Sunday, August 19
The Lord’s Day
Minute for Mission: Youth in the Church and the World
You are the generation we've been waiting for . . . and we need you now more than ever before!''
Those words, spoken by Dr. Tony Campolo, hang in the air and the miles between those of us gathered for the closing service of the 2010 Presbyterian Youth Triennium.
Is it different with this generation? Are they poised to move a society split by political, economic, theological, and cultural divides any more than the generations most recently moving through adolescence? Will this generation use its powerful capacity for technology to reach out to each other and repair the breech? Many people say, ``Yes they will.'' And perhaps we, the church, ought to be paying attention?
Teenagers have always been generous! They thrive when invited to think outside their own needs. They create, serve, and relate with great energy and sponge-like reflective ability. But what researchers say is that they are now poised in the ``institutions of their culture'' to connect with explosive and viral technology, and social networking, to put feet on their passion per se. For the first time in a long time, our young people have a skill set that is genuinely organic to them while new to adults. Previously in the church, most often the adult leader came up with the idea, did the ground work, and after a good bit of time and a vast amount of church policy, our young people provided hands-on service. Now, youth take their idea and pop it into a Facebook status, and the idea becomes reality.
We know that witnessing action is important to teenagers. ``Wasting'' time waiting on institutions derails momentum and interrupts the process of helping someone. I think Campolo, and about 5,000 other teenagers - plus millions of others outside the Triennium walls - can attest to this holy impatience. May their impatience become our catalyst!
- Elder Gina Yeager-Buckley, associate for ministries with youth, Presbyterian Mission Agency
Let us pray
God of our living years . . . let us see more than age. Let us hear more than noise. Let us do more than demonstrate . . . let us join our young people. In the name of your Child, who at twelve followed his passion. Amen.
Sunday Lectionary and Hymns
1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14
O Master, Let Me Walk with Thee
PH 357, HB 304
Ps. 111
Seek Ye First
PH 333
Eph. 5:15-20
With Glad, Exuberant Carolings
PH 490
John 6:51-58
Deck Yourself, My Soul,
with Gladness
PH 506
Daily Lectionary
Morning Psalms 19; 150
First Reading Judges 16:15-31
Second Reading 2 Corinthians 13:1-11
Gospel Reading Mark 5:25-34
Evening Psalms 81; 113
