The Next Generation

     This Sunday we will receive into membership 13 new members, only they are not your everyday, run of the mill members, they are our youth.  This Sunday is Confirmation Sunday, and over the past 15 weeks we have journeyed together, learning, growing, sharing, and asking lots of questions.  We’ve gone on retreat, worshiped in a synagogue and a Catholic church, discussed everything from life to death, and along the way God has revealed some wonderful and amazing things about the future of the Church.
    This Confirmation class is special to me because my oldest son is a member of this class.  In journeying with my son, I’ve been blessed to share in conversations I probably would not have had with him as easily, experience things that we will share forever, and see the work of Christ within him.  Every week God has revealed some way in which he, and his fellow journeyers, gain insights and grow in their faith, and it has been an amazing gift for me, and for all the leaders.
    This morning I find myself thinking about the power and significance of this upcoming Sunday.  Part of this reflection is personal in relation to my son, but it goes beyond this.  Just as happens every year, I am reminded that the future of the Church is in good hands.  What I discover year after year is that God continually provides servants for the Kingdom, and when I see the next generation at work, I see Kingdom-builders.  When I experience the joy they share and insights they give, I see Christ at work molding and shaping the Church of the future.  When I engage in the privilege of journeying with our youth, I am blessed to gain insights into who I am, who Jesus is, and who we are all called to be.
   
    In the book of I Timothy, the writer shares some powerful words (I Timothy 4:12).  He says, “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity.”  As I read these words, I am reminded of how many times I have seen the next generation witness to things that older, more experienced folk, don’t dare address. 
    In Confirmation, on mission trips, at youth group, in Sunday School, and in daily observation, I have seen youth stand up for what is right and reveal trust and faith in ways that many adults fail to embrace, and when they do there is no looking down on them.  Instead, it is I and many who look up to them, for they reveal Christ.
    Such thoughts remind me of the many times that God used the younger generations to change the world.  Of how God used the young David to remind all that God works among those whom the world does not expect.  Of how Mary, a young virgin, was used to change the course of history.  Of Timothy, Paul’s young disciples who was a witness and leader, one much more mature than his years would indicate.

    I’ve quoted before in this blog the scene where Jesus takes the children on his knee and says to everyone in earshot, “Let the children come to me for the Kingdom of God is to those such as these...”  I think that a large part of what Jesus was saying was that it takes childlike innocence for us to truly live into the faith, and this is a lesson we need to all remember and live into, but what I love about our youth is that this faith is still in them AND they are not yet tainted by the world.  They have the faith, but they also don’t have the fear or the rationalization that can so easily get in the way of those of us who have a little more age and experience under our belts.
    I love working with youth for many reasons, but this is one of the main reasons.  They constantly remind us who we are called to be – those who trust in God, look for the joy, but also are not inhibited to be on fire for Christ, all the while asking the hard questions and seeking the difficult answers.  Not only are they examples but they also humble us, because it is so easy to leave behind childish, youthful ways and “grow up.”  But if I grow up, there is something lost...sometimes ourselves and/or our connection to Christ.     
    So as the 2011 Confirmation Class of Bonsack UMC comes forward to join a great line of witnesses...as Confirmation Class all across the globe come forward to be a part of the Church...my prayer is that they will be less settled and/or tainted by the way “things have always been”, and continue to live by the zeal that they hold right now.  May they be the generation that reveals Christ’s Kingdom in new and powerful ways, and may we who so easily think we “get it,” be schooled by God through them, so that this and future generations will be incorporated into the grace and love of the Christ, the head of the Church.



When was the last time you spent some time with youth (other than your own kids)?  When are going to let them teach you a thing or two about Jesus?