Dear youth ministry friends,
Two years ago, my family and I were traveling through a U.S. city in our tiny Subaru; we had decided to spend a week exploring that city’s sites for our summer vacation. While at a stoplight, my younger son (then seven years old) looked out the window and said, “Mom, do you see that guy there? His sign says that he’s hungry.”
The light changed, but my son’s questioning did not. “Why didn’t we stop to help him, Mom? I could have given him my bag of chips here. Can we turn around and head back?” Suddenly, my pre-conceived thoughts of charity and justice, restoration and integrity, seemed too lofty and distanced from my son’s impulse. It echoed Jesus’: “You give them something to eat.”
Have you ever experienced something similar? The younger souls in our midst seem to get it more instinctively. They know what is right (ie, everyone being well-fed) and what is not. They have justice written on their hearts.
At the same time, we struggle with how to instill within kids an understanding of the most effective means of fostering justice. Do we give a hungry man a bag of chips? Resources for local organizations that he could utilize? Simply a smile and eye contact, to let him know that he is seen? Youth are developmentally capable of more nuanced understandings. But how to address such complex issues with children?
How we teach children about matters of justice matters deeply.
And, more often than not, the reverse happens. They teach us.
If these experiences tug at your spirit, I invite you to attend YMI’s November’s webinar. On Wed, November 5th (12pm Eastern), the Rev. Jyrekis Collins will speak to us about, “God’s Dream: Children, Justice and Faith.” Rev. Collins holds church-rooted experience in doing what many of us find difficult: teaching young people (and being taught by them) how to engage with justice work. We hope you will come and be fed, so that you can then inspire young people to feed others.
I wish that my story with my son had a happy ending. But we did not turn around that day, nor did we look back. I, however, have looked back plenty of times since, wishing we had modeled a different message for our children. I look forward to being pushed and prodded in similar ways on November 5th, and I hope to see you there.
With you on the journey,
Rev. Dr. Jill