Church of the Redeemer

Youth Sunday

May 12, 2002

In the past few years, my conception of the world has changed. So much of what I had previously accepted as reality turns out to be wrong. My parents are real human beings, the better team doesn’t always win, and I will most likely not turn out to be an undercover FBI agent. Had you asked me four years ago, those statements would have been true. I would have also told you that there is a God, he is the Christian God, his son Jesus died for my sins, and I accepted Jesus into my heart. I had religion figured out.

But, over the past few years, I’ve been wrestling with my faith. Between school, college applications, and wrestling practice, it’s been difficult to find where God fits into my life.

In addition to less time, I am constantly finding new questions. How could heaven be perfect when I die, if my atheistic brother is in hell? How does Christianity relate to other religions? How should I live my life if I am a Christian?

            Right now, I don’t know if there is a God. And if there is, what kind of a God is he? And how does he relate to my life? I’m still searching for the answer.

            Every person who examines his faith struggles with some of the issues I’m addressing. But I think the struggle for youths is different. We are trying to define the role that God plays in our lives at the same time that we are trying to define who we are. During so much inner and outer change, it is hard to also seek God.

When I’m worrying about what college I’ll go to, passing a Calculus exam, and preparing for my next Lacrosse game, God often falls by the wayside. I’m not saying that adults don’t have a huge amount on the line too. It’s just as difficult to focus on faith when you’re trying to finish your taxes in time for your kid’s soccer game. But adults, in general, are more grounded. You know where you will be living next year, what your job will be, and what values you hold. Teenagers, especially those leaving for college, are still defining these things.

Trying to figure out how religion affects these decisions is not easy. You often see kids wearing W.W.J.D. (What Would Jesus Do) bracelets, and, while they have become a fad, there is some reasoning behind them. We often need a reminder to factor God into our decisions. It’s easy to lose sight of Him in everyday life.

            This church has been an important aspect in helping me search for my faith. I think it has been especially difficult to create a strong teenage community at our church too. Many kids go to boarding school. And for those of us who are here, it is hard to find a time that everyone can meet. With the pressures that I mentioned earlier, it is often difficult to add “youth group” to the list. Still, I think it’s really important for teenagers to get together and talk about what they’re going through. Even in planning this sermon for youth Sunday I have learned a lot about my faith.

            From Sunday school, to first communion, to acolyte, this church has played a crucial role in my development as a Christian. Today is my chance to thank you for being so supportive of younger people who are searching. The youth groups, service trips, and group discussions are crucial for the religious life of the younger people at this church. I hope that in this increasingly busy and fast-paced age, the groups at this church will continue to play an important and supportive role in kid’s lives.

            My search has not been easy, and it’s far from over. I know that many teenagers share my situation, though. In this period of change, from kid to young adult, the role that the church community plays in our lives is crucial. I want to thank you for being so supportive and exceptive of me and other youths like me.

Andrew McNay

          Three weeks ago, when this year’s confirmation took place, I had the opportunity to reflect on my own faith.  Some combination of factors –that it was confirmation Sunday, that it was the first service I had attended in a while since I work as a youth assistant downstairs most Sundays, and that Bishop Stephen Charleston gave a particularly inspiring and uplifting sermon – made me really think about our religion and feel more excited about it than I had in a long time.  I’ll give you the Cliff’s Notes version of Bishop Charleston’s sermon so that you can perhaps begin to understand how it inspired me.  Bishop Charleston shared his personal story with us, explaining what it is about the Episcopal church that is meaningful to him.  Unlike many of us, he was not born into an Episcopalian family; he is half-Irish and half Native American, and thus has a religiously diverse background.  Perhaps not being born into any one religion was a blessing for him, because it allowed him to figure out what he wanted from religion and which religion was right for him.  He came to the Episcopal church because something about it drew him in.  That something was our church’s acceptance of - and love for - all people.  He pointed out in his sermon that many religions today are becoming increasingly fundamentalist and closed off to outsiders; the events of September eleventh are just one example of this phenomenon.  He believes that the Episcopal church is the church of the future, and his passion for this message and for the church in general was evident throughout his sermon.  His passion for, and emphasis on, the open, accepting nature of our church made me really excited and proud to be an Episcopalian.  And, as I watched each confirmand receive a blessing from Bishop Charleston, I began thinking about my own relationship with the church - what the church has added to my life and what I, in turn, have contributed to our community here at the Redeemer since I was confirmed four years ago.

            At the end of my year-long confirmation class in eighth grade, I was asked to write an essay discussing the church’s role in my life.  Although I obviously can’t remember exactly what I wrote in my essay, I know that I wrote about how the church had instilled in me a strong sense of community.  Like Bishop Charleston, I have always felt accepted, welcomed, and loved in this church.  Ours is a community with no outsiders – we all belong here because we are united by our faith in God’s love for us.  This belief in God’s love for us is the foundation of my faith, and it is the one Sunday school lesson that I will never forget, because it was taught to me in every Sunday school class I attended as a child.  In fact, I still remember my very first Sunday school class, in which I hadn’t yet entirely grasped the nature of God’s love.  A boy sitting next to me grabbed a marker from my hand, so, in retaliation, I put on my most threatening voice and said to him, “If you’re a bad boy, God won’t love you anymore.”  My teacher then responded by gently explaining to the class that God is very forgiving and will always love us.  The fact that I still remember this lesson almost fifteen years after it took place shows just how much of an impact it had on me.  This lesson is what makes our church so open and welcoming, and it is the common bond between each of its members.  So perhaps it’s quite fitting that, when writing my confirmation essay, I decided I would give back to the church by working in the Sunday School as a youth assistant.

            I hope that, in the past four years I’ve spent in various Sunday School classrooms, I’ve been able to give the children I’ve worked with the two most important things the church has given me: a place where they always feel welcome and accepted, and a strong belief that God will always love them.  The first of these two isn’t nearly as difficult as the second.  I hope that by being there each week for them and treating them with kindness and respect, I’ve made them feel like they really belong here.  Teaching them that God loves them is a lot harder, especially when they’re really young and are generally more interested in who gets which color marker than in discussing serious subjects.  But each week, I try to give them a different example from the Bible of something God did for us, and I can tell that they have learned something about God when, in children’s chapel, they raise their hands to make prayer requests for sick relatives or troubled nations.  They clearly understand that they can turn to God for help and that He will always listen to them.  I hope that I have in some way contributed to their understanding, and that when they, in turn, are confirmed as members of the church, they will appreciate how accepting and loving our church is, just as Bishop Charleston does, and just as he reminded me that I do.

Emily Haydock             

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