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We have a problem. As Gods people, we have become lost. We have turned
away from our relationship with God. We have not loved our neighbors as
ourselves. On our own, we cannot nd our way out. We need good news.
The author of the Gospel of Mark tells us the source of the good news for
which we long:
The beginning of the good news of Jesus
Christ, the Son of God (Mark 1:1).
The good news, Mark says, is Jesus, who is with us all along our way, a
way that leads to the cross. Through the 2015 ELCA Youth Gathering, we
will explore what it looks like to follow Jesus on his journey to the cross
even though our rst inclination supported by the dominant narrative of
American culture is to rush to the resurrection. Mark teaches us that we
cant get to the resurrection without going through the cross.
The essential act of discipleship is to follow Jesus on the way to the cross.
Young people and Adult Leaders who engage the ministry of the Gathering
will be invited to follow Jesus on the way as they accompany the people
of Detroit in their journeys. They will learn that to rise up doesnt mean
pursuing power or victory over another, but choosing weakness over
power so that they might be together. The experience of death and life held
together on the way is the beginning of the good news; it is Gods narrative
into which we are inviting young people, and in which we hope young people
will nest their own stories.
There are many people in Detroit who know experiences of death. In fact,
the media would have us think that Detroit itself is gasping for its last
breath, near the end of its life as a major metropolitan city. But as people
of the cross, we see promise in death. Martin Luther said our yearning in
despair is always taken up into the suering love of Father and Son. We
partake in the very being of God as we seek God in our own awareness of
death, brokenness or despair, for through the cross God has placed our
brokenness at the very heart of Gods life, and that is the beginning of the
good news.
This is Christs
church.
There is a place for
you here.
We are the church that
shares a living, daring
condence in Gods
grace. Liberated by our
faith, we embrace you
as a whole person
questions, complexities
and all. Join us as we do
Gods work in Christs
name for the life of the
world.
2015 ELCA Youth
Gathering Theological
Statement
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@elcagathering
#RiseUpTogether
elcagathering
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www.ELCA.org/gathering
When the author of Marks Gospel says, this is the good news, he is
pointing to Jesus who has shown up on the scene. This crucied Jesus, who
bore the brokenness of the world on the cross, who knows what it feels like
to be abandoned, shows up in every action done in Jesus name. That is the
beginning of the good news! Every retelling of Gods story, every new hearer,
every hungry person fed, every thirst quenched, every person healed, every
stranger welcomed, every prisoner visited, every food pantry or Bible school
or outreach to a neighbor is the good news being proclaimed. It is the cross
being planted precisely in the broken places of our lives and the world. And
young people will learn that it is because Jesus Christ is with us, and able
to work through us to enter into the suering of the world and hold it under
the resurrection promise.
The Jesus who showed up in rst-century Palestine is the same Jesus who
shows up now, still determined to be available, accessible through us for the
sake of the world. That Jesus is a presence on the move, back and forth, and
forward in order to reveal that around every corner and in every encounter
is the beginning of the good news.
Young people and adults who engage in the ministry of the 2015 ELCA Youth
Gathering will learn that as individuals, as communities, as a collective
humanity, we are called and claimed as characters in and witnesses to
Gods divine story, a story that always moves through the cross to the
resurrection. They will be touched by Gods story unfolding in Detroit.
They will return home more aware of their place in Gods story, a story
enhanced by the stories of others, especially those who are dierent from
them. Ultimately, young people will be encouraged to see themselves as
essential witnesses to Gods story in the world as they learn to proclaim
the beginning of the good news in and through their lives of discipleship, a
discipleship marked by their baptismal promises to:

Live among Gods faithful people,

Hear the word of God and share in the Lords supper,

Proclaim the good news of God in Christ through words and deed,

Serve all people, following the example of Jesus,

Strive for justice and peace in all the earth. (ELW, page 236)