Second Installment

Thanks to those who responded to my last post. As I mentioned, these things are much on my mind lately, and since I barely think at all unless I am speaking or writing my thoughts, the more conversation, the better. Comment away!

It occurred to me as a result of one of the comments that I'm not really talking just about young adults - and who knows what the term "young adults" means, anyway? I'm really talking about people in general. It's just a bit more obvious to me that something has gone awry with many churches when I think about people in my general age bracket, because they are the ones least likely to be in church, and the most likely to talk to me about their reasons for not being there. Anyway, here are some further thoughts on...well, I guess they are on that amorphous and weird thing we call the Church.

Today I had a conversation with someone I'll call the Godfather, the director of Camp Welcome Home, and a rather influential figure in the lives of a large group of people, myself included. We were discussing the future plans (or lack thereof) of a few of these people, and what they might be searching for in terms of their vocation. As happens so often to me, my thoughts crystallized in hearing myself say that what I think they're looking for is an integrated life - one in which work and worship and relationship intersect fluidly.

It's worth mentioning that this integrated life thing is something at which Camp Welcome Home excels. Many of those who have experienced it there go out into the world and the churches and find there a distinct lack of integration. They get dissatisfied and uncertain about what to do with their lives because they know how things CAN be, but can't necessarily find another place or community where that is happening.

When I decided to go to seminary, it was at least partially in response to frustration that my life had become segregated into little boxes of work, church, and friends/family. I longed for my life to be integrated, and full-time ministry was one of the few ways I could see that as a possibility. I'm pretty resistant to some of the "boundaries! personal time! family time! social time! church time!" language for this very reason. Ministry works best for me when everything sort of flows together. Life works best for me when everything sort of flows together. I feel very fortunate to be in a vocation that allows that...and very sad that professional ministry is so often seen as the only way to live a life where faith is woven into everything.

I could be totally wrong about this, but I think that what many people seek and do not find in churches is an integrated life. I don't know if they even know they're looking for it. I don't think most people get the chance to experience integration, even for a little while. We've gotten in the habit of thinking of churches as buildings or organizations, things we attend that are separate from the rest of our lives, when in fact the Church is us, wherever we happen to be at a given moment. As an extension, we've gotten in the habit of thinking of faith as an activity, something we do that is separate from our other activities, instead of as a way of life.

I guess I wonder whether other pastors or church leaders have had any level of success leading their congregations from one mindset to the other, because although I do have some ideas about what shape a community trying to live this way might take, I'm currently at a bit of a loss as to what the process might look like for an existing church.

Initial Thoughts on the Young Adults in Church Question

(This is an attempt to articulate some of the ideas that have been bouncing around in my head and in many conversations lately. I'm also trying to prepare a seminar on this topic, so I'm hoping that writing these things out will help clarify what exactly I'm going to be discussing. Thoughts, questions, feedback, etc. are welcome and appreciated, as usual.)

I suspect that, in the "years ago" some of my congregants are always talking about, this church was the hub of community life. I suspect that most of the people who lived here came to church, because that's just what everyone did. I suspect that going to church was just one of the many ways their lives intersected, and that the hour of worship every Sunday was the cornerstone of an entire life together.

I don't think that's the case for most churches or people now. Sure, we are friendly toward each other, and some people in my congregation are friends, and some of them are involved in each other's lives beyond Sunday morning, but we seem to lack the general sense of interconnectness that may once have existed here (or may not have; I wasn't here or even born during the times about which I am speculating). Church is a very important activity for many people here - but it often seems to me that it's just that, an activity, like a club. While I'm referring to my church because that's my current context, I think this phenomenon is pretty widespread.

Also widespread is the question of why so few young adults are involved in the church. I've been doing quite a bit of thinking about this lately, as I remarked in another recent post. It seems to me that it might have something to do with church being operated and attended as just one more activity.

People of my general age bracket already have plenty of activities. We can choose from a wide array of clubs, events, and service organizations. When you add that to time spent on work, family, and friends, we are all busy people. We don't necessarily have time for one more activity, especially one that is as unappealing as church.

Does that sound like a strange thing for a minister to say? Probably...but it's true. If you're going to hold an event that's going to attract a lot of young adults, it's probably not going to happen early on a weekend morning, first of all. Early rising is not necessarily a value in this age demographic. An appealing event is also probably not going to consist of sitting on uncomfortable benches, listening to a lecture, and standing up a few times to sing songs full of language and references that are irrelevant if not downright foreign. As far as activities go, church is just not very fun or entertaining - and therefore, you're probably not going to get a lot of young adults attending church under this model.

One answer to this has been more entertaining church services: more modern music, comfortable seats, food, powerpoint presentations, video clips, etc. I don't think any of these things are bad in and of themselves, and they've had considerable success in many places. Nonetheless, I don't think that making our church services "cooler" is the answer.

What we've really lost, in my opinion, is the sense that Christian faith is a life, not an activity, and the Church is a community of believers, not a building or club.

Most of the young adults I meet have no interest whatsoever in adding another activity to their schedules. They tend to have very little loyalty to institutions in general, and many of them have been harmed in some way by people in churches. The idea of "going to church" holds little appeal. However, they do feel a longing to connect with God and with other people in a deep and real way. We are an isolated, lonely people.

I just wonder sometimes what might happen if the church decided to actually be the church - if we stopped thinking of ourselves as buildings and social clubs, and started living life together, with our worship as the central point of that life. I wonder what would happen if we stopped talking so much about getting people to "go to church," and started moving toward being Church regardless of where we happened to be standing at a given moment.

I have some thoughts about what that might look like, if I were to try to do it, but they will have to wait for a future post.

IT HAS ARRIVED

The LES PAUL finally arrived this morning. I would be playing it right now instead of blogging except that it arrived with the top E string broken. Now that was anticlimactic, let me tell you. Not that it stopped me from plugging it in and playing with all the fun little knobs and whanging out a few songs, but it's just not quite right when it's missing a string. Aside from being a little lacking in treble right now, it sounds great. It would sound even better, I'm sure, if I actually knew how to play it; I'm still treating it kind of like a loud acoustic.

So, it's THAT Friday, the one on which all the crazies emerge, and I don't think I want to leave my house, but I really need a guitar string. Hrmph.

On the other hand, not being able to really play the LES PAUL does give me extra impetus to clean my house and get my work done, both of which are very necessary things today. So, off I scamper to write a sermon or two and vacuum up dog hair...and maybe play some more guitar.

Thankful

I've been doing a bit of talking at church about how thankfulness should be a year-round state of mind. Gratitude is even built right into our liturgy, so we're reminded of it weekly at the minimum. Still, it's helpful to have a day set apart every year for giving thanks. I'm convinced that this holiday may well have been instituted for people like me, who have some difficulty expressing positive emotion and giving affirmation; it gives us an excuse to be unusually effusive without feeling so foolish and sappy. So, in no particular order, and probably neglecting several very important people, I present to you a list of some things for which I am thankful.

I am thankful for my church, for their capacity for welcome, for the ways they constantly surprise me, and for being both stretched and safe here.

I am thankful for children, for their ability to make themselves at home, for their open minds and freely given love, and for making me eat my words about not really liking or being good with young children.

I am thankful for friends who keep calling me and forgive me when I get caught up in the life right in front of me and neglect them for weeks and months and even years at a time. (I'm not sure if any of you read this, but if you do: Barb, Amy, Zack, and Bev - thank you!)

I am thankful for friends online who make it possible for this raging extrovert to live in an isolated area without losing my mind. I am thankful for the laughter and support and communal sermon procrastination of the RevGals. I am thankful for spidey who is subjected to so many of my overanalyzing and histrionic moments and who handles them with unfailing kindness and humor, and for nerd with whom I can snark and harass freely, and for Rick who is so open with compliments and hugs and affirmation of all kinds, and for the rest of the RLP gang, without whom I would not have made it through my first few months here.

I am thankful for Julio, who is in a category all his own, having dealt with the many facets of Stacey for nearly a decade.

I am thankful for Camp Fowler and Godfather KB and all the other friends I've made there. I am thankful for glimpses of real community, and the hope of more than glimpses in the future.

I am thankful for coffee.

I am thankful for music and musicians. I'm thankful for songwriters who seem to be reading my mind. I am thankful that my new PA system works. I am thankful for my LES PAUL, even though it's sitting in Altamont at the FedEx place instead of in my hands as it should be. I am thankful for gigs. I am even thankful for karaoke.

I am thankful for brief bursts of courage.

I am thankful for my dog...and for the fact that right now, she is not being a spaz.

I am thankful for my massage therapist and chiropractor.

I am thankful for Room for All and people who work and risk to help the church live into the inclusiveness of the Gospel.

I am thankful for friends who are live and in person and with whom I can be the whole me.

Life is good, you see. And I am thankful.

Assorted Thoughts and Happenings

From time to time, I look at my blog posts and realize that I haven't posted anything substantial in quite a while. It's fun to write random updates, but eventually I start to wonder whether having a blog is worthwhile if all I do is tell people where I am (back home now) and whether my LES PAUL has arrived yet (it hasn't). Most of the substantial things I'd have to post are related to my church, but because of past massive blunders, I have paranoia about saying much of anything about my congregation. It's not responsible, caring, or safe for me to write here about my frustrating experiences, and even the stories I think are funny and endearing have the potential to break some sort of implied confidence.

I used to post occasionally about denominational stuff as well, and maybe I will again sometime. For now, I'm trying to separate myself from all of that drama for a while. It's better for me to stay focused on my own congregation and classis right now.

I've also had some interesting and potentially entertaining personal events lately that would make for good blog fodder, if there wasn't such likelihood that they'd be totally misconstrued and blown out of proportion, so that's out too.

All in all, I just wonder if all my reticence makes for a terribly boring blog, which is weird, because my life is not really very boring right now. (Maybe that's why I'm having so few delurkers...)

Contrary to appearances, there is actually quite a bit going on at the church right now. Kids are liking and participating in church. A congregational meeting happened at which we discussed mission rather than just money. People are coming up with great ideas and energy for outreach. No one has yelled at me in a while, nor have I heard much secondhand grumbling (which of course does not mean that it's not happening, but I digress). Changes are taking place in our structure that will hopefully help us be more functional. It's all good stuff, and I'm really happy to be here and helping to facilitate some of these transitions right now.

I'm also doing a lot of thinking about young adults and the church, but that needs to be its own post, and I haven't the presence of mind to write it right now. I'm leading a seminar in the near future on the topic, so hopefully I can come up with some coherent way of expressing the things that bounce around in my head on a continual basis.

On top of these things, I'm playing quite a bit of music, and even doing some writing here and there. Even though the LES PAUL has not arrived.