God's Plans & GPS

I have a new article up on the Living Lutheran site about young adults and the pressure to discover God's "plan" for their lives. It's entitled "God's Plans and GPS".

The Hashtag on the Prayer Wall

The Pew Research Center just released a new study detailing the internet habits of American teenagers. Much of the information contained in the report is fairly standard...I think we all know that younger Americans are far more technologically savvy than older generations were at the same age.

What really interests me in terms of ministry is not so much the obvious conclusion that younger people use technology, but rather how they use technology. One of the findings in the Pew Report is that one in four teenagers access the internet almost exclusively from their cell phones rather than a computer. And in just two years the percentage of teens that have a smartphone has jumped from 23% to 37%.

Many Churches are still thinking about how to engage a digital generation. But if this study is any indication even that is behind the times as media consumption habits increasingly become mobile. Just how much does this affect the way that young adults think? Although Facebook is still the primary social media platform for young adults I've noticed a huge jump in the number of our students using twitter. Twitter's 144 characters or less format is certainly more conducive for mobile internet users, which is perhaps why Facebook has been making moves to become more mobile friendly.

This movement toward mobile internet usage was brought home to me several weeks ago. We often do prayer walls during worship where students can write their prayer requests. Reading over the wall the next day I noticed that someone had used a hashtag (#theubiquitoustwittersymbol) on the prayer wall. That has never happened before that I've noticed and goes to demonstrate just how much of our student's lives are shaped by online experiences.

I'm still not exactly sure what all this means for the Church besides the fact that we're way behind the times. Although most Churches are probably never going to become social media mavens the truth is that some level of media savvy is necessary just to talk with those shaped by the digital age. Any good missionary tries to learn the native language of the people they serve. I think the Church needs to think about that when it comes to reaching out to younger generations.

Young Adults & Gay Rights: Ignore at your own peril, Pt. 2

I hadn't planned to make this a two part post (see part one) but upon further reflection I wasn't done talking yet :)

My previous post was in response to a well written blog by a student at one of our sister ELCA Colleges. This particular blog calls on the Church to begin paying attention to issues of importance to young adults, particularly welcoming people of all sexual orientations into the Church.

I agree with the sentiments expressed in this blog and encourage you to read it. But it occurred to me that one might be left with the impression that acceptance of GLBT persons is merely another strategy for stemming the tide of young adults leaving the Church. So let me be clear...becoming a LGBT friendly Church is not going to suddenly correct the absence of young adults in your pews. Neither is changing the music, meeting in a bar, or any other "strategy" to make Church more appealing to younger generations.

In truth I don't know what, if anything, can reverse these trends. I think there are certain things like full inclusion of LGBT Christians that might make the Church a more welcoming environment for young adults but there are no silver bullets. The current absence of young adults in the life of the Church is a result of many cultural and social factors. Social stability for today's young adults is more elusive than it was for their parents who tended to get married and "settle down" much sooner. Unfortunately for the Church social stability is one of the driving factors for institutional commitment.

My appeal to Churches that care about young adults is to approach the issue of sexuality with an authentic openness to change. If you're going to support the inclusion of LGBT individuals in your Church do it because it's the right thing to do, not to be relevant. More than likely changing your Church's stance on this issue isn't going to make much difference in the number of young adults in your pews on Sunday mornings. But then again...neither will keeping the doors closed.

Young Adults & Gay Rights: Ignore at your own peril, Pt. 1

Yesterday a friend of mine was ordained. That's not terribly surprising as I have a lot of friends in the Church world. What is surprising is how long it took. You see despite having been called and gifted for ministry my friend wasn't able to be ordained until recently because she is gay.

I know many in the Church would like the whole sexuality issue to just go away. That's how I felt for a long time until I got to know people like my friend. I watched her and many others struggle not only to discern their call to ministry (which trust me is hard enough) but also face a choice between two parts of their vocation...that of being a spouse and a Minister of the Gospel.

If you think that you can do ministry with young adults and ignore the sexuality issue you are mistaken.  The writer of this "Open Letter to the Church from my Generation" speaks of many young adults who rightly call out the Church when it fails to practice the love that Jesus commands of us.

Many have argued that not all young adults embrace marriage equality or support the rights of our GLBT brothers and sisters. That is true. But clearly it is the vast majority. Last week when people were changing their profile pictures to the marriage equality symbol I was amazed at how many people supported these ideas across the traditional divide between denominations. It's no longer just those from "liberal" mainline denominations that support this change, it's Evangelicals, Roman Catholics and more.

If you're on the other side of the fence, I understand. I really do. But you can't sit on the fence forever. Despite the dire predictions of calamity that many predict anytime the Church embraces change, this is not the end. It's a new beginning. And in this season of Easter new beginnings are in the air.

Thank God for new beginnings, and for the many Gay Christians who have continued to remind us of our need for repentance and change. My personal thanks to my friend who did the same for me. That collar looks awfully good on you.

Guest Post: Kevin Schneider '13

Kevin Schneider is a Senior Education major with a great story. A talented musician and a great guy, Kevin will be baptized on April 14th during our Sunday Morning Worship service. He's been preparing for his Baptism this year as part  our discipleship process, "The Way of Jesus". 

Recently Kevin accepted a job at Dowling Catholic High School where he will be teaching Biology. He and his fiancee Lexi will be married in July. 

Kevin is the personification of our mission at Wartburg. A first generation college student with no faith background, Kevin leaves us having made the most of his time on campus. This is his Senior Chapel message.

Luke 15: 1-7

Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear him.  But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them."

Then Jesus told them this parable: "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them.  Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?  And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home.  Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, "rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.  I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

~~~~Message: 

This is a common reading in the New Testament, and I've heard it in combination with the parable of the lost brother.  This reading is provoking, and really proposes an absolute.  It states that "It is better to bring one lost sheep home than to tend for the other 99 and forget the lost sheep".  Furthermore, the Lord and heaven rejoice more harmoniously over one redeemed sinner than over 99 righteous.  I was discussing this text with a friend the other day, and she mentioned that she didn't like the scripture.  She stated that this scripture wasn't fair.  I was inclined to her point of view, and totally understood her stance.  But I have chosen a different understanding of this scripture.  Experience is everything, and a wealth of my life experiences were spent as the lost sheep.  I come from what was a broken home, riddled with abuse of all forms.  Relationships broken, and no upbringing in a faith community.  In fact, I have been working toward my first baptism during the last year, and will have that honor on the 13th of April.  

Am I bitter about this past? No way.  I know that the Lord my God has a plan for me, just like for each one of you.  I spent many years lost, battered, beaten and broken.  Little did I know that it was the best of bonding time, because when we are at our lows, that we are at the cross.  Where better to bond with our Lord than at the cross?  During international choir tour, at a church in Saraspatek, Hungary, when our God finally revealed to me the wonderful work he had been doing in my life, I knew I was saved.  The amount of power and love I felt poured down on me at that instant was overwhelming.  I saw all of the ways God had carried and nurtured me, in a flash; an instant play by play put right before me. 

Since that moment, I have known that the Lord is my rock, and my faith has not floundered since.  

I reflect on the lost sheep parable, and I think about a post I put on Facebook a couple of weeks ago.  The support, from members of my hometown and those from Wartburg, was simply overwhelming.  Truly the Heavens are rejoicing at this lost sheep who has been found; and that rejoice is spilling into the earthly realms and onto my Facebook page (or I am a little too deeply thoughtful, spiritual, and maybe slightly egocentric in thinking that all of heaven is rejoicing for the likes of me).  

What I see when I look at myself is a product of love.  Love driven into my bones from my family, hometown community, the Wartburg college community, the faith community I have become a part of here at Wartburg, and ultimately, God.  I did not deserve any of this.  In fact, I have done, and am probably still doing things to justify stripping away my privileges and praise.  That is grace.  God is gracious.  He doesn't care if we have earned his love, or earned his forgiveness.  It is simply given to us, whether we want it or not.  I am so lucky and loved to have received this grace and can't thank God and my supporting community enough.

So where do I go from here?  Where does the community and God go from here?  Really, this is a defining moment in my collegiate experience.  Here, I am allowed to testify how I have been changed by the love of God, and what I intend to do as a result of that change.  Jesus is a teacher.  I originally chose education as a career path and undergraduate study because it was what I needed to do to meet financial deficiencies a few years back.  I had intended switching majors and doing something entirely different.  Still, the Lord has steered me back.  There is an old saying, "Hindsight is 20/20 and more often than not foresight is simply blind guessing".  In hindsight, my choice, unknowingly divinely influenced, has put me in a position to "pay it forward".  That is exactly what I intend to do and that is exactly what my students, friends, family, faith community, and future spouse deserve.  Not because they have earned it, but because I love them.  It is my duty as a disciple of Jesus to pay that gracious love forward.  Thank you God, Wartburg, and all of my friends, family, and loved ones for your grace.  You have instilled a sunrise in my heart, the light of the Breaking Dawn gleams in my heart.  Amen.

Young Adult Seeks Church: Guest Post by Carrie Smisek

Carrie is a former student of mine who graduated from Wartburg last year and is now attending Luther Seminary. When she was looking for a Church in the Twin Cities we had several conversations about that process. After starting this blog I asked her to write about the experience so that others could learn from her journey. Thanks so much for sharing this with us Carrie!

Recently, I had the task of finding a new church to hang out in.

I was actually quite excited to go "church shopping." I had been a part of my home congregation since I was born, and I was incredibly active in it. I attended Sunday School, sang in every Children's Choir imaginable, started my own worship band as a teenager, and even led my own worship services there. My home congregation was just that...home.

However, I found that finding a new place to worship with all new people to be both daunting and fun. I was leaving my established role and moving in familiar, yet uncharted territories.

I was lucky in that I found the church that I wanted to be a part of in only three tries.

The first church I attended was a lot like the church in which I grew up. Mostly everyone there was either a child, a young couple with children, or older adults. However, there was one difference between this place and my home church. This congregation was very willing to participate in new things. For example, the pastor there had everyone take a paper puzzle piece. We were then challenged to find the person with the puzzle piece that connected to ours. It was something that would have freaked out everyone at home, but these people must have been used to this kind of thing, because they were totally on board.

Everyone there was very welcoming and warm when they met me. The man whose puzzle piece matched mine was very interested in who I was and why I was there and invited me immediately to the breakfast they were having after the service. He was very excited about having a new person there, and he was great to talk to.

After the service, I talked to the pastor. He was very friendly and also excited about having a visitor. We talked about the congregation and how they are more "suburban," while he felt his personality was more "urban." He said this created an interesting atmosphere, but it opened both him and the congregation up to new worldviews.

While I really enjoyed this service and talking to the pastor, I eventually decided that this church was too much like my home congregation. I wanted something different than what I had always known and grown up in. This decision was a very difficult one to make.

The second church I visited was nothing at all like my home congregation. They were actually a starter church that is connected to a few other congregations in the area. I decided to look at them because I had heard everything there was so different, and I knew I needed change.

And it was different.

Instead of a choir and piano, there was a band and electric guitars. Instead of an altar, there was a stage. Instead of a church building, they gathered in a theater. Red padded seats replaced pews and young people wearing ripped jeans replaced the older adults wearing their Sunday best.

I thought that I may really enjoy this atmosphere, as someone who loves to hang out in old theaters and listen to bands, but this was not the case. I felt increasingly uncomfortable while sitting there. I wanted church, not a concert.

The part that convinced me that this was not where I wanted to worship was the affirmation of baptism that took place that day. A whole family: father, mother, daughter, were confirmed together. I thought it was beautiful that they would all be confirmed together, at the same time. However, they were asked to write testimonies on their faith. This is pretty normal for confirmations, but these particular ones got a bit strange. Some of them included things that I knew to be theological inaccuracies and one of them even mentioned how she knew she was going to be the one to announce the second coming of Christ.

Yeah, it got a bit awkward.

After the service, I talked to the pastor, who was way too interested in who I was. Unlike the previous church, I felt almost like I was being interrogated and pushed into becoming a member. He asked if I would be available to teach and lead their Sunday School program and almost forced me into the role. I never even told him I wanted to join, simply that I was looking for a new church, and he was already asking me to lead a program. Yikes.

A few days after this, I received a card in the mail from him with a gift certificate for a coffee shop near by, so that I could talk to him and a few other members about joining the congregation. I felt too-welcomed, uncomfortable, and pressured.

Very quickly, I moved on to a congregation that I heard about from a friend. They did not meet in a church, but instead, a town hall. I did not know much about this particular church, but I trusted the recommendation, so I went. And quite quickly, I fell in love with the place.

I realized this almost immediately when one of the members greeted me and brought me to their name tags.

"We don't spend money on fancy name tags." Their name tags were strips of masking tape on which you wrote your name with a Sharpie. It was awesome.

We then all gathered in front of an altar made of a folding table and simple table cloth which resided in front of a wooden cross. It was simple and perfect. Instead of traditional piano, a musician sang and played her guitar. Normally, I dislike the presence of this kind of music in worship; I often crave traditional "Amazing Grace," but she plays with such sincerity that it uplifts everyone around her.

It was a very small congregation, only about fifteen people attended, but everyone there participated fully in worship. They all read and sang with such enthusiasm. There was a definite air of quality over quantity.

The sermon was great, and it was not only informative but very intriguing. I spent many hours afterward contemplating it.

After the service, I met with the pastor who was not overly welcoming but very friendly. He told me all about this congregation and how worship was almost secondary to them; it was service that they really enjoyed doing. It was something that I hadn't experienced in other congregations. I also learned this congregation was actually connected to another congregation in the area, which turned out to be much more like my home congregation.

I felt like Goldilocks eating the baby bear's porridge. Everyone there was welcoming, but not too welcoming. It was contemporary but not too contemporary. It was new but not too new.

The members were all very diverse as well: younger people without kids, young families, and older adults all worshiping together and talking to each other. Age lines were so crossed over, they were blurred into nothing.

I finally felt at home. I go between both congregations, one that is very much like my home church and more traditional, and the one that is small but hearty.

Since joining, I have discovered all the great things that this congregation does. They meet for celebratory dinners at Thanksgiving, hold Epiphany feasts and spend plenty of time building and maintaining their community. They also take part in many different service projects like Loaves and Fishes.

It was so gratifying to find a place that I could worship and feel completely at home.

I think the one thing I learned from this experience that I would pass on to congregations is: be sincere. If congregations do not try to recruit so much but be sincere in who they are and what they do, they will be very attractive to young adults. There is no special formula for congregations, but if they are authentic in who they are, there is no denying the effect they may have.

Sincerity is what attracts young adults, not gimmicks, loud guitars, or fancy graphic designs. Sincerity."

Guest Post: Katelin Ryan '13

Fridays are the most popular days in Chapel because it is when Senior students speak. They are always incredibly inspiring moments for those of us who work at the College. Senior Chapels give us an opportunity to hear how God has been at work, through the Wartburg Community, helping them to discover the people God created them to be. 

From time to time I plan to share some of these Senior Chapels on this blog (with the student's permission of course). We can talk about the faith lives of young adults all we want but there is no substitute for hearing them speak in their own voices. I would hope that every community of faith would find opportunities to allow young adults the chance to share their experiences publicly.

Today's post comes from Katelin Ryan '13. Katelin is a History Major and has been passionately involved in caring for others in our community as a peer helper. This year she has also been a mentor in our discipleship process "The Way of Jesus". Katelin is a wonderful young woman who speaks very honestly about her faith journey. I know you will enjoy hearing what she has to say.

James 2:14-17

¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? ¹⁵ Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶ If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? ¹⁷ In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

Thank you all for coming today. 

I want to share with you a little bit of my faith journey starting with my first year out of high school which I spent as an intern at a Church in another state.  I do not talk about my time there very often because it has been very difficult for me to see how those experiences serving in the church fit in with the rest of my life.  I will explain a little bit about the church and what I did there, and talk about the difficulty I had trying to merge those experiences with the rest of my life, and then tie it back to that scripture from James.

There were 12 other interns in the program I was in.  I worked with the nursery director and helped to organize the volunteers.  I came up with lesson plans and craft ideas for the toddlers and pre-schoolers.  I spent a lot of time volunteering in other areas of the church as well.  I cleaned a lot of bathrooms and mopped a lot of floors, which I did gladly because I my actions were serving the church.  I was at the church for eight hours a day or more at least five days a week.  I read the Bible a lot, I prayed a lot, and I did a lot of things to serve God’s kingdom.

As part of the internship we did a lot of outreach events.  We partnered with an inner city elementary school where we provided school supplies and backpacks and tutored students on a weekly basis.  We went to a low-income housing complex and shared a meal with the community.  We went on a missions trip to a Native American reservation in Arizona.  It was the first missions trip I had ever been on.  We served Easter dinner to inmates at a prison.  These are just some highlights of my experiences, and you are welcome to ask me questions about any of them. 

But what I really want you to understand is that while I was doing all of these good Christian things, my heart was not in the right place.  My actions reflected my faith, but my faith was all pretty superficial.  I was doing a lot of good things for God, but the purpose and meaning behind it all was visceral.  It came from what I thought it it meant to be a good follower of Christ.  I knew that what I was doing is what good Christians were supposed to do, but my actions did not come from my heart.  My actions were not out of genuine love and concern for God’s people or his kingdom. But out of a sense of pious religious duty. 

So when I returned home for the summer I was completely disoriented.  I did not see people in my church community at home being so involved in the surrounding community, and I grew really frustrated.  And I didn’t know what to do with myself.  I was planning to spend a second year in the same internship program but decided almost at the last minute that that was not where I wanted to be.  I toured Wartburg and immediately realized that it was the place for me.  I registered for classes a week before they started and began my college career.

At that point, I pushed that tension and frustration I felt toward my church community aside.  I refused to think about why I was judging so many people in my church to be hypocrites, and I stopped going to church.

It wasn’t until this past summer, when I went to church on a Sunday morning with some friends while I was in Denver, Colorado that I realized what really bothered me about going to church was that I felt like the biggest hypocrite of all.  And so I had something new to wrestle with.  And I am only beginning to figure out how to handle that, but the biggest revelation was that up until that point I was just “doing faith”  I was just going through the motions of being a Christian.  I was concerned about people’s eternal soul, but I didn’t really care very much about their present situation.  And a lot of the people I met when I was interning were suffering.  I thought they just needed Jesus and their lives would be better, but then I had to wonder why some people were so resistant.  The Bible tells us that we are to take care of a person’s physical being as well, otherwise our words are meaningless.

Last term, I took Christian Ethics as my second required religion course, and that class really got me thinking about my faith, and at some point early in the term we read the chapter “Moral Ambiguity” from a book by Ellen Ott Marshall called Christians in the Public Square and I realized that my Christian faith and what I do don’t have to be two separate things.  Both my faith and my experiences can inform each other.

So now in my faith journey I am trying to discern what that means for me exactly.  I am a history major with no clear career path before me, but I am in classes right now that are developing in me compassion and concern for the well being of God’s people.  And I am excited about the part I have to play in God’s present kingdom here on earth.

My time as a Church intern exposed me to a lot of eye opening experiences.  I was serving the kingdom of God, but I was doing it not out of love and genuine concern for others but out of a sense of Christian duty.  Like James says, faith without action is dead, but action without genuine love for ones neighbors is pointless.  No one will learn the good news if we do not carry that good news in our hearts and allow it to penetrate all areas of our lives.