Last weekend I had the honor of serving on the leadership team for the Diocese of CPA, Happening #3 youth event. During the weekend I kept thinking to God, "Oooohhhh, so this is where you hang out." Not that God isn't hanging out here, where ever here is for you and me at the moment, but WOW, been there, seen God. Here are a few observations from sharing three days with 10-12th grader (Emergent) Christians.
1. The issue of perfection was not on the radar of this Christian community. This is not to say that perfection is not an issue, these ARE real kids living in the real world. And the real world is very obsessed with perfection; not to live up to those very specific cultural expections is brutal. But what is very clear, is that this new expression of Christianity is marked by intentional, unconditional love of the other. It appeared to me to be the closest demonstration of the ancient concept of friendship possible in the modern world. Friendship, as is was then, in the ancient world (think Augustine), was a sacred bond, a deep and abiding (platonic) love for the other.
2. Nothing was done perfectly, in fact, there was imperfection built in. Big lesson: more technology does not equal perfect anything. Laptops were everywhere: on the floor, the chairs, the tables. The core of the Happening experience is all on flashdrives, camera phones and facebook pages. When we didn't have the right file we typed in the changes... or not. Paper handouts were not an option. Not one spine of one Book of Common Prayer was cracked. But to be sure, it was the glue that bound us together.
3. Those of us (me) feeling the need to fulfill the our (my own) expectations of our (my) role, felt like we (I) might as well have been covered in big 'ol orange spots. Who am I in this new context - in this new construct of God's kingdom? The perfectionist in me was not happy in these moments.
4. This isn't just my daddy's church, its a whole new breed of church. At times these young Christians, and the new expression of Christianity they are, were like a playful young wild animal. I almost worried for a moment that we (and we know who we are), the people of the church that was but is no more, will conspire to try and tame this unbridled, uninhibited, imperfect love of Jesus. Thankfully, God has seen to it that that train has left the station.
4. These youthful new Christians have a profound sense of clarity about who they are and who they follow and why. But the need to do it precisely right, simply isn't there. This is very unsettling; I used to know exactly what I was trained to be and do and why. But my role models fail me in this new paradigm, this new way of being church; that picture of perfection has come undone. The location and destination are the same but the orders have changed.
5. New Christians like to be together, close together. The "you're in my personal space, my bubble" concept doesn't seem to apply, or not so much, for this group; they moved like a school of fish. Often, they stood arm in arm, swaying and singing together. Sometimes they formed a long single-file hug line that wrapped over itself in constant movement then dessipated out of the open space conforming to the stairwell where they gathered into a big formless mass sitting shoulder to shoulder on the floor. We perfectionist have a very hard time with this lack of personal space.
How wonderful it is that God has heard this, as I hope you have, as both a plea to use what has been stirred up in me as transforming medium, and a word of thanksgiving of what is, and of the promise of what surely will be.
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