many popular products,
such as movies and music, to them.
     "You can make or break a company," Lundblad said.	"You have
power.	You can make choices. You can make a difference."  Jesus
and the 12 Disciples "changed the world." There are 23,000
attending the first week of the Youth Gathering, she said.
     "Imagine what you can do," Lundblad said.	Already, nearly
$200,000 in quarters has been collected in the Youth Gathering's
"Quarters for Hunger" project, she said.  And, if each Youth
Gathering participant gave $40 annually the ELCA World Hunger
Appeal -- the cost of a few movies, or a pair of shoes or jeans -
- that would mean more than $1.6 million in gifts for world
hunger programs, she said.
     "If Ubuntu means sharing the wealth, it means sharing our
wealth," Lundblad noted.
     In an interview with the ELCA News Service, Lundblad talked
about her experience as Youth Gathering Bible study leader.
Speaking to thousands of high-school-age young people is a
"daunting thing," she said.   It's not the numbers, but trying to
relate to the audience, she said.
     "I went through a process of trying to think about how I am
going to relate to the audience, and I knew I couldn't pretend,"
Lundblad said.
     Lundblad said she hoped the participants' lives will be
changed by the Youth Gathering events, and that each person
learned something new.	"I really hope they'll seriously consider
changing something about how they live, and how they spend their
money."
     "We do sell them (the youth) short," Lundblad added.  "They
are more serious than we give them credit for."

Information about the ELCA Youth gathering can be found at
http://www.elca.org/gathering on the Web.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news