After a long day of travel, fun and short night of sleep, we got up in the 6 a.m. hour for hotel breakfast. Dressed in our orange Rise Up ELCA shirts, we boarded a bus and headed off to find out what we were going to do for our Proclaim Justice Day.
Proclaim Justice Day.
Okay...what does that mean?
On Proclaim Justice Day congregations join up and rise up for a day of service learning in the Detroit metropolitan area. All service learning projects are categorized into one of six key interest areas: housing, education, environmental sustainability, cultural immersion/arts,
food/food justice, and care in communities.
Participants serve in a variety of ways, including working side by side with Detroit students in day-camp programs, boarding up abandoned homes to provide safe neighborhoods, creating and maintaining urban gardens, creating murals, and cleaning up parks and vacant lots, all in an effort to beautify Detroit neighborhoods.
Of course when you are putting this many people to work, there are a LOT of logistics involved. We had to wait a while before we got our assignment and the bus came to take us to where we needed to go. But don't worry...we made the best of it!
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| Our group met up with Bishop Suzanne Dillahunt, of the Southern Ohio Synod! |
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| Representing O-H-I-O in that state up north (with Canada in the background) |
So what did WE do for our service project? Well...nothing really. You see there was a BIG traffic accident on a highway and none of the buses that were supposed to take us to the service project were able to get through. We made the most of the BEAUTIFUL day by playing games, meeting other people, picking up trash along the riverfront and so on and so forth. But, unfortunately, the day had to be cancelled. We ate lunch (provided by the ELCA Gathering) and went on to the GM building!
There we chilled out in the Ren Center and sat in some pretty nice cars...
Ford Field
Once again the House Band was rockin'!
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| The crowd doing the wave |
We found our way unto the floor at Ford Field tonight, which was a blast!
We heard from speakers that spoke about equality, immigration reform, and global missions.
- First was Karis Ailabouni recently graduated from Valparaiso University with a degree in music, psychology and French. Karis served in Madagascar for a year with the ELCA Young Adults in Global Mission program. The year of service helped Karis discern her call to move to Washington, D.C., and intern at various global development nonprofits and take steps to make a difference in God’s world.
- Then we heard from Eric Barreto. Eric is a professor at Luther Seminary and the author of “Ethnic Negotiations: The Function of Race and Ethnicity in Acts 16.” Eric is a regular contributor to The Huffington Post and hosts a monthly podcast of EnterTheBible.org. Eric had a great message that is simple: God does not create generic people.
- We finally heard from The Rev. Alexia Salvatierra, who has been a national leader in areas of poverty and immigration for more than 20 years. She had notable quotes:
- "To have a certain level of privilege in this country is to be able to choose your burdens."
- "When a member of the Body hurts, the whole body hurts. A body fully alive is a body fully connected.
- "Prayer is real. Prayer is powerful. Prayer is a form of action."
We also heard from a faithfully fantastic artist, Blanca. She had a great set and got our blood pumping!
Today was not what we expected.
But all too often...God does the unexpected! :)
Tomorrow we look forward to our Proclaim Story day where we will be meeting up with all of the students and leaders from our very own Southern Ohio Synod. Mallory will be reading from the Bible in our combined worship service and others will be assisting with Holy Communion! Should be an exciting day!
As always, we hope you'll stay up to minute with us using the hashtag #RiseUpAdventELC on Twitter and Instagram. Pastor Aaron has also been posting on his Facebook page (facebook.com/laynefamily).
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