A room full of stories
27/04/13 04:33
There have been several different models for young adult ministries over the years. Before we were married, the church camp where we went experimented with a young adults camp. The camp was designed as a light work camp for the participants to contribute to the operation of the organization combined with some programming. We registered and attended, but the attendance was light. Young adults had busy schedules even back then and taking time off of work was a challenge. The post-high school camp was dropped because it never reached a large enough registration to justify the expenses of planning and staffing the camp. The churches we have served after graduation from seminary all have had stories of times when they had active young adults groups and other times when the groups didn’t meet at all. Of course we ourselves were young adults in the first church that we served and so it was natural for us to gather with other young adults in the community. We formed some significant friendships. We are all older these days and no one is tempted to call us young adults any more.
The last couple of years have seen a rise in the activities of a group of young adults in our congregation. They usually meet for a meal, though their meetings are not regular. Sometimes they meet on Sundays after church. Other times they meet mid week. Still other times they meet on a Friday or Saturday evening. Often they allow us to tag along even though in most cases we are older than their parents. Last night the group met for supper at a local restaurant and then headed to a CD release party. It turns out that a couple of our young adults are very talented and capable musicians and two young women of the group have released new CDs this year. Both are exceptionally talented and I suspect that music performance will play a big part in their career paths. We might even end up knowing someone famous one day.
The cultural café at our local art center was full. In fact some of the people who came were turned away when the room reached the capacity allowed by the fire inspectors. The music was delightful and the evening was a real joy. The opening act for the evening was John Craigie. John is a solo traveling folk singer who writes a lot of his own songs. With his brightly painted guitar and harmonicas he presents a fun visual show as well as music that is easy to get into. What makes his act so much fun is that he is a superb storyteller. He entertains with the banter between the songs as much as he does with the songs themselves.
The fun dinner with the young adults, the full house and the great opening act had me in a great mood as Jamie and Dylan set up for their songs. I looked around the room and visited with people I know during the break. I realized that John wasn’t the only story in the room. I found that I know a lot of stories in that room.
Although there were a lot of young people present, across the room from us sat a couple that is about our age that we have known for several years. Our daughters were middle school friends. This couple beat us to retirement. Their daughter has moved overseas and they are forging a lifestyle that supports visiting their daughter and grandchildren as often as possible. Recently they were both actively engaged in demanding professions and, like us, found it difficult to find time to go out for an evening’s entertainment. There were always more demands at the office and busy schedules demanded a fair amount of coordination just to end up at the same place at the same time. We recognize that kind of couple because they are like us. They often arrive in separate vehicles because they are either coming from or going to different places. But last night they were together. Retirement seems to suit them very well. More relaxed, more able to just enjoy the evening, the venue and the entertainment were just right for them to feel young even though, like us, they are grandparents. Theirs is a story worth telling.
I gazed at one of our young adults who will receive her master’s degree in a week. She has discovered what it means to be personally and academically successful. She herself is an accomplished musician with a beautiful singing voice. These days are momentous for her. As she faces the transition from academia to the world of career, there are a lot of different directions in which she could go. She is trying to keep her options open, but she also knows that some of the decisions she will make in the next few months will shape her life and lead her in directions she had not before imagined. She has a story worth telling.
In the room was a man who was in our first youth group when we moved to this town. He has traveled a lot of roads since those days. A stint in the Navy, a frightening battle with cancer, and a couple of false starts in his journey toward adulthood have shaped him into a man with more wisdom than some of his peers. He knows that it takes more than potential to succeed. He knows that life has the grace to allow one to go on after making mistakes. He is aware that there are still some big decisions ahead and that there is more he wants to do. He has a story worth sharing.
And then there is a friend that we met in church camp, even before that young adults camp. After our church camp days, our lives took us in separate directions for more than two decades and then one day we discovered that we lived in the same town. It is so easy to remember our high school camp days that we scarcely recognize ourselves as the gray haired people we now are. Sometimes when we are together it is just like we were back in high school, gathered with friends and guitars and folksongs. But there are gaps in our knowledge of each others’ stories and sometimes we wonder about the things we do not know. There is a story worth telling there as well.
The room was full. We didn’t know everyone there, though there were certainly a lot of friends in the house. But it was a room of stories. Not all of the stories were told – not all of the stories could be told.
Somehow our stories came together in the songs that we shared.
The fun dinner with the young adults, the full house and the great opening act had me in a great mood as Jamie and Dylan set up for their songs. I looked around the room and visited with people I know during the break. I realized that John wasn’t the only story in the room. I found that I know a lot of stories in that room.
Although there were a lot of young people present, across the room from us sat a couple that is about our age that we have known for several years. Our daughters were middle school friends. This couple beat us to retirement. Their daughter has moved overseas and they are forging a lifestyle that supports visiting their daughter and grandchildren as often as possible. Recently they were both actively engaged in demanding professions and, like us, found it difficult to find time to go out for an evening’s entertainment. There were always more demands at the office and busy schedules demanded a fair amount of coordination just to end up at the same place at the same time. We recognize that kind of couple because they are like us. They often arrive in separate vehicles because they are either coming from or going to different places. But last night they were together. Retirement seems to suit them very well. More relaxed, more able to just enjoy the evening, the venue and the entertainment were just right for them to feel young even though, like us, they are grandparents. Theirs is a story worth telling.
I gazed at one of our young adults who will receive her master’s degree in a week. She has discovered what it means to be personally and academically successful. She herself is an accomplished musician with a beautiful singing voice. These days are momentous for her. As she faces the transition from academia to the world of career, there are a lot of different directions in which she could go. She is trying to keep her options open, but she also knows that some of the decisions she will make in the next few months will shape her life and lead her in directions she had not before imagined. She has a story worth telling.
In the room was a man who was in our first youth group when we moved to this town. He has traveled a lot of roads since those days. A stint in the Navy, a frightening battle with cancer, and a couple of false starts in his journey toward adulthood have shaped him into a man with more wisdom than some of his peers. He knows that it takes more than potential to succeed. He knows that life has the grace to allow one to go on after making mistakes. He is aware that there are still some big decisions ahead and that there is more he wants to do. He has a story worth sharing.
And then there is a friend that we met in church camp, even before that young adults camp. After our church camp days, our lives took us in separate directions for more than two decades and then one day we discovered that we lived in the same town. It is so easy to remember our high school camp days that we scarcely recognize ourselves as the gray haired people we now are. Sometimes when we are together it is just like we were back in high school, gathered with friends and guitars and folksongs. But there are gaps in our knowledge of each others’ stories and sometimes we wonder about the things we do not know. There is a story worth telling there as well.
Somehow our stories came together in the songs that we shared.