May 28thThe Wisdom of Youth
It’s a silly thought, I traveled so far and saw so much, and yet I can’t stop thinking about those that were right in front of me the whole time.
For those that don’t know, a team from our Youth Program (the collaboration of Foothills and Calgary First) spent a week in Guatemala at the start of May on a Learning Tour. The trip was made possible thanks to connections from MCC (along with leadership support), and we were hosted and well taken care of by SEMILLA (Anabaptist Seminary) through their CASAS program. It was an amazing experience for our group with everything from a vivid 2-day socio-economic contrast tour, to learning about different cultural practices and histories of indigenous Mayan people groups, to so much more and everything in between!
And yet, I can’t stop thinking about our group. Maybe it’s because of the feeling of connection formed from having gone through this emotionally-intense journey together. Or possibly because as the leader my eyes and attention were always on the group itself (making sure nobody was lost, that we were respectful guests, and generally that everyone was doing okay). Whatever the case, that is still what comes first and foremost to mind about this trip: our young people.
Now, I have and will continue to share loudly how proud I am of our young people, I will keep saying it until they are sick of hearing it, because it is true. But there is more to this than just sitting back and applauding the working of the Holy Spirit in them. Taking pride in our young people is a call to action. A reminder from Creator, that our youth are ready to take on more of what Jesus is inviting us into, and the question falls on us, “are WE ready to take that on too?”
There is wisdom in age, I certainly won’t deny that. I know well even our students have much that could be learned in both faith and life. But that isn’t to say our young people (and the demographic in general) are without wisdom, far from it. And more than anything, I hope beyond hope that we the church, would seek out and listen to the wisdom they have. To ask ourselves whether we are creating access points for ourselves and others to hear with open ears what the young people in our midst have to say about where God is moving.
It brings with it a delicate walk, to listen to the next generation (whatever generation that may be) will bring with it challenging questions for how some things have “always been done.” The real and profound challenge is to not deny that God is always calling us to change. And that is a frightening prospect if we are honest, to entrust more of the visioning for our community to those who have had vastly different experiences than us. Those who have grown up in a vastly different cultural moment. But if it is fair to say that there is recklessness in youth, then we must also admit there is rigidity in age. And perhaps one of the greater callings we have as the church living in the year of our Lord 2025, is to navigate that balance; to not move too hastily, nor to move too sluggishly. To navigate that calling to grow with the same fruits of the spirit I got to see on display by our students in Guatemala: curiosity, humility, courage, empathy, compassion, imagination, and of course, love.