Readings for Advent
1:
Isaiah 64: 1-9a; Psalm 80:1-7; 1 Corinthians 1:1-9; Mark 13: [24-32], 33-37
December 1, 2002
The Rev. Mary B. Blessing
St. Jude the Apostle Episcopal Church, Cupertino,
CA
It's the end of our Thanksgiving weekend. I hope you all celebrated with family joy. Maybe some of you had kids home from college like we did. It's fun how the energy changes around the dinner table when college students shows up.
I've been thinking about young adults a lot lately. Last month, youth mentor, Kristen Kleiboer and I spent a day at the Berkeley Seminary. We went to a workshop on ministry to "Gen X and Gen Y". Generation X is the group born from approximately 1961-1981, and the Generation Y is those born from 1982 to the present. Young Adults, age 23-35 taught us what they think is relevant to younger generations. They all said they hate labels, especially "Gen X."
One of the presenters started his lecture with this cartoon from New Yorker magazine. It shows the hand of God coming down from the clouds, lightening bolts, and a big crack in the ground. Two Medieval crusaders, in Roman armor, stand looking downcast and sullen. Above them, the hand writes on the wall: "WHATEVER". They say "Not at all the sort of comment one was expecting."
Two centuries of Christian crusaders attempting to claim the Holy Land for Christ--with little long-term success overcoming Muslim influence. This cartoon reminds us what we already know: more than ever, we live in a "Whatever" culture. When even God speaks with a "Whatever" tone, we know we have made a major shift in consciousness. We must be awake to this shift.
At a recent Adult Forum on How to Evangelize in a "Postmodern" World, I learned more trends about Gen Xr's worldview: it is highly ambiguous. Truth is based more on ones' experience than seen as absolute; truth is relative. They don't trust human reason; many lack hope. They highly value honesty and authenticity-they want people to speak openly and plainly about real life experiences. Institutional religion is not valued. Meaningful, grassroots "movements" are. There is very little sense of loyalty to any particular religious expression, yet spirituality is an important part of life.
Spirituality is understood as a personal choice. One may move from community to community seeking a community that feels spiritually authentic. Integrity to one's beliefs and tolerance for the beliefs of others are common values, but there must be a relational and pragmatic basis for morality when there is need for agreement. In other words, if we have an authentic disagreement, in which we care about each other enough to share our beliefs and listen to the other's differing belief, then we stay in relation to each other by "agreeing to disagree." Since "truth is relative, based on personal experience" neither one of us can be absolutely right. And so it is easy to mutter, "Whatever" and move on to the next topic.
The question becomes, How are we to reach the "Whatever" generation? Is the Gospel of Jesus Christ completely irrelevant?
The Gospel of Mark is possibly ideal to reach a "Whatever" generation. It is the earliest recorded gospel. The Gospel itself gives no particular hint of its author--some believe it was possibly a boy related to one of the immediate disciples, others say he served with Peter or with Paul. (Anchor Bible Dictionary, v. 4, p. 542.) This gospel reads like someone who had some first hand experience of the early "Jesus movement". But Mark is not concerned with details, such as factual geography or sequence of events. He has the Sea of Galilee in the midst of the Decapolis, to the southeast of its actual location. He also tells of Jesus setting sail to travel from West to East twice-never returning in between, neither by boat or foot. (Mk.4:35; 5:1;Mk. 5:21)
Mark is also indifferent to chronological accuracy of Jesus' activities: one evening he performs 4 mighty acts in only two hours! He calms the storm on the Sea of Galilee; he performs an exorcism on a "mad-man"; he heals the daughter of the synagogue leader; and along the way heals a woman of her 12 years of hemorrhaging. When he finishes all this, he goes to the Synagogue in Nazareth to teach!
It is absurd to imagine Jesus doing all these things in such a short time, especially since he had to cross the Sea twice to reach all these people! Mark doesn't care about details of time or place! If challenged about his sense of geography or time sequence, he might just shrug his shoulders and mutter, "Whatever".
Details of time and space don't matter to a person whose entire worldview has shifted in the presence of God incarnate! Mark cares deeply about God being present in the form of this Galilean teacher; he's not thinking about history or geography. The Son of Man came, God incarnate appeared, and Mark was awake. Isaiah's prophesy was fulfilled in Jesus--Mark needed to awaken the world. Mark wrote the real life religious experiences people had. They met Jesus, they experienced God. They were calmed, they were healed, they were fed, they were freed.
" The coming" of Jesus that young adults seek is not a precious baby in a manger; it is probably not a martyr on a cross. Young adults seek a mentor, a wise guide to show them the way. They seek a community of people of diverse people who care for one another. Mark tells the gospel of Jesus this way. Mark does not tell us of Jesus birth, or of his resurrection. He is not concerned with beginnings and endings. [Most Bibles have added ending chapters that tell of Jesus' resurrection; Mark's original gospel ends with the women finding an empty tomb, with no explanation. This leaves the resurrection ambiguous.] Mark is concerned that his hearers know the substance of who Jesus is - Son of Man, Son of God. Mark is concerned that his hearers be ready, to be awake, for His return. When Jesus returns is not known. Even He doesn't know. Another ambiguity. It is "WHENEVER."
A generation that thrives on ambiguity and relative truth, experiential knowledge, and personal religious experience, is a generation that could respond well to this original Gospel of Jesus Christ as told by Mark. Our challenge is to awaken them to this truth, to teach them to be alert, to help them move from a "Whatever" attitude to a "Whenever" attitude.
A phenomenon I have noticed as we move from the Gen X to Gen Y kids, is the phenomenon of over-scheduling time. My 17 year old daughter is one of the most tightly scheduled people I know-every minute is filled with one activity or another-school, homework, dance club, singing ensemble, drama club, leadership class, Church youth group, community service at the Y, service in the Church, SAT exam prep., and now college applications. Thank God she stopped Rainbow Girls, color guard and soccer! It seems she never sleeps a full night. This is considered "normal". As a release from all these time commitments, she got this clock. All the numbers are jumbled on the bottom, with "WHATEVER" here on the face. I wish, for her sake, that it said, "Whenever."
This Gen Y group, is in danger of keeping so busy they simply cannot "Keep Awake" to notice when Christ appears. Oh, they may stay up all night in to complete the perfect English paper, but will their hearts be awake to the stirrings of the Holy Spirit inviting them to experience Christ's presence? They may encounter a homeless person on the side of the road, and offer a dollar bill, but will they see the presence of Christ in the eyes of this person searching for more than a handout? How will they even know to look beyond the outward shell of a person to seek the soul within, unless they have heard the story of One who healed blind beggars? Blind beggars who went out into the world proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ, Son of God.
Young people ARE intrigued by Jesus. The man who challenged authorities, holding them accountable for their actions. They are intrigued by the portrait of a man who gathered an odd group of trusted friends to form a community of support. They are intrigued as he blessed women, children, lepers, foreigners, anyone who sincerely sought a personal spiritual experience. Young people can see, Jesus was not just going through the motions, he meant what he said.
This Advent, I challenge you to read this small gospel book of Mark. It is the shortest of the 4 gospels. Read it through, prayerfully making yourself familiar with this Jesus, Son of Man, Son of God. Prepare yourself for the coming of the Lord. Don't get hung up on Mark's lack of attention to detail. Simply read with an open mind, an open heart, to experience the presence of God in the life of Jesus of Nazareth-grab a young person, then, go tell this story, "Whenever."
AMEN
| Updated 12/1/02 |
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