Diversity and Service in Houston
Houston is one of the most diverse cities in the country. LINC Houston City Director, Rev. Lonnie Gonzales, share more about the rich culture and diversity of the city and how youth can impact that lives of Houstonians through servant events at the LCMS Youth Gathering.
LRJ Scavenger Hunt
The game was simple: find someone in an LRJ shirt, get a button. We had a blast meeting thousands of youth, church workers, and leaders from the LRJ Community, who traveled to Houston from around the world.
SESSIONS
The Youth Gathering offered multiple sessions for both adults and youth, tackling relevant subjects like cultural divides, racism, migration, interfaith dialogue, and much more. In all sessions, we were challenged to love our neighbor and comforted by the perfect love of Christ.
Read More about the 2022 Gathering Sessions
Pictured: Kanagasabai UmaShankar, Lutheran High School Teacher & Session Speaker at the 2022 LCMS Youth Gathering
BIBLE STUDY
Rev. Matthew Ryan González and the youth of Trinity Lutheran - The Bronx, getting ready to get into the Word at Bible Study.
We loved this snap of a youth attendee’s Bible Study notes that LCMS Youth Gathering posted earlier this week. It got us thinking about this year’s theme “In All Things”, and how it relates to the mission of LRJ.
Colossians 1:15-20 boldly proclaims that in Christ all things hold together. He is the creator of all things and He reigns over all things. And His reign is marked by His nature as a reconciler; Christ “makes peace by the blood of his cross”. Paul, in Colossians, certainly acknowledges the cosmic aspect of this reconciliation, but check out the whole book and see how Paul outlines the way in which this truth impacts a believer’s daily life. As Colossians 3:12-15 says, “Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body.”
Lutherans for Racial Justice acknowledges that some of the reconciliation needed in our culture and communities, even church communities, stems from racial injustices of our past and present. LRJ thanks God for Christ who not only makes peace by the blood of His cross, but holds all things together. It is not outside of his preeminence to rule in and through us as he brings peace to the brokenness of this present reality. “In All Things”, Christ is Lord and so He is Lord as He uses us as His conduits of reconciliation to the world.
ANTIOCH MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH
THE MOSAIC INITIATIVE BOOTH
We stopped by the Mosaic Initiative booth at the LCMS Youth Gathering, which has this great display of LCMS leaders past and present. In addition to engaging with participants at their booth, the Mosaic Initiative presented several sessions unpacking a Scriptural view of justice, mercy, and humility (Micah 6:8).
This cross is filled with hands that have two things written on them. The names of youth and leaders who make up the Mosaic body of Christ. And the actions that youth and leaders from around the world are going to take to help their church reflect the diversity within their local communities and serve their neighbors in need.
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