August 26, 2007
13 Pentecost, Jeremiah 1:4-10
The cover story of the August edition of the Washingtonian is called “The Secret life of Teens.” The magazine sent reporters to talk to kids from 50 area high schools about their lives. They hit all the worst things that kids are facing today – drinking, drugs, drunk driving, sex, date rape, eating disorders, lying to parents, stealing, partying, the pressure of school and grades and getting into college. The subject matter is frightening enough, but what makes it especially scary is that most of the article is in the form of real quotes from real kids. Some examples:
● On relating to parents: “‘How’s school?’ ‘Same old.’ That’s the conversation every day. 5 minutes, tops. My parents never engage me, but at the same time, I never engage them.”
● On text messaging: “I can drive and text. Half the time I don’t even have to look down – you just know where the buttons are. I won’t do it on the highway because that requires a lot more concentration.”
● On lying: “When I lie, I don’t feel bad about it. It’s sort of like why would I tell the truth if I know the truth is gonna get me in so much trouble?”
● On drinking: “Alcohol has unified everyone – it’s the glue. I’ll be at parties like, ‘Weird. I’ve never been with these people in my life. Everyone’s like, “I love you man.”’”
● On drugs: “When you’re high, everything is ok. I don’t have to worry about school. I don’t have to worry about ‘I gotta do this or else I’m gonna fail and not get into college and be screwed forever.’”
And then, just so no parent can read the article and go away confident, the teen who says, “Parents who read about this will be like, “There’s no way my kid is doing this.’ Yes there is.”
The article also talks about a study on teens by Patricia Hersch, who spent 6 years talking to teens and turned it into a book called A Tribe Apart: A Journey into the Heart of American Adolescence. Hersch found that kids today have fewer adult role models than ever. Often their parents work, classes are too big for them to really get to know their teachers, relatives frequently live far away, and fewer kids now days really know their neighbors. Throw into the mix a big dose of hormones and the fact that adolescents are seeking independence anyway, and the result, she concludes, is that adolescents have become strangers from adults.
Adolescence is a precarious time. It was when I was at that age also, but it seems like the temptations now are riskier, the pressures more intense, and the consequences more dire. In thinking about my kids growing into teenagers, my main worry had been that they wouldn’t want anything to do with me; this article made me realize that there are a lot bigger dangers out there than that.
And yet it isn’t only the teens living in a precarious time. Kenda Creasy Dean, a theologian of youth ministry, concludes after a lot of study on the subject that “because they are so sensitive to the tremors of culture,” young people are just signaling the problems in society more generally. “Revealing society’s fault lines.” And the similarities between youth and adults go deeper. Studies show that the spirituality and religious beliefs of teens tend to mimic that of their parents. If parents have faith, their kids tend to as well. And vice versa. We’re all in this together.
And that’s where our reading from Jeremiah comes in. Jeremiah was a prophet in the 7th century B.C. He was one of the biggies – right up there with Moses and Isaiah in passing along God’s instructions and warnings and love and curses to the people. Today we read the story of Jeremiah’s calling by God to be a prophet and it is remarkably similar to that of Moses and Isaiah and Abraham and Jacob and Mary and virtually everyone else that God works through to get God’s message across, including most of us.
First, God calls: “Jeremiah,” says God, “I knew you before you were formed in the womb. And I consecrated you as a prophet to the nations before you were even born.” God’s calling to us is generally a little more subtle, a little less specific, hopefully a little easier. But if we listen closely, it’s there for us.
Next, Jeremiah resists the call: “Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.” Jeremiah is just a teenager. He has no experience with this sort of thing; no interest in taking on the hard, friendless life of a prophet. Most of us are probably pretty familiar to that resistance to God’s call. I know I am.
And then, God reassures. God takes that resistance and turns it around: “Do not say, ‘I am only a boy,’” God tells Jeremiah. “For you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you.”
It’s a dialogue they’re having, Jeremiah and God. And what strikes me are the two promises that underlie the conversation. The two assurances that give Jeremiah the strength to take on this precarious new position. Number 1: I have always known you. And Number 2: I will always be with you.
These are our promises from God too. Right along with Jeremiah, who was “only a youth,” and with every other “youth” out there. We are all claimed from the very beginning. We are known and loved by God. We aren’t strangers -- we belong.
I’ve been thinking about this idea of belonging in our Church community a lot lately. Especially I’ve been thinking about how we welcome the youth of St. Aidan’s, how we care for them, how we invite them into our faith and our Christian practices. Together with our wonderful volunteers, John and I have been planning all kinds of things for the youth of St. Aidan’s – Christian education, EYC, playgroups for the little ones, special evening programs and services for families.
And in the midst of all this planning, in the context of a discussion about our starting up a Children’s Chapel option during the 10:30 service, Barbara Bradley (who runs our Sunday school) reminded us to ask ourselves why we were planning all these things, because knowing the answer to that would help us to plan the right things in the right way. We all agreed that St. Aidan’s is, and hopefully always will be, an inviting, inclusive place where youth of all ages are absolutely welcome always and in all ways. Inviting small children to their own Children’s Chapel during the church service would not be to get rid of them, but to include them more fully in the life of the church. To let them know that they and their spiritual journey are equally important. That the clergy take them absolutely seriously. To let them take part in the beauty of the ritual – lighting candles, learning to pray, singing simple songs, hearing scripture and a homily in a way that is relevant and meaningful to them.
That “Why” question is really important. We as a church need to think carefully about what we are doing and work hard to treat every person here as a child of God. It’s easy to forget to ask “why”, but it’s critical -- and not just for the clergy and the volunteer leaders and teachers, not just for the parents – for all of us.
It wasn’t so long ago in the history of the Episcopal Church that children were treated as a sort of less important subset of the Church. Just a few decades ago, communion was only open to those who had been confirmed, which meant that the youth had to sit on the sidelines and watch as their parents took part in a central sacrament of the Church. That’s changed, thank God, and now the Church officially sees baptism as the door to full membership. Tiny babies are welcome at the communion table. The goal is that there will never be a time before kids knew themselves to be complete members of the Body of Christ. That they will never feel like their youth makes their call from God any less legitimate.
Listen to what Parker Palmer, who is a Quaker and focuses on issues in education and spirituality, said in a speech to an Episcopal youth ministry gathering: “Kids are eager for an alive encounter with a living breathing adult who wants to be in relationship with them around things of import and matter and weight and significance, a living breathing adventure hand in hand with an adult seeker that is an adventure in faith. Kids don’t want to be an audience, they want to be part of the action.”
I see that journey together most vividly at St. Aidan’s in the way we do communion. One of my very favorite things about the liturgy in this place is how we stand in a circle around the altar when we take communion. We don’t eat bread and drink wine as our own personal spiritual thing and then head back to our seat. It’s something we do together. We wait until everyone’s done, and then we “go in peace” together. It’s more complete at the early service where everyone can actually fit up here, but it’s the same idea at the late service. It’s like a glorious family meal, where young and old, male and female, strong and weak, healthy and sick all join together. Everyone has their own way of doing taking communion -- Some say Amen. Some say nothing. Some look me in the eyes, some close their eyes. Some look serious, some joyful. Each one of us is on our own journeys and are at different places on those journeys. And yet we are all in it together.
We all belong together. We are all recipients of those beautiful promises from God: God has always known us and will always be with us. So here’s to the new year ahead – all of us participating in this great adventure of faith together!
Amen.
ER