July 10. Registration day for fall classes. Oh, wait, that’s
right. I won’t be taking classes this fall. One of the new experiences gifted
to me because I am going on internship is a semester without coursework. Most of the time, I recognize it as a gift;
sometimes, like this morning, I want to throw a two-year old’s tantrum and
scream, “But I need that class now...” I think that, besides interrupting
the reassuring, steady march of completing degree requirements, what I fear is missing
the structure of having a schedule and a syllabus and some predictability.
Instead I’m living in a pretty unstructured environment, for a few weeks anyway;
trying to listen and watch what God may be trying to teach me in this time and
space; and, watching internship draw closer on the horizon.
The learning doesn’t stop, fortunately. I discovered the
local library system has a free online language tutor that lets me refresh my
Spanish and bridge its Castilian foundation to the Latin American Spanish we
hear more often in the Americas. I visited the stacks of the local used book
store where it looks like somebody traded in a library of emergence theology
and other interesting books. (so, I obligingly brought a few home)
I was finishing up a library copy of Kenda Creasy Dean’s Almost Christian
and hoped to find a used copy to buy but I didn’t have any luck. I’m not
surprised; it is a sticky book − one I expect I’ll reread even though I don’t
usually read things more than once. In Almost
Christian Dean writes about the 2003-2005 National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR) and talks about teenagers, contrasting popular, cultural faith
which reflects a moral therapeutic deism and “consequential faith”, which develops in teenagers in congregations who “portray
God as living, present and active, place a high value on Scripture; reflect the
life and mission of Jesus Christ in its practices and relationships; and
emphasize spiritual growth, discipleship and mission.”
As someone who is more comfortable talking with people born
in the ‘20s than people living in their 20s (or teens), a while back, I adopted
a mantra for ministry: “break stereotypes, learn flexibility, build
relationships and communicate well.” Dean challenges stereotypes of teenagers
who aren’t interested in talking with adults and who aren’t capable of
conversations that take more than 140 characters. She includes an important reminder in Almost Christian that can get lost in
the tussling about that is parenting a teenager:
[Every teenager is] an amazing child of
God. Their humanity is embedded in their souls as well as their DNA. Their
family is the church, their vocation is a grateful response for the chance to
participate in the divine plan of salvation, their hope lies in the fact that
Christ has claimed them and secured their future for them.
In Almost Christian, there’s a challenge to be intentional about living this truth out in our relationships with teenagers. There's also a challenge to Christian adults and to parents,
particularly in mainline Protestant traditions, to recognize how we influence
the faith of children, whether we know it or not, and to not be as afraid of speaking
about God and Jesus, of pointing to the ways that God is moving in our lives. We
tell our lives in stories and unless we are talking about our God-sightings and
God-stories, how can anyone else recognize themselves in the Christian story?
So one hope I have for this unstructured time I have is to
participate in more conversations about God’s active presence in our world, and
more readily answer where I saw, heard or experienced God in everyday life. I
hope you’ll listen in.
No comments:
Post a Comment