ASSUMPTION ONE
The teens we see on a daily basis know nothing about God, the Bible, Jesus(who by the way comes on Fridays and plays soccer ) or the Church. Nothing. Our staring point with them is zero. I assume they don't know anything.
ASSUMPTION TWO
Our first assumption is wrong. The Holy Spirit is working among them, drawing them to God. They have experiences, they know stuff, some of them have been touched, moved...I assume I could learn something from them, we can connect, we can talk...about God.
So we live in that tention.
Between those two assumptions we are translators, interpreters.
We find new symbols
Sitting on the couch we are no longer goths, skateboarders, geeks, emo's, or potheads. We are humans. We are learning to live together. On these couches you will be listened to. Your story will be remembered. You will be heard. Your pain is welcome. We share your burdens...
Handshake.
No it's not a secret one. Everyone knows it. It is special to our teen center, it is the teen center handshake. It is shared by guys, girls, cross sub cultural barriers, teens that would not talk to each other at school come together at the teen center and share this hand shake
We find ways of communicating...
Music.
We meet around the music. We may not agree with the message, we may question the content, but if you are saying something, if you are expressing yourself, we want listen, we want to understand.
These are some of the things we do as we wait, as we discern, as we look for what God is up to...
Some Stories
One young punk/goth looking girl 14 years old got very upset at a friend for using very foul language. As I asked her why she got so upset she said something to the fact that we were at church. I told her that this used to be a church building but it is now a teen center (we have our teen center in an old church building) but she insisted, she thought she was at church.
With AC-DC blaring through the speakers, among talk of pot smoking and sexual encounters, among stories of sexual abuse, shared pain and frustration, she thought she was at church. I stood corrected. My bad, she was right.
Somehow God is among us, bringing us hope...
Self proclaimed racist, listens to hard core very angry screamo, tough guy, having spent a few weeks with us he got into a car wreck. We have spent many hours listening to his music, trying to engage him about his anger, listened, listened, given him lots of space, a friend of him told us about the accident and I walked up to him at the end of the day and told him how thankful i was that he was ok and that I had been worried about him. He teared up and gave me a big hug, not a typical guy hug, pat on the back kind but a real embrace. We hug for a bit then he realized what he had done and let go. It was very quiet at the teen center at that moment. Now he doesn't leave without a hug.
Somehow God is among us, giving us peace
These stories and others like them, become the context in which we translate and interpret as we live among these teens...
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