on to what it is that has been running through my head.
about a month ago now i blogged about "future generations" how i emailed to the "contact us" page at church to see what they mean in using that statement from the pulpit. the response was interesting. it came from al, whom i have a lot of respect for and is a dear friend/mentor of mine. he pointed out several points in our church's vision statement and things they've implemented to fulfill the statement. it is interesting the things you find out by asking questions... and the things that go on that you never really knew.
i responded to him and focused more on the question of youth. why can't they be more present and acknowledged, other than just on an ash wednesday service. i think i responded in more of frustration.. the response back was, "what would it look like for them to feel noticed" (or something to that affect). it caught me off gaurd, because it's a really good question. i have a lot of ideas of how I think they'd want to feel noticed, but i intentionally said from the beginning i didn't want this to be about me.
after some good discussions with some good friends ;).. i continued to wrestle with the questions "what is my part in this?" "am i making this more about what I want instead of what the youth want?" .. in the discussion one of the statements was.. "maybe it's something that we have to sit and wait on" but that is a hard one to digest. we all had involvement in the youth.. part of us is still tied in. there was an investement made, so we still all want to see it. i think the hard part is when i finally decide to stop... where will i see it if it's not in the bigger church body?
these last couple statements just popped out- i guess what i realize is that there is still a passion within me to see the youth change lives... for them to be transformed and for others, especially the "olders&elders" of the church to see what incredible stories they each have to share. so that they know not all youth are punks who have no respect for their elders.
to wrap that all up somehow i'm going to just say that i'm glad i asked the questions. because, if i don't ask the questions, it doesn't get me anywhere. i may not have received the exact answers or any specific ones.. but it leads to new ones... all these questions are pointing me to God and that is the ultimate goal. some of this verbiage and thought is coming from the book "velvet elvis" by rob bell. one of his statements is this
(this pertaining more to questions of God.. the hard ones, like "why does He let bad things happen to good people")
"Questions, no matter how shocking or blasphemous or arrogant or ignorant or raw, are rooted in humility. A humility that understands that I am not God. And there is no more to know.
Questions bring freedom. Freedom that I don't have to be God and I don't have to pretend that i have it all figured out. I can let God be God."
there is a lot of build up and explaining to all of that... but for me, it has been a journey of questions lately. in common christian circles it wouldn't be okay to ask those questions and not get the regurgitated "christian" answer... to abandon that answer and just be okay with the fact that God is the only one that knows.
1 comment:
I'm glad you asked the question, but Al's question is also a great one. Like you said, what does it look like to have more of a youth presence? Is it a rotating spot on the worship team? Is it additional events organized by them? I think one of the hardest parts of this issue is that it also takes a lot of time of church staff and volunteers who are already very busy. I think it comes down to choosing which efforts will make the biggest impact on the church and students. Prioritizing is always difficult, especially when there is so much more than can be done.
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