Who has the map for our Spiritual Journey?
Shawn Davidson, RE ChairMay 30, 2010
I tried GPS. I tried Map Quest. I even looked at an old fashioned globe. In today’s high tech, “just Google it” world, I thought I would find a simple way to my spiritual destination. Nope.
“So whose job is it to help me?”
The teen teachers, each still trying to answer that question for themselves, have an interesting and challenging accountability. How do you guide a young person on a trip that is so personal, so unique, that there are a myriad of paths to choose from, each with a potentially different result? Add into the mix that you meet once a week - providing soccer or basketball doesn’t alter the plan. The kids are growing and changing daily. Information is so voluminous that it has become a commodity and the destination is complex to say the least.
May 18th a group of teen teachers participated in a webinar to gain some insight from Connie Goodbread and Kenn Hurto who hosted “Youth Ministry.” They walked us through a solidly built presentation of facts, stories and suggestions. Peppered with personal tidbits of real life, the material was on point, but fell short of providing any substantive ideas or direction. This isn’t so easy to figure out.
What clarity there was surfaced around community and the realization that our teens are an integral part of the congregation. While the answer to the question of “whose job is my spiritual journey?” is most likely “me,” it seems logical that one’s community eases the burden and enriches the trip. We can all share a certain amount of pride for the congregants of UUCS have welcomed the teens with open arms, and they feel it. Based on information presented in the webinar, this is not always the case.
As we head into summer and begin our preparations for the new RE year, we are engaging in a lively debate of just how much freedom our youth have to follow their own paths. It’s an intriguing question that begets more questions. We are sure to stumble once or twice, but knowing that our community is here to support us provides a level of comfort that may only be found among friends and family.
When you see a teen on campus this summer engage them and find out where they are on their own spiritual journey. They have some surprising insights and will benefit from hearing your personal stories – and if you have a GPS or laser guided gizmo that can lock onto the coordinates of the promised land, come see me too.