Rendez-vous2011
“I don’t really know anyone else our age who’s into religion.”
Posted on: 04/27/2011 11:58
I’m a bit of an odd person, or at least that’s how it seems to me.
I dread going on dates, to be honest, when the inevitable question will come up of “so what are you going to school for” to which I have to say “I’m hoping to become a pastor” or “I’m working towards becoming a minister” or something like that.
Cue the puzzled look.
I’ve received all sorts of responses, but they tend to fall around a theme: “I don’t really know anyone else our age who’s really that into religion.” I usually respond with something like “oh, I know a few, but yeah, you’re right” and try to move onto a different subject as quickly as possible. Usually I acknowledge that I’m a follower of Jesus, but emphasise my deep respect for people of all faiths and of no faith, and try to work around any other stereotypes that might be out there.
I’ve had similar discussions with other young people of faith. Trying to live an ordinary life in a secular society while at the same time staying true to our faith can be an interesting dilemma. It means that we know that after Saturday nights come Sunday mornings, that even a meal in a food court in a mall needs grace to be said, and that it can be hard sometimes to find those moments where we can hear the whispers of holiness in the midst of young adult life.
When I was invited to be a part of designing Rendez-vous then, I was excited. I genuinely believe that there is a need for youth, young adults and those in ministry with us to get together and talk. I know how healing and powerful those moments have been where, gathered with my friends just hanging out, we turn to faith. The people around me may not go to churches or other places of worship, many would avoid attaching themselves to any particular faith at all, others would say they don’t really believe in those things I call spiritual. Yet in every one of them I can tell there is a deep-seated ache for a world of beauty, truth, joy, compassion, justice, love and hope.
So, part of what I hope Rendez-vous can do is to give people like me, young people of faith living in a secular world, the ability to help those around us, of all faiths and of none, to live holy lives. I believe that part of our calling is to advance God’s mission in the world, to be part of God’s redemption of all things. The shape of the world has changed, and our place in it looks radically different than what the Church has faced before.
I don’t have the answers, but I believe that in our shared conversations, in our aspirations and dreaming, in those moments of fleeting, fragmentary but life-sustaining moments of joy we will know together at Rendez-vous, we might hear a piece of what the Spirit is saying to the young people of the United Church.
Wouldn’t you like to join us?
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Warriorcleric
The people around me may not
Posted on: 05/09/2011 10:43
The people around me may not go to churches or other places of worship, many would avoid attaching themselves to any particular faith at all, others would say they don’t really believe in those things I call spiritual. Yet in every one of them I can tell there is a deep-seated ache for a world of beauty, truth, joy, compassion, justice, love and hope.
I absolutely love your phrasing here. More and more I find that people don't come to church for worship or teaching. They're coming for a community that hopes. A community that is counter cultural not for what they believe, but for the way it pursues justice. This is our strength as a United Church. We're different from christian orthodoxy. In the UCC I've found a spiritual home as an atheist empiricist. That's something that I couldn't have done elsewhere.
We owe it to the future to be the church that doesn't just say it loves youth, but can be the theological and spiritual home for what's coming next. This is such a good start.