Are the youth the key?
Here's something I'm wondering.
On the night He was betrayed, Christ prayed in the garden for His future church, the Bride. He prayed that we would be one, just as the Father and He are one. Specifically, He asked "I pray also for those who will believe in Me...that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in Me and I am in You. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that You have sent me. I have given them the glory that You gave Me, that they may be one as We are one, I in them and You in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved Me" (John 17:20-23)
Did you catch that? Our oneness, our unity, is what lets the WHOLE WORLD know that the Father sent Jesus, and that the Father loves them - the world - as much as He loves Jesus.
I've said it before and I'll say it again - the key to the world coming out if it's deep, dark deception and seeing with eyes that see and hearing with ears that hear is the "oneness" and the Unity of the Bride, the Church.
So are the youth the key?
On Sunday, about 40 or so interns - young people - got up on the stage and I immediately thought that they are learning gospel, evangelism, theology, church works, programs, and servanthood, but are they also learning "oneness", or how to be unified? Are they learning how to have conflict in transformative ways, how to talk to one another when the chips are down, how to move in and out of disagreement and difference and discourse? Who is teaching them what love your enemy means, what turn the other cheek really means, and what giving your shirt and going the extra mile are all about. How are they learning the power of true apology and authentic forgiveness - and not just cheap grace? How are they learning not to gossip, not to play favourites, and not to pick sides? What are they learning about acceptance and responsibility and accountability and integrity and character?
So many of the youth come from unchurched homes, and they bring with them much of the world system, including ingrained lessons from public school about globalization, one world community, and even oneness with nature and even the universe, all counterfeits to authentic community to be sure, but oddly enough, I think that makes them very very teachable when it comes to church unity. It makes them open, I suspect, to learning Jesus "Third Way" of restorative practice, justice and conflict transformation. Maybe, because of desensitization to violence and conflict in the home, the youth aren't nearly so inclined to be afraid of conflict the way some older "good Christians who never fight" are (you know, the ones who believe "blessed are the peacemakers" actually means "blessed are the peacefakers" so that all their pain goes underground only to emerge later on more destructive than ever)
Moreover, maybe the youth are the perfect candidates to learn how to lean into conflict in ways that are unifying because they're just plain lonely, connected by technology and personality cults, but not to eachother through the heart and with mutual purpose. Could it be this so called "lost", emotionally disconnected, unchurched generation of insecure, entertained and entitled kids are the very ones most willing to humble themselves and put others first in community only because being the offspring of the "me generation" has shown them that "me, me, me" is not all that it was cracked up to be?
When we let go of "me" and "mine" and our position, we are more inclined to hear and know the other, and when we hear and know the other, we are more inclined to want community - common unity - with the other. So maybe the youth - that generation that we older people tend to dismiss as vain and shallow, lazy and entitled - have all that is needed to become, finally, the one, truly unified Body of Christ on earth, which is, they have no pre-conceived notions, assumptions or expectations on what it means to be a "good Christian", so they can instead get down to the business of being an authentic one, and in THAT unity, the world will know that the Father sent Him.
On the night He was betrayed, Christ prayed in the garden for His future church, the Bride. He prayed that we would be one, just as the Father and He are one. Specifically, He asked "I pray also for those who will believe in Me...that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in Me and I am in You. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that You have sent me. I have given them the glory that You gave Me, that they may be one as We are one, I in them and You in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved Me" (John 17:20-23)
Did you catch that? Our oneness, our unity, is what lets the WHOLE WORLD know that the Father sent Jesus, and that the Father loves them - the world - as much as He loves Jesus.
I've said it before and I'll say it again - the key to the world coming out if it's deep, dark deception and seeing with eyes that see and hearing with ears that hear is the "oneness" and the Unity of the Bride, the Church.
So are the youth the key?
On Sunday, about 40 or so interns - young people - got up on the stage and I immediately thought that they are learning gospel, evangelism, theology, church works, programs, and servanthood, but are they also learning "oneness", or how to be unified? Are they learning how to have conflict in transformative ways, how to talk to one another when the chips are down, how to move in and out of disagreement and difference and discourse? Who is teaching them what love your enemy means, what turn the other cheek really means, and what giving your shirt and going the extra mile are all about. How are they learning the power of true apology and authentic forgiveness - and not just cheap grace? How are they learning not to gossip, not to play favourites, and not to pick sides? What are they learning about acceptance and responsibility and accountability and integrity and character?
So many of the youth come from unchurched homes, and they bring with them much of the world system, including ingrained lessons from public school about globalization, one world community, and even oneness with nature and even the universe, all counterfeits to authentic community to be sure, but oddly enough, I think that makes them very very teachable when it comes to church unity. It makes them open, I suspect, to learning Jesus "Third Way" of restorative practice, justice and conflict transformation. Maybe, because of desensitization to violence and conflict in the home, the youth aren't nearly so inclined to be afraid of conflict the way some older "good Christians who never fight" are (you know, the ones who believe "blessed are the peacemakers" actually means "blessed are the peacefakers" so that all their pain goes underground only to emerge later on more destructive than ever)
Moreover, maybe the youth are the perfect candidates to learn how to lean into conflict in ways that are unifying because they're just plain lonely, connected by technology and personality cults, but not to eachother through the heart and with mutual purpose. Could it be this so called "lost", emotionally disconnected, unchurched generation of insecure, entertained and entitled kids are the very ones most willing to humble themselves and put others first in community only because being the offspring of the "me generation" has shown them that "me, me, me" is not all that it was cracked up to be?
When we let go of "me" and "mine" and our position, we are more inclined to hear and know the other, and when we hear and know the other, we are more inclined to want community - common unity - with the other. So maybe the youth - that generation that we older people tend to dismiss as vain and shallow, lazy and entitled - have all that is needed to become, finally, the one, truly unified Body of Christ on earth, which is, they have no pre-conceived notions, assumptions or expectations on what it means to be a "good Christian", so they can instead get down to the business of being an authentic one, and in THAT unity, the world will know that the Father sent Him.
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