I’m mulling over a problem, at least I think it’s a problem, but I’m not coming up with any solution. Even the solution to everything, Jesus, isn’t clearing my muddle.
It’s young people, especially Generation Z, those born between the mid-1990’s and 2012. An editorial by Suzy Welch, professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business, triggered my worry. 85 percent of recent college graduates want stability more than anything else. In that vein, Ms. Welch related a conversation with a student. “She confessed there were days she wished she could crawl under her covers to escape the static and ambiguity of it all, not to mention—as she also did—the threats of global warming and nuclear war.” Conversations with business executives reveal that many young people are, to be blunt, self-obsessed and don’t have a work ethic (Wall Street Journal, March 23; A17). I sense this in some of our seminarians and young pastors as well.
Thank you, choir and musicians of Metro East Lutheran High School, for enhancing midweek Lenten worship at our church yesterday. The layout of our sanctuary is a bit unusual; the choir loft is right next to the pulpit. I preached and very intentionally looked at the choir. “Is our Christian faith true?” “Where was God when I needed Him?” I looked at the young people as I asked those questions, and their faces showed they were listening. To what extent do Gen Zs in church and church schools reflect their age group in the general population? I don’t know, but I do worry.
We older Christians have experienced much in life, and we have tried to understand it all through the lens of faith. More than anything else I know, Christian faith can make sense of life. How do we share our stories without shoving our stories on young people? How often do young people come and ask, “Can we talk?” My experience is that even seminarians and younger pastors do that only so-so. I’m stumped. The solution to everything, Jesus, is reigning over all as the Lord of the Church. Despite my muddle, use me, Lord Jesus, use all of us older Christians, to share with young people the confidence and hope we have in You.