A Sermon by Alex Evans

Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, VA

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Texts: Isaiah 40:21-31; Mark 1:29-39

“What Is This Message?”

            I wonder if you saw the major newspaper headlines late in this week: “Facebook files for IPO.” Sometime this spring, Facebook – the social network company that is only 8 years old and that has 845 million users – plans to raise $5 billion from stock sales in this initial public offering.

            I bring this up today because it points to the seismic shifts that have unfolded in our culture in the recent years.  And I bring this up today as this church seeks to more engaged in campus ministry, and with young adults, and as our Presbyterian Collegiate Fellowship leads our worship.

            I have been reading an interesting and helpful book called You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving Church and Rethinking Faith.  This book by David Kinnaman is based on extensive interviews and interactions with young adults in their 20’s. It is a book about how we can follow Jesus – and help young people follow Jesus – in a dramatically changing culture.

            One of the first things Kinnaman notes is that teenagers are some of the most religiously active Americans. We realize this every year when we send our youth group to experience the energy and worship, the fellowship and faith in Montreat. But the next point Kinnaman makes is striking: American twentysomethings are the least religiously active. Ages 18 to 29 are the black hole of church attendance. This age segment is “missing in action” from most congregations.

            Now, you might say that there has been a long trend of people drifting away from the church during college years. Many of us might even say that happened to us. Perhaps this pattern will continue. But this recent research shows something new and worrisome. Young adults are not coming back to the church like they used to. Kinnaman names this “the drop out problem.”

            All through the month of January, we enjoyed sharing life with Jin Hong, Seminary student from Korea. Jin is 28 and came with fresh eyes for us. This was his first experience here. He is devoting his life to ministry so he is interested in all aspects of church. He had so much to say about our church – “impressive” was his word.  “Impressive:” our feeding program on Mondays, our work with inmate families, hosting AA, our efforts on projects of advocacy and justice in the city. Jin wants to take all this back to Korea.

And his one big concern about us: “Where are the young people?”

            We do have some new members joining soon. Six or seven of them are under 30 years old. This is wonderful. We are doing some things well. But we have to take seriously, friends, “the drop-out problem.”

“The drop out problem” has emerged, according to Kinnaman, because the changes in recent years have been so lightning fast! The changes have been so massive that our culture is “discontinuously different” than anything that has come before. The church - the sharing of faith, the maintaining of Christian community, worship and witness, the passing along of faith - has not kept pace with our rapidly changing culture.

Kinnaman summarizes the change with three words – access, alienation, and authority.

The current generation of young adults has almost unimaginable access to information, and this is not new to them like it is to most of us - they have had this unbelievable access all their lives! A nine year old asks his mother a question. The mother does not know the answer. The nine year old says “let me see your IPhone” and asks how to spell it. He is not sure how to spell but he is sure that Google and other sources can give him the answer to his question almost immediately. That quick access is almost unlimited. That access also absolutely influences who that boy is becoming and what he will want out of life. It is not all negative by any means. But that exemplifies the lightning fast cultural shifts that bring tremendous challenges to who we are as a community of faith, and how we pass along our faith to young people in a rapidly changing world of access.

While young people may be more connected through access, Kinnaman also notes that there is increasing alienation. When we are so connected to our technology with access, we may find ourselves increasingly disconnected from our families, institutions, our humanity, our society.

Consider this: today’s kids are EIGHT TIMES more likely to have come into the world without married parents than just 40 years ago. That leads to alienation from family life. Kinnaman also notes that there is an alienation from institutions. In 2010, USA Today reported that college grads were having a harder time finding jobs than ever before. Imagine how it must feel to spend 4 or 5 years going to a reputable institution and earning your degree only to face the hard reality that the diploma is NOT a future ticket to success. This brings disillusionment, alienation about the education system, the workplace, and institutions in general. The church is certainly one of those institutions (see pages 46-49).

And all of this creates skepticism of authority – new questions about who to believe and why. In an earlier generation, John Westerhoff wrote a book entitled “Will Our Children Have Faith?”  And while the book urged attention to passing along faith, the book also described how American culture was, in itself, a purveyor or faith – the community, church, religious programs, even public school and popular entertainment all acted to nurture faith at some level. Kinnaman says those socializing forces have eroded. Our culture is far more religiously diverse. This is not the worst thing but it brings change and great challenge. Young adults are the least likely to name the Bible as sacred Scripture. Christian leaders have less and less influence. In fact, young people are suspicious of the church.

Kinnaman uses much of this book to describe how young people actually perceive the church. Fair or correct or not, this is what he says.

The church is seen by twentysomethings as overprotective – rather than helping one another engage in culture in meaningful and creative ways, we stay apart from culture and apart from reality.

The church is seen too as shallow – repeating easy platitudes rather than wrestling with deeper issues of life. Rather than helping people connect their faith and lives to daily living, the church is seen as boring, irrelevant, and does not help people find purpose.

The church is also seen as anti-science. I do not think this is true about our church, but this remains the perception about the church. Young people know firsthand that we all live in a science culture. But if the church is seen as anti-science, how does that make sense? The Church is seen too as repressive, exclusive, and doubtless. We have been too consumed with debates about sexuality instead of living out our faith in the world. We have been too certain of truths and too unwilling to allow dialogue, interaction, or to admit our own doubts. All these leave young people, many people, with more suspicion and more distance from church life.

            The title of this book, remember, is You Lost Me. The implication of “you lost me” is that something has not translated, that the message has not been received. That is what many young people are saying to the church.            Our church’s commitment to this Presbyterian Collegiate Ministry is crucial. It is an important opportunity to reach out, to give space, to welcome these young people among us. It is an opportunity to demonstrate that while much of the Christian church might be overprotective, shallow, anti-science, repressive, or exclusive, we are not. We are engaged in this city and – Presbyterian Collegiate Fellowship – we care about you and we want to be engaged with you at this time in your life. We need your presence and insights here. We are interested in much more than shallow platitudes; we want to delve into complex issues, connect faith with life. We know well that we live in a scientific and digital age, that the world is complicated and the world moves so fast. We all have questions and doubts, confusions and anxieties. We know you have much to teach us, we have a few things to share with you, and we need each other. We want to give you a place of belonging – a place for relationships that promise to sustain you. Facebook might be fun and helpful – but faithful connections  to God and one another are what sustain us.

We want to learn together what it means to live every day following Jesus. We all need more wisdom, more grace and skillful living with all that comes at us so fast. We need to help each other find purpose. Many of us wonder what our lives are about everyday. None of us really have it all figured out. We are all trying as best as we can to love God and love one another, as Jesus calls us to do. Presbyterian Collegiate Fellowship and twentysomethings remain absolutely a part of our journey of knowing Christ and making Christ known!

  In today’s passage from Mark 1, Jesus has just arrived on the scene proclaiming that the Kingdom of God is at hand. He has called people to follow him. And he has initiated his healing ministry, with the mother-in-law of Simon. That evening, they brought to Jesus all who were sick or possessed with demons. Jesus cured and cast out many demons, it says. Then Jesus slipped away to a desert place, to pray. When they found Jesus, he said, “let us go to the neighboring towns so that I may proclaim the message there also.” And they went throughout Galilee proclaiming the message.

The message of Jesus. We have often gotten it wrong – shallow platitudes instead of life giving hope, repressive instead of joyful news, exclusive instead of gracious, empty of love and not clear in purpose. The message of the kingdom that comes in Jesus – that we are known and held by God, that we have forgiveness for our failings, light for our darkness, hope for our discouragement, purpose for our daily living - has not often not translated very well.

But by God’s grace and constant prodding, we keep at it. We know we are called to embody Christ’s love and light through all we do in this city – through worship and witness on our streets, through passing along the faith, to helping each other grow in the knowledge and love of God – children, youth, collegiate ministry, adults of all ages – to welcoming all among us, to making disciples, to working for healing and hope in every realm, helping people get up from injustice, and helping others re-prioritize life for joy and service. This is our calling. We have a message of God’s love and hope to share. It includes all of us – younger and older, wise and wandering, collegiate and all. We need each other. We need to keep working together – worship and work, growing and doubting, asking questions and serving together. We have to keep looking for news ways for effective ministry with the message of Jesus, especially in a changing world. We are here for you – Presbyterian Collegiate Ministry. We want you here for and with us on the journey. Life is so complex. Discipleship is not easy. We need each other as we sort out what it means to know Christ and make Christ known in this city and across the world. Let’s go together! May God bless us and guide us on that journey. Alleluia. Amen

Prayer of Commitment: You love us, O God. We love you; we seek to love and serve you with increasing commitment following Jesus Christ. Show us that way. Amen

Alex Evans, Pastor, Second Presbyterian Church. Richmond, VA preached this sermon on Sunday, February 5, 2012. This is a rough manuscript.