The End Times
When I was a teenager, the little country churches hadn't quite caught on to the concept of "youth fellowship." Their idea of entertaining us was to herd us into the sanctuary and show us movies about the Rapture. Then, of course, we'd all sing "Just as I am" for about an hour while the adults in charge stared us down until we finally caved in and came to the altar. We were such sinners that we required frequent teary visits to the altar. Once, in a poem I wrote I compared it to the old ladies in the church going back to the beauty shop every week. They all got their hair done on Saturday morning, and on Sunday evening they took turns praying out loud for the youth to answer the Call and renounce their wicked ways.
After some of those Rapture movies, I remember thinking, "You can't scare me. I live in the parsonage. I haven't taken a single step in my whole life when I wasn't being watched."
It seemed like the theme of these movies was always "there will be nowhere to hide," and I often wondered why anybody thought there ever had been. Obviously, they'd never met my Granny. As I said, I'd never taken a step in my life without being watched.
Last night I learned that "my generation" is a subject of study at some sort of church growth workshop going on at my church. It seems there are whole books written on this subject that I could have told you about years ago. "My generation" is largely unchurched, and we don't respond well to traditional means of recruiting new members. The books call it a "deep seeded distrust of institutionalized religion." All it means is we're afraid if we come to your church you're going to make us watch Rapture movies and listen to the old ladies cry through an hour or two of "Just as I Am."
But here's the thing about "my generation." Here's the real story of why we left the church in droves. For all of our religious education, the church was not a place in which felt loved above all else. If you have anything at all to do with youth and church, remember that first. We left in droves, my generation and I, not because we didn't understand or believe the warnings about the states of our eternal souls, but because we simply did not feel the love. And there you have it. Selah.
After some of those Rapture movies, I remember thinking, "You can't scare me. I live in the parsonage. I haven't taken a single step in my whole life when I wasn't being watched."
It seemed like the theme of these movies was always "there will be nowhere to hide," and I often wondered why anybody thought there ever had been. Obviously, they'd never met my Granny. As I said, I'd never taken a step in my life without being watched.
Last night I learned that "my generation" is a subject of study at some sort of church growth workshop going on at my church. It seems there are whole books written on this subject that I could have told you about years ago. "My generation" is largely unchurched, and we don't respond well to traditional means of recruiting new members. The books call it a "deep seeded distrust of institutionalized religion." All it means is we're afraid if we come to your church you're going to make us watch Rapture movies and listen to the old ladies cry through an hour or two of "Just as I Am."
But here's the thing about "my generation." Here's the real story of why we left the church in droves. For all of our religious education, the church was not a place in which felt loved above all else. If you have anything at all to do with youth and church, remember that first. We left in droves, my generation and I, not because we didn't understand or believe the warnings about the states of our eternal souls, but because we simply did not feel the love. And there you have it. Selah.
posted by Sharon Gerald | 4:29 AM
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