ANDERSON TELLS YOUTH: JESUS IS WAITING FOR YOU

     NEW ORLEANS (ELCA) -- Thousands of young people left New Orleans, heading home at the close of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Youth Gathering here July 23-27.  "Jesus will be waiting for you when you get home," the Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of the ELCA, told them.  "He has gone on ahead of you."
     Anderson preached on an Easter theme for the gathering's closing worship at the Louisiana Superdome.  "What do we mean when we say,  Christ is risen?'" he asked.  "Jesus Christ is part of our living world.  You see Jesus' face in my face, in each others' faces and the faces of the poor," he said.
     "We have had a great time here," Anderson said.  "We're pumped!"  But Jesus is out in front of us, he said.  "You are going home.  Back to the familiar ... after this once-in-a-lifetime experience.  But you won't be leaving Jesus here."
     Anderson said, "Jesus will be there to meet you when you get home, offering opportunities and possibilities you have not dreamed of at school, at work and in your relationships."
     Jesus came to Mary Magdalene on Easter morning "in her loneliness and despair," Anderson said.  "And from that point on the risen, living Jesus repeatedly comes to people who are going through bad times," he said.
     "Jesus Christ promised to be here, alive and powerful in the world," Anderson said.  "Say to him,  Lord, I am ready.'"
     He said, "Jesus will meet you again and again in the days ahead. Watch for him.  Listen for his voice calling you by name -- the name you were called when you first heard the words `child of God.'"
     Music for the gathering was directed by Abe Carceras, minister of music at Our Savior's Lutheran Church, Milwaukee, and performed with Angelique Richard, New Orleans; Tita Valeriano, Portland, Ore.; Ben Ward, St. Paul, Minn.; and the Rev. Antonio Machado, Minneapolis.
     The Gathering Choir was led by Richard, music director at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, New Orleans.  Also singing for the closing worship were the Bethlehem Youth Choir and "Spirit of God, Mighty River," a choir from King of Glory Lutheran Church, Tempe, Ariz.
     Steven Ahrell of Bethlehem, New Orleans, brought the 37,000 worshipers to their feet with a rap rendition of the gospel acclamation. Molly Matthias, Mount Olive Lutheran Church near Milwaukee, sang a portion of the biblical book of Revelation.

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