Sleeping with Bread

So, the problem is that I can really be a bit of a humanitarian at times even when things are going on that I don't agree with or that I don't necessarily believe are "Wrong".  Let me preface this with saying that I know that there are some individuals who read here who know that on occasion I write about them.   I briefly, a few months ago, allowed that to make me feel censored, before I reminded myself that this is *my* journal.  I am an individual who can be very quick to praise but also quick to speculate on why things are not working the way they should be working.  I am not trying to be judgmental, but only writing about how I see things.  The way I see things may not always be right, but what is life but our own personal observations and thoughts on how things are?

So, you all remember last Monday that I blogged about a certain flier situation.  Well, apparently, no one showed up to help the pastor distribute these things.  I had a fleeting moment of empathy for him, but then on the other hand, there were so many better ways he could have planned that whole event. 

The other thing he had planned for this weekend was to have the youth do some painting around the church which in itself is not a bad idea, however, presentation and timing is everything.   The pastor had met with the youth several weeks ago to discuss this possibility, but a date was never set.  He elected to set the date himself and informed the youth of the date by announcing it in front of the congregation and the youth during Sunday service, ONE WEEK AGO.  Oh, and of course, that makes it Palm Sunday to do the painting and he also urged any adults who wanted to help to attend as well.  This brings up a few things that should have been considered.  One of those things would be that doing it on a Sunday means that people have to have the presence of mind to either pack a change of clothing before leaving for church or having to travel back to the church depending on what service is attended.  The other problem is that Sunday is often a family day for many people and no one wants to bring grandma to paint in order to spend quality time together.  A Saturday would have been a much better suggestion (How about "Hey, we'll meet at the church and then those that would like to distribute fliers to the neighborhood can and the rest of you can start painting." Thus eliminating the tying up of both weekend days) and an ever better suggestion would have been ASKING our teenagers what date suited them.

I am pretty protective of the small group of teens we have in our church.  Granted, two of them are my dear friend's boys who I have known forever, as well as one of the younger girls that I have known a long time.  Paula's boys bring two friends to church as well and the Brit and I had the privilege of sharing breakfast with those two boys and one other teen a week ago.  I didn't know the two boys very well, but found them both to be very candid and open during the meal we shared together.  As it turns out,  the kids were already feeling a little begrudged before they were told when they would be painting.

Apparently several weeks ago, the pastor visited their Sunday school class.  Now, let me say that the couple who run the teen class are wonderful.  They have created a safe, comfortable environment for the kids and with all the pressures on teens in this day and age, that is nothing short of a wonderful thing.  The teens have knit close bonds with each other and with their teachers and again, that is all good. 

Well, the day the pastor visited, one of the teachers shared a little bit of information about herself in response to something the kids were discussing.  It was a serious and rather sad bit of information that happened a long time ago and one of the teens gave a teasing remark to the teacher's daughter as sort of a small element of the shared story.  The teen meant nothing malicious by the remark...let's be honest, the kid was being a kid.  But the pastor elected to jump all over the youth in question, though the teacher stated that she knew the teen didn't mean anything hurtful by it.  Then as the conversation continued, the teens continued to act like teens and were questioning things about death...such as what happens to children whose parents don't baptize them and then the child dies.   The pastor again got a little upset and asked the kids "Why are we always looking for loopholes?"

Now, I'm not sure how the kids answered that, but my answer to that would be, because they are teenagers.  They are definitely at the age when they are going to question things.  They are going to school with other kids who have different faiths or no faith at all and they are pressured by those things.  They find themselves questioning the things they believe in and I know this because I was once a teenager who questioned everything!  It isn't until we reach adulthood in so many cases and are hit square in the face with God's love that we come to know it to be a sure thing.  As adults and as pastors, we have that responsibility to respond to those questions.  Kids aren't looking for "loop holes"; they want to hear concrete answers to their questions and if the Bible doesn't supply those specific answers, then we need to talk about grace and faith, not fuss the kids for asking questions.

In the defense of the teens, 95% of them already had plans for yesterday.  One started work, one had just finished a grueling two weeks and just needed a break to rest, one had a birthday to go to, another had an obligation with parents and two of them I don't know.  They should have been asked and that's the bottom line.

So needless to say, only the pastor's family of four and my oldest son showed up to paint.  We can't just command people to do things and expect them to jump, especially a church who has done so much jumping to keep their head above water over the last year.  It's not that people don't want to help...but they need to know that the one leading them takes their lives into consideration.

I want to see him succeed.  I just have to think that if he would just start playing as part of a team, instead of trying to do it all his way, he'd have a fair chance at that success.