deep enough for mystery?

It was facinating today to read some the papers that my students were turning in. Maja said it so well, "We’re looking for a faith that is colorful enough for our culturally savvy friends, deep enough for mystery, big enough for our own doubts." There is the postmodern christian perspective in a nutshell. Are our churches up to this definition?

I am more and more convinced that the christian life among the young is something quite other than my generation. It has more integrity and authenticity. This is why I enjoy engaging these post-moderns in the classroom. We had a full-blown debate/argument in class today that was wonderful. I am learning more than I am teaching. The students are speechless when I stop class discussion in order to write down something someone said. It makes them a little giddy that I am learning from them . . . but I am convinced that this is the gas on the fire in class.

But back to the questions Maja's comments demand; are we living and communicating a faith that is big enough to handle the questions and doubts of the post-moderns, or dare I say it, our own? I really have my doubts about this one, no pun intended. Church can seem so programed and shallow . . . just look at our inability to response in a significant manner when bad things happen to Christians. I know several young ladies who have been attacked and handled in very abusive ways by theives and men just intent on evil this past year . . . and the almost complete paralysis of the church in ministering to them in meanful ways is heartbreaking . . . significant doubts have arisen in both of these young ladies about the validity of faith . . . if faith and the christian community cannot address real problems in a real world, where is the meaning?

And is our understanding and expression of the Gospel of Christ presented in such a way that it is "deep enough for mystery"? I bite my toungue in class often to stop myself from giving out the same old answers to what I percieve are the same old questions. It requires real effort to frame the message in a culturally significant manner, regardless if you are in New York, New Deli or Croatia.

Finally I grow weary of the bashing of the cultural expressions of the young, by the old . . . er. Oh yes, their expression of the Gospel is much louder and bolder and brighter than perhaps our generation, and yes they have their challenges, but I find that they challenge me too . . . and I find that yearn for many of the same things in my God as they wish for in theirs. Lead children lead!