It’s pretty easy to know what conventions are in town by checking out the ever changing banners on downtown light posts. “We’re Jazzed You’re Here,” they proclaim with a small changeable banner below welcoming a specific group. Recently, downtown was overrun by the hip/geek throngs of Microsoft World Partners. Now, it’s Lutherans. Evangelical Lutheran youth, to be exact.
I don’t think I know any Lutherans, but if I ever wanted to know any, now would be the time. Apparently there are something like 37,000 of them in the city now. I believe this is supposed to be a service trip for them, but it feels a little like an invading force. My observations so far: These youth travel in packs or pods of 8-10. They are often accompanied by one or two adults. Pod members are easily identified by matching shirts or hats, often in the neon colorway.
Sometimes when I think about the numerous groups of people that have come to New Orleans since the storm, I wonder what they take back home with them. How do they process and share what they saw? An Irish friend who used to live in Tanzania once shared an amazing document with me. It was a five page treatise on what was wrong with Tanzania and how it could be fixed. The document was written by an American physician who had spent three weeks in western Tanzania working in a hospital. This is the kind of thing that worries me about 37,000 Lutherans.
[...] it happens, I’m still not thrilled to have them here. I think it might have to do that particular brand of adolescent energy you get [...]