Who Has Christmas Spirit?

So I went to see my doctor last week (a favorite pasttime for me). After the standard 20 minute wait while sitting on the paper covered exam table, Dr. Rudis makes his way into my room with a scowl on his face. Something is obviously wrong, and I'm hoping that it has nothing to do with my present state of health. I cautiously greet him and he starts by saying, "What has happened to the Christmas spirit?" "I went to the mall yesterday and none of the stores had any kind of holiday decorations out; the Christmas season is my favorite time of year and they are ruining it...what do you think about that?" Somewhat shocked and surprised by the unexpected greeting, yet at the same time relieved that his pressing concern was not my runny nose and clogged sinuses, my response was, "as a Christian and also a youth minister, I think its kinda sad to see the spirit of the season being overlooked...except for the rush to meet the demand of consumers during the season." That answer seemed to satisfy him for the moment, as he went on and started looking into my ears, eyes and nose, but as he looked into my mouth, he asked me the question I should have seen coming from the start, "well, what are YOUR people doing about it?" After he finished poking a wooden stick down my throat, I gave him a response, but not a response that would satisfy his question, it was a response that may have left him more irritated than when he first came in, but I believe it to be the truth. My response was, "Although we [Christians] find it sad that corporations and the government are moving away from the Christmas season, we don't put up much of a fight on that level of society because our base of operations is on the personal level. We try to change lives one at a time through relationships rather than going to the top and making the corporations and government force Christmas or Christ on anyone." When I look at how Jesus made the impact he did while he was on the earth, I don't see it as being through the speeches and lessons he gave to the crowds, I see it as through the gentle touches, the kind words, the personal healings, and the discipling of just twelve of his close friends. That is how Christianity spread throughout the world, and that is how it will continue to spread...one touched life at a time.

A Reasonable Doubt

I have just discovered for myself the reason that so many teens turn away from God. If you grow up going to church, you never really question why you do it. It is something you just do, because you always have, it is something that you do because your parents do, or maybe even because your parents make you. There comes a time in life when you start to question why you do things, and one of those things is bound to be church, why church? Most why questions can be answered pretty simply with a rational, reasonable answer…but the question of church cannot be answered very simply. You start to decide that you go to church to worship God, but then comes the time when you have to explain to yourself why you worship God and who and where God is. Not easy questions to answer. And soon it turns into an internal fight trying to decide if you can believe in something you can’t see or hear and the answer, (unless you have fervently kept up the spiritual disciplines of praying, studying scripture, and experienced things in life that build up your faith so it isn’t just a faith passed on through parents) is no. How can a teen rationally and reasonably believe in God when his faith is one learned in Sunday morning bible class? Faith cannot be achieved through gold attendance stars or even gold memory verse stars…faith must be built up by a personal quest to find out who and what God is. No wonder so many people look at the job of youth ministry and run from it…how do you teach that? I look at this problem and I can’t decide whose fault it is, the teens for not taking ownership of their own faith or all those who decided to teach the teens since infancy without mentioning this personal quest to find God. If you went to school to become a chef and then you apply for a job as an auto mechanic, the hiring agent will laugh at you because you haven’t been trained in the area of auto mechanics. If you were trained in church to memorize the Bible, and then you realize that you want to have a relationship with God, you may not have any idea how to do it because you weren’t trained that way. I understand the doubt that can ensue following this predicament, but unless teens realize the responsibility behind the Christian faith in having a real relationship with God, all they will know are Bible stories and that is not enough to keep them faithful. I see the cause, I just wish the solution were easy to come by…