"I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon[a] of the church at Cenchreae, 2 so that you may welcome her in the Lord, as is fitting for the saints, and help her in whatever she may require from you, for she has been a benefactor of many and of myself as well.
3 Greet Prisca and Aquila, my coworkers in Christ Jesus, 4 who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks but also all the churches of the gentiles. 5 Greet also the church in their house. Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who was the first convert[b] in Asia for Christ. 6 Greet Mary, who has worked very hard for you. 7 Greet Andronicus and Junia,[c] my fellow Israelites who were in prison with me; they are prominent among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was. 8 Greet Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord. 9 Greet Urbanus, our coworker in Christ, and my beloved Stachys. 10 Greet Apelles, who is approved in Christ. Greet those who belong to the family of Aristobulus. 11 Greet my fellow Israelite Herodion. Greet those in the Lord who belong to the family of Narcissus. 12 Greet those workers in the Lord, Tryphaena and Tryphosa. Greet the beloved Persis, who has worked hard in the Lord. 13 Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and greet his mother—a mother to me also. 14 Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers and sisters who are with them. 15 Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints who are with them. 16 Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you."
There has been a monumental change in some divinity schools and seminaries in the past few decades. Today, aspiring pastors must take and pass a course that bears the name “Early Christian History.” Clergy from past decades would have known this course by a different name, “Patristics,” deriving its name from the Latin word “pater” or father. For most of the church’s history, those expected to teach and preach, would only be expected to know “the church fathers.” In a rare instance, the church might be a step ahead of America, it just took a few thousand years to recognize the early church might have been bigger than these “Church Fathers.” It is easy to assume we know the voices that should be speaking or are speaking, but if we aren’t taking time to listen or read between the lines, we just get the voices that are the loudest.
During Wednesday’s Bible study, as soon as we finished the first reading of the text, a hand went up and someone asked the question that was on everyone’s minds, “why are we reading this list of names?” Maybe you are asking that right now. It is a valid question. This is hardly the meat of Romans, the text that gave Martin Luther the backbone of the Reformation. Name after name is more reminiscent of the Old Testament genealogies one slogs through. It was a good question, and you would be excused for wondering the same thing. After all, who needs to know Rufus or Andronicus, Tryphaena or Tryphosa, Aquila or Julia, Junia or Asyncritus? This is not a test. I’m not going to ask you name these names as you walk past me after the service. But that’s because I have my own list of names, and yes, I do expect you to know them.
Do you know Aiden, Amelia M, Amelia V, Aristella, Aryanna or Ava? Have you seen Buck, Caroline, or Charlie, CJ, Delaney, or Eleanor? Have you heard from Ella or Esther, Hope or Isla, Islalucia, Jamison or Jay? Do you know Jay from Jonathan, Kal-ya from Kiran, Kate from Liana, or Lilly from Lydia? We have a Magnolia and Malley, a Marian and Noah, as well as Nora, Oscar, Parker, and Raleigh. There is still room for Rowan and Sabine, Sam and Sarah, as well as Savannah, Tessa, and Zoey. Paul named 26 names. I hope you will offer me grace and stretch to know these. Forty-one teens who are the foundation of our church. Not later, but now.
Do not take it for granted that we are one of the only progressive, mainline churches still around that has more than one or two teens. If you go to most mainline churches, in America and Europe, you will only hear one question, repeated again and again, as if it is the funeral dirge chanted at a procession to the grave, “what do we have to do to have kids or teens here? Where are they? Where have they gone?” These churches know something easily taken for granted. Your church is only as strong as the children, teens, and families that compose it. Without its beginning, its hope, a church is at its end. Do you realize how fortunate we are, how joyous this day is? We do not have one or two, or even three or ten teens and families. We have forty-one, and that is just counting our Matins. Our Sunday School rooms are full, our Confirmation classes are bursting with pre-teens. The future of Plymouth could not be any brighter…we must not take this blessing for granted.
All those churches that are despairing now, used to have kids and teens. They made the mistake of assuming their future would always be there, that kids and teens would naturally become the next members. But that did not happen. Our greatest error in handling kids and teens is looking at them like the adults they may be, rather than people of God speaking now. We wait and they become adults, but those adults do not come back. We live in a world that only sees kids and teens as commodities, final products to be developed and modified from K-12, and then sold to the market. I wonder how they feel about this. So, I asked them.
A few weeks ago, I showed up to the beginning of the Wednesday Matins practice. I passed around a big sheet of paper and promised our teens I would preach on whatever they wrote down and gave the most votes to. Twenty of them wanted to hear about “youth and mental illness.” So that is what I am here to give a good word on.
I am worried for our teens. Our graduating seniors and nine grades below them will be forever defined by doing school while in a pandemic, as if puberty wasn’t hard enough. The generation before me was shocked by Columbine, but they did not go to school asking when, not if, they might face an active shooter. What they know, what they have experienced is not normal, but it is the reality they have known. Our teens have known more extraordinary than ordinary times, yet are given no respite, no pause. There is no room for them to be ordinary, whatever that is.
We have perfected the art of moving from checkpoint to checkpoint, of going straight from birth to school and formation, starting as early as preschool to get sights on college, and from there every moment judges whether these children of God will pass the tests before them. Value is not assumed, it has to be proven, and multi-billion-dollar industries composed of private coaches, ACT/SAT tutors, travel planners for college essays, countless non-profits, and enough extracurriculars to dot out the sun exist to make every beautiful child something more than ordinary.
How can ordinary be enough when other teens are making millions or moving the world as influencers, entrepreneurs, brands, and global personalities that move and shake markets? How can we tell them to just be themselves or just have fun when any hobby they might choose bears the question, “can this be monetized, made into an entry essay, or used to boost a profile?”
It was hard enough for past generations to survive being just among their local peers. But that’s changed. From America, to Europe, to South Korea, to China, adults must ask themselves why we are okay with an unbearable amount of pressure. Some would say pressure makes diamonds. But key to that assumption, the tragedy behind all of this is, the whisper in the back of our heads, “what about those who are crushed?” No career, no school, no accolade, is worth what we are sacrificing. There must be a different path, some trail where “no matter who you are, or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.” I believe that is here.
I propose we center everything Plymouth does on caring for our teens, kids, and their families. Before you object, I am not overlooking adults. Answer me this, if our market only gives value and visibility to those who can be useful and profitable, then the young and the old will be overlooked. We must care for our teens now because the world is already judging what it can do with them later, and I don’t trust any market will care about them as much as we do.
I believe everything we need to change the world is in this room, because God is with us, and we have more than twenty-six people to work this out. We can do this by assuming we are people of God now, rather than later. And we need to do this because we are already collectively bearing the costs of generation after generation being used and then discarded. Adults, we have not been valued. We have been used and abused by a system that cares nothing for us, starts with no base value. We cannot hand our scars and burdens to the next generation because they cannot bear it, we could not bear it. It is time for grace. It is time to be a sanctuary.
Are you worried about climate change? Talk to our teens. They’re probably three steps ahead on action and would love some support. Are you worried about democracy, gun violence, and systemic inequality? Good, talk to our teens. The doctors who care for us in our last days, those who will teach our descendants, those who might have their fingers on nuclear launch codes are here in this room right now, and by God, I want to have a part in supporting their lives, to be people of God, not just their trip to college or work.
In the face of a big, scary world, it is enough to be the church. Do not take for granted that this is the only place one consistently hears they have a value independent of their net worth and accolades, unaffected by failure. The outside world doesn’t value life or love, all that cannot be measured or secured is considered weakness. But we know better. We can make it better.
I believe God is calling all of us. God is calling you, asking you to be part of this. Don’t count yourself out. There is an astonishing number of doctors, lawyers, professors, trades people, politicians, and many other professions represented here. Can any of you reach out to our teens or parents to help with internships, with mentorship, or even with jobs? The outside world can craft competent professionals but what we are missing are people of integrity, people who care for others and are willing to be gentle or work with an ethic greater than a bottom line.
What would it mean to have $1000 or more go to every high schooler after they graduate, to help with school, books, and costs? The outside world puts a cost on such things. At $10 an hour, that is investing in 100 hours of each teen’s time. I wonder what 100 hours of time with our teens would do to change us and them. What about non-paid hours, for time we could give to help with writing, with free tutoring, with coaching, with mentoring, asking ourselves again and again how can we keep our future here? We must ask this, because if we don’t our teens and our families will answer these questions for themselves. And we will be left asking where the young person is who we saw, said nothing to, and then were surprised when they aren’t seen again.
This isn’t to overlook the good we are doing and have done. Our Matins director, Ted Brimeyer continues a proud tradition of excellent music and fellowship for our teens. Pastor Melody and Samantha Whalen have added creative arts camps, reformatted confirmation, grown Sunday School roles, and brought out talents among those called to work our young ones. Chris, Sohee, and Beth Anne as well as our ensemble directors deliver the gift of bells rung by young hands and voices from preschool to high school raised in praise. Dedicated volunteers have reintroduced steppingstones, become OWLS facilitators, been confirmation guides, and matins chaperones. Parents have stepped up again and again to bear the brunt of teen programming this past year, and make this possible with every mile they drive, every moment they give. But we cannot thrive on paid staff and parents alone. Everyone is connected to the health of our kids and teens, whether you are aunts and uncles, mentors, grandparents, or even just taxpayers, your health and wellness depends on our kids and teens being okay, being cared for, loved, and nurtured into disciples for life, not just next steps.
The outside world is always demanding more and more time from our families. If we just want kids and teens here so we can see them, we are just another voice in a cacophony of noise. To be more than noise, we need to show why we are different. You know this better than I do. After all, many of you have shown up, week after week, longer than I have been here. Tell your story, invite our teens to your boards and committees, let them know what you didn’t know at fifteen or eighteen. You don’t have to know every name at once, admittedly I am still working on it. Showing up is the first step. If you want to get involved, but do not know how, no worries, any of the pastors would love to help you discern your call. Our emails and phone numbers are in the bulletin. Give us a call, pick our brains, and dream with us.
We cannot delegate this to a board or a committee. We need every member involved because this will be what makes or breaks us. I am inviting each of you to answer this call. I pray you will have faith and let the Holy Spirit help you respond.
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