We Are the Martians Now

Ray Bradbury once wrote a book entitled The Martian Chronicles. In it he tells the story of an Earth about to be ravaged by a nuclear war. One small family, in an effort to escape the impending holocaust, leave the planet in a small family-sized rocket for a new home on Mars.  The parents, not wanting to worry their young son and daughter, tell the children they are simply going on a family picnic to Mars. If they are lucky, the father tells them, they might even see some Martians!

"But Father, "says the little boy, "There aren't any Martians left. They all died off a long time ago."  

"Not all the Martians," says the father.  "Not the kind we're looking for."

As the day goes on, the family ends up picnicking beside a pond and the children anxiously ask again when they might see the Martians. The father tells them "They're in the pond. Go and see for yourselves."  The children look down into the water but are confused. "There's nothing here. Why, we just see ourselves. We just see our own reflections."

"That's right," says the mother. "You see...we're the Martians now. Whatever we are...that's what Martians will be."

When we work with youth in the Church, part of our challenge is to grow in their understanding of what it means to claim the identity "Christian." We can make up all the definitions in the world, quote scripture and reference church history, but when it comes right down to it, whatever WE are, that's what Christians will be.  When we let others know we are Christians, they will define "Christian" at least in part by watching the things we do and say.  Youth who take on the identity of "Christian" for themselves need to know the responsibility that comes with affirming that publicly.

My "go to" scripture passage when trying to give teens some sense of what it means to me to follow Jesus is Luke 4: 16-21 in which Jesus clearly lays out what he understands his mission to be, grounded in the scripture of his own tradition.  Why not challenge your youth to name their own "go to" scripture for what they understand the mission of Christianity to be and then invite them to see what it would be like to live that verse daily as if they were wearing an "I am Christian" sticker for all to see?

Video: Powerful "To This Day" Anti-Bullying Project

From the poet: "My experiences with violence in schools still echo throughout my life but standing to face the problem has helped me in immeasurable ways. Schools and families are in desperate need of proper tools to confront this problem. This piece is a starting point." - Shane 

Learn more here.

Youth Ministry Pin-of-the-Day: Affirmation Mugs

This idea gets passed around on Pinterest a lot, probably because it is so simple and so cool. 

I think this project would make the perfect gift from your church or youth group to give to your graduating seniors. Just get some plain white mugs from the dollar store. Let everyone write an affirming message to the person on the mug with a sharpie (and, if doing a lot of these, be sure to write the person's name on the side or bottom of the mug).  Then, you bake the mugs in the oven for thirty minutes at 350 degrees and "Pesto!" -- the writing is permanent and you have the perfect gift for your graduates to drink coffee, tea or cocoa from as they start the next step in their journey of life and faith.

Read more about this idea here and check out all my Pinterest pins on youth ministry, creative prayer, and more here. 

YouTube Faith: Week 3

This is part three of our series of resources developed to be used with a mixed group of youth and adults, discussing issues of faith through the lens of various videos discovered on YouTube. We are intentionally drawing from both religious and secular videos.  Part one is here. Part two is here.


Week Three: What is the Meaning of Life?

Share: What is life all about? Is the answer different if you are a Christian? Has anyone figured it out? This week we look at how the world of YouTube has tried to address that question.

1. The Meaning of Life - Dan Is Not On Fire

Ask:

• Do you relate to Dan’s experience of “permanent existential crisis”?
• How important is this question of “meaning”? Dan treats it humorously – does that seem like the right approach?
• Dan says that the answer is “do whatever you have to do to be happy”? What do you think about that? Dan says "There's way too much fun and joy in the world for anyone to waste their time or their life doing something that makes them unhappy."  What would you say to him about this? Does your thinking on this change depending on what a person might say makes him or her "happy?"

Share: Dan seems to be having fun with the question of existence. But for others, this is a much more serious consideration – especially those who have a lot less time to figure it out. As you watch this next video, think about how your answer might change if you were forced to come to your conclusions against a ticking clock:

Would You Be Willing to Be Gay for a Day?

What would it be like for you to experience a day from the perspective of a gay teen?  Would you be willing to find out? If you are a gay pastor or youth leader, you already know what it's like. Everyone else: keep reading.

This year the Day of Silence falls on Friday April 19. This is annual observance when students choose to remain silent in their schools for one day to show solidarity with LGBTQ teens who are silenced every day by being kept in the closet through intolerance and fear.  I participated in this day in seminary years ago and it was a powerful experience that even included a worship service held completely in silence.  

Of course, the Day of Silence is not without its controversy, particularly for those who feel participating in the event might (God forbid!) send the message to gay teens that they are loved, accepted and affirmed. But wherever you place yourself within that debate, I think that blogger Kimberly Knight is really on to something when she suggests that straight persons try becoming "gay for a day": 

What do I mean by this? Well, this is a bit of a challenge for my straight friends. Those of you with boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands or wives – for the next 24 hours, imagine that the one you love, the planet around which your heart is in orbit, is someone you can not openly acknowledge in any conversation – anywhere. When you are at work, do not talk about your boyfriend or husband. When you are at lunch, don’t mention the Friday night date you are looking forward to. When you are grabbing that mid-morning coffee, don’t talk about your weekend plans with the wife....So here it is, a challenge – be gay for a day. Really, really – I invite you to give this a try. For 24 hours beginning on the morning of Friday, April 19 live your every moment as if the people you love are just friends, roommates, strangers.... (Read the full post here.)

Participating in what Kimberly is suggesting has nothing to do with whether or not you have problems with a person's sexual orientation. But it has everything to do with whether or not you believe that all people deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. Being willing to spend a day in the other person's shoes is a step away from treating LGBTQ teens as an "issue" and toward treating them as individual children of God.  Of course, "being gay for a day" isn't going to let you really see what like is like living in the closet anymore than sleeping on your church parking lot for one night is going to teach your teens what it is like to be homeless.  In fact, the power of both of those experiences is in helping the participant to become aware of how little they know of what life is like for the "other" and that so often we are willing to pontificate and share our absolutist opinions and beliefs about something we have no knowledge of first-hand (and in some cases never will).

Update: You may be interested in this piece about a young blogger who dared to suggest that the Church's inflexibility on the welcoming of LGBTQ persons is causing young people to leave the Church in droves.  In response, the church camp where she would had been employed this summer promptly fired her.