Sanctuary
07/11/13 05:13
When we moved to Chicago back in the seventies, some people in Montana asked if we were scared. I suppose I was a little bit, at least the first night driving into the city alone in a borrowed pickup truck, getting lost and having to exit the freeway and turn around in a dark and very unfamiliar neighborhood. But the experience of living in Chicago wasn’t frightening for us. We had to learn to adjust to some parts of city living like locking the car and all of the locks on buildings, but we were never personally threatened. The neighborhood where we lived had two large and active police forces: the Chicago Police Department and the University of Chicago Police. Almost everything we did in those days we did in groups of students and short walks like the trip to the library were very safe on well lit streets. The alley behind our apartment building had four street lights every block, which is considerably more than most city streets.
But it would not be true to say that Chicago is a safe place for all of its residents. Increasingly, the city is making headlines as a very dangerous place, especially for teens and children. This morning Chicago police wake up to the daunting task of continuing investigations into shootings in which at least seven people were wounded last night. Three men were shot to death. A six-year-old is in the hospital in critical condition with gunshot wounds in his shoulder, and chest. The boy wasn’t doing anything wrong. He was riding in the back seat of a car with his seven year old brother, heading home from a regular tutoring session. The car was driven by his nineteen year old brother. Another teen was with them in the front seat. The two older boys exchanged words with two pedestrians at an intersection. The pedestrians threw bottles at the car, which began to drive away. The six year old was wounded by shots fired through the back window of the car.
It is part of an epidemic of gun violence in the city with no obvious solution in sight.
For most of our career, we have worked hard at making sure that the church provides a safe place for children and teens. When we first began to institute safe church policies some people wondered if they were really necessary. They wanted to be able to assume that the church was safe without going into the process of criminal background checks and requirements that adults working with children and teens be closely supervised. But we persisted and after decades of reports about abuses of power and predatory violence by adults working with children in churches, it seems like the caution was important.
Last night we had a discussion of sanctuary with the youth in the church. We talked about what was required in order for the church to provide a safe place for them. They were quick to point out that it needed to be a place of acceptance and support, that they needed a place that was free from bullying and intimidation, and that the church should not allow weapons in worship. But not everyone agreed about things like the use of cell phones. The teens acknowledged that social media could be used to intimidate and bully and that text messages could be harsh and threatening, but they were uncertain about what role the church should play in addressing these issues.
One youth said that one of the gifts of school was that the ban on cell phone use gave her a break from the device. Another said that it made her feel less safe because she couldn’t stay in constant contact with the people she loved and who were her support system. All of the teens had had cell phones since they started middle school and one has had a phone since the fourth grade. All said that having a cell phone made them feel more safe and that safety was the reason that their parents had supported their use of cell phones. The majority of the teens turn off their cell phones only during the required hours of school. All but one of the teens in our informal small group poll leave their cell phones on all night long. The majority have looked at Facebook posts and responded to texts in the middle of the night.
We talked not only about sanctuary as sacred space, but also as sacred time. We agreed that there are times when it is not appropriate to be focusing on mobile devices. Worship was seen as one of those times. We spent a few minutes in silence in our church’s sanctuary as well as sharing a prayer time in the youth room. The youth were respectful with their devices during those times. We talked about other times when they might set aside their phones. There was disagreement about whether or not phones should be banned during mealtimes. Some youth thought that while they shouldn’t be talking or initiating calls during meals, reading texts or Facebook posts wasn’t rude or disruptive.
It is clear to me that in some ways it is easier to provide for the physical safety of children and youth than it is to provide for their emotional safety in this complex world. I’m not saying we can make the world completely safe for our youth. They travel to and from the church in private cars. When they become old enough they drive themselves. Although we have been fortunate with accidents, we know they can happen to teens and that the world can change in a few seconds. A teen who was seriously injured in a fiery crash earlier this fall is a close friend of one of the youth in our group and has been on our youth prayer chain since the accident. One member of the group lost an uncle who was the father of 10 and 15 year old cousins recently. We live in a dangerous world and we can’t always shield this we love from risk.
But it is important to keep talking about sanctuary and safe places with our teens as the world changes and new threats appear.
We no longer have squires at the entrance to the church to hold the weapons while the knights go in to worship. If the teens in our group are an indication, it doesn’t seem like we will be having designated cell phone “squires” to keep the digital devices during worship anytime soon.
But it would not be true to say that Chicago is a safe place for all of its residents. Increasingly, the city is making headlines as a very dangerous place, especially for teens and children. This morning Chicago police wake up to the daunting task of continuing investigations into shootings in which at least seven people were wounded last night. Three men were shot to death. A six-year-old is in the hospital in critical condition with gunshot wounds in his shoulder, and chest. The boy wasn’t doing anything wrong. He was riding in the back seat of a car with his seven year old brother, heading home from a regular tutoring session. The car was driven by his nineteen year old brother. Another teen was with them in the front seat. The two older boys exchanged words with two pedestrians at an intersection. The pedestrians threw bottles at the car, which began to drive away. The six year old was wounded by shots fired through the back window of the car.
It is part of an epidemic of gun violence in the city with no obvious solution in sight.
For most of our career, we have worked hard at making sure that the church provides a safe place for children and teens. When we first began to institute safe church policies some people wondered if they were really necessary. They wanted to be able to assume that the church was safe without going into the process of criminal background checks and requirements that adults working with children and teens be closely supervised. But we persisted and after decades of reports about abuses of power and predatory violence by adults working with children in churches, it seems like the caution was important.
Last night we had a discussion of sanctuary with the youth in the church. We talked about what was required in order for the church to provide a safe place for them. They were quick to point out that it needed to be a place of acceptance and support, that they needed a place that was free from bullying and intimidation, and that the church should not allow weapons in worship. But not everyone agreed about things like the use of cell phones. The teens acknowledged that social media could be used to intimidate and bully and that text messages could be harsh and threatening, but they were uncertain about what role the church should play in addressing these issues.
One youth said that one of the gifts of school was that the ban on cell phone use gave her a break from the device. Another said that it made her feel less safe because she couldn’t stay in constant contact with the people she loved and who were her support system. All of the teens had had cell phones since they started middle school and one has had a phone since the fourth grade. All said that having a cell phone made them feel more safe and that safety was the reason that their parents had supported their use of cell phones. The majority of the teens turn off their cell phones only during the required hours of school. All but one of the teens in our informal small group poll leave their cell phones on all night long. The majority have looked at Facebook posts and responded to texts in the middle of the night.
We talked not only about sanctuary as sacred space, but also as sacred time. We agreed that there are times when it is not appropriate to be focusing on mobile devices. Worship was seen as one of those times. We spent a few minutes in silence in our church’s sanctuary as well as sharing a prayer time in the youth room. The youth were respectful with their devices during those times. We talked about other times when they might set aside their phones. There was disagreement about whether or not phones should be banned during mealtimes. Some youth thought that while they shouldn’t be talking or initiating calls during meals, reading texts or Facebook posts wasn’t rude or disruptive.
It is clear to me that in some ways it is easier to provide for the physical safety of children and youth than it is to provide for their emotional safety in this complex world. I’m not saying we can make the world completely safe for our youth. They travel to and from the church in private cars. When they become old enough they drive themselves. Although we have been fortunate with accidents, we know they can happen to teens and that the world can change in a few seconds. A teen who was seriously injured in a fiery crash earlier this fall is a close friend of one of the youth in our group and has been on our youth prayer chain since the accident. One member of the group lost an uncle who was the father of 10 and 15 year old cousins recently. We live in a dangerous world and we can’t always shield this we love from risk.
But it is important to keep talking about sanctuary and safe places with our teens as the world changes and new threats appear.
We no longer have squires at the entrance to the church to hold the weapons while the knights go in to worship. If the teens in our group are an indication, it doesn’t seem like we will be having designated cell phone “squires” to keep the digital devices during worship anytime soon.