This term I took a class on Ministry with Young Adults. My professor is a deep theological thinker and therefore loves to delve into complex and often troubling theological questions. In our discussion last week on how the Church needs to be a community, Dr. R lectured on how God is a community. God is a community within the Trinity, the unity of the Father God, the Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.
Dr. R spoke on how the Trinity is held together not by obligation nor even by choice, but by LOVE. The basis of the unity of the Trinity is love. The ultimate expression of the love in which the Trinity is based is seen on the cross where the crucified Christ died. Therefore, the cross exists at the very heart of God's community with God's self.
God has overcome Death by bringing Death into the community of the Trinity through the cross of Christ.
However, the perfect community that was the Trinity was lost, destroyed on the cross. The Son, of the unity of the Trinity, DIED. In Christ's death the unity of the Trinity ended.
But now, we must remember that the LOVE of God cannot and will not be defeated. Not even Death of the Christ can stand against the love of God. The love of God defeats Death in the Resurrection. That is why Easter is so important that we celebrate the risen Christ every Sunday in particular, though the power and truth of Easter is with us every hour of every day. Sundays are meant to be little Easters, little celebrations of the Resurrection. Alleluia!
As much as it hurts to admit, from Death springs forth Life. Through the Love of God, the basis of the Trinity, the Trinity is brought back, Resurrected with Christ. But now the Trinity, which is always and forever based in Love, surrounds and in intertwined with Death.
Out of Death, through Love, the Trinity is regained.It is made perfect in Death through Love.
So now where do we see God as concretely as possible? We can see God in beautiful things of life, like the smile of an infant, the laughter of old friends, a warm embrace of a loved one, a sunrise on a cloudless morning, in the refreshing rain and the warming sun.
But we can also see God in Death. Throughout nature, we see new Life spring up out of Death. It is in Death we see God, because Death is at the heart of the Trinity because of the Crucifixion and is brought to perfection through Love in the Resurrection.
So what then is the role of the church? To build itself around Death, as the Trinity surrounds Death with Life in Love. God is found concretely in Death. So the church must find itself concretely in Death.
Death renders us, as fragile human beings, alone. Often we can feel completely alone at the Death of a loved one, regardless of the expectation or lack thereof of Death. By speaking about Death, pain, and suffering, we engage in what Dr. R calls the "horrible sacrament of shared life."
As we near the Crucifixion and the Resurrection (Alleluia!), we celebrate that the Trinity is grounded in Love, was broken on the cross, and was redeemed through Love in the Resurrection. In our world we see Death and brokenness more often that we like to admit. But, in the midst of the darkness of Death, God is there. God has experienced Death, has brought Death into God's self, and has made Death a part of God because of God's LOVE.
The Love of the Resurrection defeats the Death of the cross. Every time.
Alleluia!
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
It's Been a While // Meet Eutychus
Remember me? I'm sure you do, but maybe not how I write. It's been a busy few months. To explain why I didn't write in the end of 2009, let's just say I was writing other things. And now it's March 2010 and it's been a whirlwind of a year so far.
This semester I'm taking a class on Ministry with Young Adults. I find it interesting because I am a young adult. My question going in to each class session is such: How do people imagine they need to minister to me and to my peers? For me, ministry with young adults is peer ministry, but for many of the professors and pastors and parents with whom I interact, young adult ministry is often understated if mentioned at all.
In Acts 20:7 Paul is speaking to a group in the upper room of a three-story house. It's getting late, almost midnight, the heat from the many lamps in the room make it stuffy and everyone is drowsy. The windows are open in the hope that fresh air can enter the room. Sitting in a window is a young man by the name of Eutychus. My study Bible says that Eutychus means fortunate. I would disagree. As Paul continues to preach, Eutychus falls asleep and slips out the window, falling three stories to his death.
This morning I attended a lecture by a Princeton Theological Seminary professor who spoke on issues surrounding the lack of young adults and teenagers in American churches. She cited information from the National Study of Youth and Religion, as well as personal stories from other students and youth workers. She raises concerns that the church treats their teens and young adults like Eutychus, letting them sit in the room with the preacher, but not really paying them any mind. Youth are pushed to the fringe, to sit in the windows, to not be engaged and kept awake or attentive. This story from Acts is often used as a warning against boring preaching, but we don't know that the others in the room fell asleep. Maybe it was just boring to the youth.
However, Paul and Eutychus' tale does not simply end with the youth's fall out the window, out of the church, and out of sight from his faith community. In verse 10, Paul goes to Eutychus (in the Greek, Paul throws himself on the youth, the way the father throws himself on his protigal son) and declares that there is still life in the fallen. So Paul goes back upstairs, has a cup of coffee and a donut, and goes back to preaching, business as usual.
Wait, what?! Paul resurrects this young man, only to go back and preach more? A miracle has taken place, the fallen has been raised, the lost found, and the youth made the focus of the community. Our lecturer this morning said that this is business per usual for Paul. As she put it, "The Church's business is resurrection!" It's fine and dandy to minister to the people in the pews, but that's essentially preaching to the choir. As Jesus said, the healthy don't need the doctor...
So where does that leave me? The fact that more and more I wonder about my calling to minister to children, youth, and their families in the church. It's the last part that I struggle with most at this moment, "in the church". The more I learn about congregational ministry (always, always aimed at pastoral candidates) the more I think parachurch ministry is where my passions lie.
According to the National Study of Youth and Religion, via the speaker this morning, only 8% of American youth are highly dedicated to the Christian church. I might not like math, but I know that 92% of American youth are not highly dedicated (nor involved), but that 75% of American youth consider themselves Christian. That's an enormous community of youth that have some affiliation with the Church but are not in church.
Where do I fit in to that, as a young adult, and as a youth worker? Where can I meet Eutychus today and how can I help prevent him from falling to his death?
Joy of Joy,
K.
This semester I'm taking a class on Ministry with Young Adults. I find it interesting because I am a young adult. My question going in to each class session is such: How do people imagine they need to minister to me and to my peers? For me, ministry with young adults is peer ministry, but for many of the professors and pastors and parents with whom I interact, young adult ministry is often understated if mentioned at all.
In Acts 20:7 Paul is speaking to a group in the upper room of a three-story house. It's getting late, almost midnight, the heat from the many lamps in the room make it stuffy and everyone is drowsy. The windows are open in the hope that fresh air can enter the room. Sitting in a window is a young man by the name of Eutychus. My study Bible says that Eutychus means fortunate. I would disagree. As Paul continues to preach, Eutychus falls asleep and slips out the window, falling three stories to his death.
This morning I attended a lecture by a Princeton Theological Seminary professor who spoke on issues surrounding the lack of young adults and teenagers in American churches. She cited information from the National Study of Youth and Religion, as well as personal stories from other students and youth workers. She raises concerns that the church treats their teens and young adults like Eutychus, letting them sit in the room with the preacher, but not really paying them any mind. Youth are pushed to the fringe, to sit in the windows, to not be engaged and kept awake or attentive. This story from Acts is often used as a warning against boring preaching, but we don't know that the others in the room fell asleep. Maybe it was just boring to the youth.
However, Paul and Eutychus' tale does not simply end with the youth's fall out the window, out of the church, and out of sight from his faith community. In verse 10, Paul goes to Eutychus (in the Greek, Paul throws himself on the youth, the way the father throws himself on his protigal son) and declares that there is still life in the fallen. So Paul goes back upstairs, has a cup of coffee and a donut, and goes back to preaching, business as usual.
Wait, what?! Paul resurrects this young man, only to go back and preach more? A miracle has taken place, the fallen has been raised, the lost found, and the youth made the focus of the community. Our lecturer this morning said that this is business per usual for Paul. As she put it, "The Church's business is resurrection!" It's fine and dandy to minister to the people in the pews, but that's essentially preaching to the choir. As Jesus said, the healthy don't need the doctor...
So where does that leave me? The fact that more and more I wonder about my calling to minister to children, youth, and their families in the church. It's the last part that I struggle with most at this moment, "in the church". The more I learn about congregational ministry (always, always aimed at pastoral candidates) the more I think parachurch ministry is where my passions lie.
According to the National Study of Youth and Religion, via the speaker this morning, only 8% of American youth are highly dedicated to the Christian church. I might not like math, but I know that 92% of American youth are not highly dedicated (nor involved), but that 75% of American youth consider themselves Christian. That's an enormous community of youth that have some affiliation with the Church but are not in church.
Where do I fit in to that, as a young adult, and as a youth worker? Where can I meet Eutychus today and how can I help prevent him from falling to his death?
Joy of Joy,
K.
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