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Gavin Richardson

desert fathers : parenting and youth ministry

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this post is stemmed off of tim’s recent post on parents and youth ministry. i don’t know if will go the same direction, but i want to uplift that sharing as critical to this one.

a few weeks ago had one of those big parents meeting for our youth ministry. running through the programming and events of the next eight months. it was a good meeting. i lead off with a devotional, and i was kinda struggling to come up with something. so this is what i shared as our devotional time.

Desertfathersanthony
in thinking about what to share as a devotional erin asked me, what is the goal of the youth ministry? to that i shoved it off saying, "well isn’t that a loaded question." knowing i needed to answer the question i came back to it. the foundation of the youth ministry of the church, should reflect that the church is a place that is safe. so that when youth and young adults begin to question their faith, wish to dive further in theological understandings, take on new spiritual practices. they know that the church has people that are there to welcome them, listen to them, usher them to places to find what it is they seek, mentor them, teach, worship, prayer with them. for at those moments in the education world we call ‘a teachable moment.’ that is the goal. i we can do just that, then we will be a successful youth ministry. erin responded "that is a good goal." (i love my wife, so affirming when she needs to me)

so i read this story from the desert fathers & mothers

Another brother asked the elder Abbot Theodore, and began to question him and to inquire about things which he had never yet put into practice himself. The elder said to him: As yet you have not found a ship, and you have not put your baggage aboard, and you have not started to cross the sea: can you talk as if you had already arrived in that city to which you planned to go? When you have put into practice the thing you are talking about, then speak from knowledge of the thing itself!

so i unpacked this with our parents. too often parents, adults, young adults do not want to get involved in leadership/teaching/sharing/reflection of their faith because they do not feel worthy of talking about what they do not know. apparently Abbot Theodore agrees with you. however, this is when it is critical of sharing what you do know. you come to church why? because in some way you were instilled in the foundation that the church is a safe place to come to help live out your faith. you crossed the sea of bringing your presence to the church. share why that is important to you so that your youth will can understand what it is that you speak of. this experience you know.

the doctrine, theology, bible races, etc are all seas you can cross in time. but for the sake of your youth. it is not important the ‘what’ things you want them (and yourself) to know but that you chose to become part of a community of faith in Jesus and your presence here says more than anything else about who you are and what you wish to be.

the youth want to know there is a safe place for them out there. come and help us share our journey’s across the sea and why we are present in this place we call church. this we know, we can share it.

we closed with this prayer for young people from the BCP.

God our Father, you see our children growing up in an unsteady and confusing world: Show them that your ways give more life than the ways of the world, and that following you is better than chasing after selfish goals. Help them to take failure, not as a measure of their worth, but as a chance for a new start. Give them strength to hold their faith in you and to keep alive their joy in your creation; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

the declaration of independence reframed

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i can’t help but share this. it hit me like a ton of bricks. the follow is an encounter brian mclaren had at davos a few weeks ago.

Another moment – when a Muslim conversation partner introduced me to
a group of Muslims I hadn’t met: "This is my friend, Brian." When
people stop being "that Jew" or "that Christian" or "that Muslim," and
instead become "my friend," followed by a real name … the state of the
world improves a little bit.

And another – sitting with a Muslim scholar who explained to me, "If
you want to understand our struggle, think of your own Declaration of
Independence." She rehearsed the lines, known by heart: "… we hold
these truths to be self-evident … created equal … endowed by their
Creator with certain inalienable rights." She asked me what these lines
were intended to do, to accomplish. I replied, "To counter the
pre-modern notion of the divine right of kings with a new notion – of
the God-given rights of individuals." Why, she asked, was it important
to bring God in? "Because God represents an authority higher than a
king’s authority. If God gives individuals rights, a king loses his
right to abrogate them."

Then she said, "This is a primary reason why there is such a
religious revival in Islam. Millions of Muslims live under
dictatorships. They need to have their human rights validated
theologically so they can gain freedom from dictators, just as American
colonists wanted to gain freedom from the king in 1776." Sadly, she
added, many of these dictators have remained in power with U.S.
support, which helps explain much of the antipathy toward U.S. foreign
policy. A simple thought, perhaps obvious to many, but it clicked for
me as never before.

1. i like how brian explains the declaration of independence, that God is above kings. so it is no surprise that in that it hit like a ton of bricks… why do we enable other countries to live in a framework that we would not allow ourselves to be in. i am not advocating nation building, like we are experiencing in Afghanistan or Iraq, certainly we did much to help them to where they were. but what if there were other creative means to enable all people to live where God is ultimate authority? even over that of a king or president? hmm..