Honest about their faith, about their life, about what matters to them. On Pentecost Sunday, I did just this. I took a chance.
I invited my community during the sermon time to reflect on their own spiritual practices as well as being Christian and attending church. I’m fortunate that my congregation is use to talking back during sermons. Some actually dialog and if I ask people to respond on to something in writing or dialog with another person at church, they do so.
This time was no exception. The response that haunts me most comes from a young woman in her 20’s. She’s been faithful to our church since childhood. She was baptized Christian at age 4 in the church where I now serve. She loves the place and people.
Here is some of what she had to say.
“As much as I love this church, I don’t have peers or friends here anymore and I don’t know how to bring them here. I don’t want to attend a senior church. I know the people I grew up here but my village is disappearing.”
That’s honest. That’s as real as it gets.
The question is what are we going to do about it? What can we offer to those that are young millennials with barely a foot in our door and so much to offer us?
What I notice about my few young adults that hang around the edges of my congregation is that they yearn to actually “DO” something. And that something is usually not being an usher or serving on our governance board.
I’ve read so many articles on generational stuff and I find some of the information useful like the statics that something like 37% of all young people are moving back in with their parents as the economy continues to dramatically shift. Information about the crippling debt that we are selling our young into frightens me. You can pretty it up anyway you want: I see it as a contemporary form of indentured servitude. Our young and middle aged owe their souls to the company store. We are strapping on a burden on the backs of our youth while University Presidents, and CEO’s and other “top people” make exponential salaries at an alarming rate. That catches my attention.
Generalizations about work ethic or taking selfies, or technology making people more selfish is bunk. My Gran shared stories with me about the “dangers” of radio and newspapers and television. Generations often seem to be derided for this or that. Mine was the generation of Nirvana, tattoos and whatever dude. Does that sum me up as a person? As a child of God?
Rather than reading about people or whole generations, I prefer to talk TO people and listen. And listen. I wonder when is the last time we took the time to listen to someone younger than us—and not in some patronizing way of oh how darling or dismissive as in oh to be young again or wouldn’t it be nice if you joined the altar guild or painted the Sunday School room or served in our nursery every Sunday for free. I mean really listening.
Allowing that disappearing village to be mentors to us, the church. I often find that I need to meet my young mentors of mine out in the community where they live their lives. And no, I’m not using the word mentor incorrectly. I know I am older but they have more experience in their world that I do. So I listen and learn from them.
One young person is off to start his college career. He recently wrote a research paper on creating a just economy. When I asked him what bits of faith he takes with him to university he responded with this:
“Living a Christ filled life doesn’t mean I simply focus on Jesus—it means I focus on the people that Jesus focused on: the marginalized and poor. If God is love and we are to love our neighbors then all of us need to work on eradicating poverty as an act of ultimate love and therefore our work becomes God’s work.”
The young woman who wrote of her disappearing village is passionate about bees and the loss of them. I have invited her to speak about bees to our church. She would love to see us start a hive at our church. She even is thinking of a particular strain of bees that don’t sting.
Another young person is passionate about Icons. He gave a workshop on Icons at our church. Green hair tattoos and all. He is passionate about sacred music, the daily office, and icons. He and his partner yearn for Christian practices that are intentional and distinctly Christian. He and his partner keep goats and sheep.
It is my experience from listening to the few young mentors that have taken me on is that there is a great deal of energy around making a difference but not a lot of energy for propping up an institution. They long to BE church rather than do tasks for the organization structure that we call the Episcopal Church.
My mentor that is off to university to be Christ centered recently kvetched to me about the Episcopal Church.
“Why don’t we talk about social justice?” He asked me. “I went to the national church’s website and put Social Justice and Economic Inequality into the search engine there and you know I got back? NOTHING. We have worship down cold and we love science and all people but… “ And then dropped the other shoe.
“I don’t know if there’s anything here for me.”
The village is disappearing. What are we going to do about it?
George
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