As many of you will know, I have potentially the most awesome job in the world.
Leading the team at Coventry YFC is both a challenge and a delight. The people that I get to hang out with, lead and journey with on a daily basis bring joy to my heart and often help me (without realising) with passion and clarity.
On top of this, I get to hang out with young people on a fairly regular basis, often in schools, in both formal and informal education settings. The classroom was where my first unlinked event took place earlier this week…
The trinity is a hard topic to tackle, which, I guess is why I regularly get asked to help take R.E. lessons on the subject. There are plenty of visual aids that one can use to help explain th trinity (rope, mars bars, eggs, Jaffa cakes, even a random game involving a narwhal, a rhino and a unicorn) and often I use as many as I can in any one lesson. And the truth is, helping students understand the atributes of God as a good father and Jesus as an obedient (some might say 'perfect') son are quite easy to do, however, helping those same young people to understand the role of the Holy Spirit is much harder – in fact most of the church throughout the ages has struggled to agree on this issue
Unlinked event #1
During the lesson this week, we did a short drama that I've done probably a hundred times before where we get young people to play the roles of God, Mankind and Jesus as we narrate a simple gospel exposé. What made this drama more special than normal was one moment as 'Jesus' was standing, a arms outstretched, between 'God' and 'mankind' and I explained that this was the heart of the Christian Gospel that the girl playing 'mankind' suddenly exclaimed, “Oh wow!! I get it!! That makes so much sense!!” And then a gradual sound of surprise filled the classroom as more and more students suddenly spotted the significance of that image.
The privilege of experiencing that moment is just one of the reasons that I love my job.
Unlinked event #2
In recent months, I have also become good friends with a guy who serves in a local coffee house. We now present a radio show together and he has just joined me in an adult 'Alpha' course at my church.
While at the 2nd evening of the course tonight, a young man joined our group who initially seemed more interested in the music playing in his single earphone than in the content of the evening. When asked what would be his 'desert island luxury' this young man's instant response was “my phone!!”.
As always I managed to get a few odd comments into the conversations that ensued, including a reference to newsreader 'Gordon McDonald', whoever he is, and a proud moment where I got to use the word 'corroborates' without rally understanding if I had made any sense or used it correctly. Responses suggested that I had.
Eventually, during the evening, the young man had a chance to speak. The earphone came out and so did a story of a really tough life lived. That's when suddenly these two experiences connected in my head…
How can it be that young people are growing up in a world where, when everything around them is failing, their one hope isn't in a God who loves them, but instead their hope and identity is intrinsically tied up in the mobile phone that they own? Especially when that same phone is, by definition, a symbol of desire to connect – to be in meaningful relationship(s)?
And the simple truth is that I have no simple answer, but just a deep down desire to help young people break free of this massive lie that superficial relationships which depend on your status and online presence rather than the genuine, real life, face to face relationships that we were designed for.
And yes, I believe that we ultimately are designed to be in relationship with a loving creator God, that's why we have this unending desire to be in relationship – it's what we were made for – but God aside (which I would strongly advise against), young people and adults alike need to be in, and seek out real relationships; the type that aren't means tested or have strings but are purely for mutual benefit and friendship.
I feel like this has turned into a bit of a rant, and without a clear or compelling suggested solution, but I needed to get this down on (virtual) paper while it was on my mind. Otherwise I would probably have not slept tonight.
I'd love to hear people's thoughts on any of this. What are some simple steps we could take to change the landscape that our young people refer to as 'normality'?
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