NYC Mission Trip Day 4

Day four in NYC was much more relaxing, even though it was still full of wonderful things!

We got to sleep in a little bit this morning, which was very welcome to the group. Our kitchen crew made us some awesome breakfast sandwiches with eggs and ham. Mmmmm! Then, members of the church came to help set up for a cookout, and we helped with some of that setup as well.

Then, we worshiped with the people of Christ Lutheran, and what a worship service it was! In many ways the service was very familiar to us Wisconsin Lutherans. Christ, Woodside, is a liturgical congregation just like ours, so our kids felt right at home with the familiar patterns of Confession and Absolution, the Service of the Word with the Kyrie, Gloria, Readings, Sermon, and Creed, and the Service of the Sacrament with all of its attendant prayers and canticles. The poor kids even heard the same preacher. (Pastor Jackson preached.) Above all, the same Lord Jesus Christ came to us here in NYC who comes to us in Wisconsin, the Lord who convicts, forgives, empowers, strengthens, and encourages through Word and Sacrament.

At the same time, the young people had a very different experience than what they are used to. Three languages were used in the service: English, Spanish, and American Sign Language. And the congregation looked very different than what they are used to – not the church building, mind you, which looks just like a Lutheran church in rural Wisconsin. Rather, the people of God gathered together looked very different than our congregations. The congregation is made of Latin Americans, African Americans, Asian Indians, Japanese, Koreans, and even a few Midwestern German background folks as well. As Pastor Hollmann described it to us, Christ, Woodside looks like the heavenly congregation described in Romans 7: “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.” (Revelation 7:9 ESV)

The young people described this service as the high point of their day, many of them saying, “It was an hour and a half, but it seemed like no time at all!”

After the service, a youth from our group gave a brief talk, and our other adult leader presented the church with the Ipad bought the day before.

The church then put on a cookout for us, and what a cookout it was! Incredible food including Korean, Indian, and Latin American cuisine, fresh fish, and a few “stand-bys” like burgers and dogs. We had a blast visiting with the people of God, living out the brotherhood and sisterhood we have in the blood of Christ our Lord.

After the cookout, we put in a few hours of work, and I have to say that this impressed me very much. I have always had great groups of kids on these trips, but this is the best one I have had so far. I did not even have to ask the youth to begin working. They simply went and put on their work clothes and got on with it! A number went around the church to pull weeds, a few washed windows, and our painting crew finished off their work. In all, we put in about four hours of work!

We rounded of the day with our evening meeting, prayer, and a game of dodge ball.