The Good News
We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.
Most of the time, I use my blog to complain bitterly (whine) about a variety of issues----the toxic society, racism in America, religious hypocrisy, the conservative right of the Republican party, etc. I see so few good things in modern society. As a college professor and counselor, I get to know many middle class young adults in this generation. Most are impressive, bright, tolerant and eager to learn. But too many of them are also flawed or broken in some way by dysfunctional, semi dysfunctional families or just broken (divorced) families. In some cases, however, the opposite is the case. While their families appear healthy, their parents are caring and their siblings are doing well, they become the family problem---and for no apparent observable clinical reason. Some medicate themselves with drugs or simply sink into depression because they seem to have they have no purpose or direction in life. The mental health professionals that their parents hire have seen fit to diagnose them with disorders like Attention Deficit Disorder, Bipolar Depression or simply Depression. Then they simply add new drugs (e.g. Lexipro, Adderal etc) to the mix to help them cope. Many do recover but they never seem the same as they were when they were bright eyed young people sitting in their First Grade class.
So ---what’s the good news?. It came upon me rather unexpectedly in Church Sunday. Like the President, I am a Congregationalist now. I used to be a Roman Catholic but I just could no longer imagine Jesus living in the luxury of the Vatican, wearing gold lined robes and being tended to by valet Nuns. The really good thing about the Congregationalists is that that the members of the congregation minister to themselves with their designated ministers there to facilitate the process. I could go on here about this approach to religion but that is subject matter for another article.
This past Sunday as is their regular custom and privilege, the youth in the congregation planned and directed services for the entire congregation. They wrote and performed their own music, led the prayers, took the collection, selected and read the gospels and delivered four separate sermons. There were some 40 of them seated in the front four rows of the Meeting House. All belonged to what they call the Senior PF. “Senior” sets their ages at approximately 17 plus . PF stands for Pilgrim Foundation, a national social action organization dedicated to helping needy children everywhere. Throughout the years these young people have travelled to the poorest regions of this nation and neighboring nations, simply to reach out to the neediest children. They take seriously Jesus’ mandate in the parable of the Good Samaritan to ”go out and do likewise”
Here (finally) is my point and the good news. They seem healthy---I mean really healthy. Oh I’m sure they listen to rap and hard rock. They watch racy TV shows and even go to R rated movies. But they all seem to have a sense of meaning their life and project it. Their sermons were the most illuminating. They didn’t get into dogma and doctrine. Nor did they talk about the dangers of sin, hope of redemption and the need for prayer. They talked about “Action”---social action. They said that they feel strongly that they have a moral obligation to ”go out and do likewise” . They didn’t lecture. They testified.
One of the youth preachers particularly struck me. She was petite, attractive young woman who talked about how her parents’ divorce left her in a state of depression. But she didn’t attribute her recovery to medication, therapy or even prayer. No! It came about solely because of her involvement with this wonderful group of young people, facilitated by caring, non-judgmental adults. Like Robert Kennedy, her conscience awakened and her depression lifted when she personally witnessed the suffering of children less fortunate than her. Her great achievement was to be able to bring a smile to their face. When she finished the sermon, I reached over to the friends sitting in front of me and said. “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if this approach to raising children was the rule rather than the exception?”
Now this is good news.
