Title: Lutheran Students to Celebrate Faith, Change, New Year in New Orleans ELCA NEWS SERVICE
December 6, 2006
Lutheran Students to Celebrate Faith, Change, New Year in New Orleans 06-192-FI
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- More than 250 college-aged students from Lutheran churches and campus ministry sites will be in New Orleans with 350 other young adult Christians to celebrate, see, serve and reflect. The annual gathering of the Lutheran Student Movement-USA (LSM-USA) will be held Dec. 28-Jan. 1 in conjunction with the Ecumenical Student Gathering sponsored and planned by the Council for Ecumenical Student Christian Ministry (CESCM).
The gathering theme is "Celebrate! At the River: Waters of Faith...Deltas of Change."
LSM-USA will hold its annual legislative session during the event, where students will discuss and debate various issues affecting members, the organization and the church, such as the centennial of campus ministry, ecumenism and world hunger. The organization will also elect officers for the coming year.
Melanie Slease, LSM-USA intern, said "Quarter Wars" will raise money for charities. Participants put money into 12 jars, one jar for each of the organization's 12 regional representatives. A point system, with quarters providing positive points, will determine which representative gives which representative a pie in the face.
New Orleans was selected as the gathering venue before Hurricane Katrina devastated the city in 2005, said Sue E. Rothmeyer, an associate in ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and member of the CESCM board. "When CESCM met a month following the hurricane, the decision was made to (keep) the event in New Orleans, realizing that it could be a very significant learning opportunity for students and staff alike," she said.
Rothmeyer is director for campus ministry and associate executive director for youth and young adult ministries, ELCA Vocation and Education.
"We are using all New Orleans-based presenters and preachers so that they can share their stories with us," she said.
The gathering's program begins Dec. 28 with a performance by the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra. Its founder and current artistic director, Irvin Mayfield, will give the gathering's keynote address.
The Shades of Praise gospel choir and the personal narratives of Hurricane Katrina survivors will start Dec. 29 with worship. Those narratives will continue into the afternoon during bus tours of the city.
Dec. 30 will be a day of service for the college-aged students. After orientation and a commissioning service, participants will fan out across the New Orleans area to work on hurricane recovery projects.
Adren Wilson, assistant secretary, Office of Family Support, Louisiana Department of Social Services, will provide reflections the morning of Dec. 31. That day will include an international reception and conclude with a New Year's Eve Watch-Night Service.
Closing worship will be New Year's Day near the Mississippi River with Shades of Praise providing music.
"While Lutheran students gather each year, we welcome the opportunity to gather with our ecumenical brothers and sisters every four years. Much campus ministry work takes place ecumenically on local campuses, so it is only fitting that we celebrate this unity in diversity on a national level as well," said Rothmeyer.
CESCM includes student organizations of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Episcopal Church, ELCA, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), United Church of Christ and United Methodist Church. It works in partnership with the National (Roman) Catholic Student Coalition, Student Christian Movement of Canada and trustees of the World Student Christian Federation.
LSM-USA is a national organization of college, university and seminary students who worship in the Lutheran tradition. Through LSM-USA, Lutheran students promote active participation of students in the life and mission of the Lutheran churches on their campuses and in their communities. The ELCA supports LSM- USA as an active voice of students in the larger church through financial and organizational support. -- -- --
Information about Lutheran Student Movement-USA is at http://www.lsm-usa.org/ on the Web. Details about the Ecumenical Student Gathering are at http://www.cescm.org/Celebrate06/ on the CESCM Web site.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org http://www.elca.org/news ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog