Aj Schwanz

but that’s what came out.
Praise to my Christ - the Spirit moved among us!

The workshop yesterday was such an engaging, rejuvenating, enlightening, challenging time! I didnít really get to follow the structure I planned (good thing the words of my friend have been infused into my thinking: ìHold things looselyî). And just as another friends said the day before, ìThe greatest thing we could possibly plan completely pales in comparison to what God has in store.î

For the first hour I shared a bit about how this compassion and concern of mine for ìThe Missing Generationî has grown, and then I had everyone in the room share their names and why they were there: what was their compassion for young adults? It took an hour. Which might seem like a long time, but folks were sharing SUCH good stuff! They hit on so many points that I resonate with - a time of much heading nodding and inward YES!s. I couldíve talked about those points, but how much more effective is it when people share it themselves? When they resonate with each othersí stories rather than hearing one personís journey? So much more depth and variety. Good, good times.

The second hour I shared my journey as a person growing up in NWYM - going through the youth programs, burning out from ìdoingî church, going through a wilderness-type period, finding a true authentic worship gathering in my intergenerational small group. A good friend who I havenít seen in a while shared as well: he mirrored my journey, but is worshiping with a house group. I was so happy to have him share his story: I can tell people about other ways that ìchurchî can look, but a) Iím attending a traditional church (so my words are more theory than practice) and 2) he has an authentic experience with that: hurrah!

Then I opened it up for discussion. Things got heated sometimes - mostly it seemed due to a lack of understanding each other - saying the same thing, but using different words. Yesterday a friend pointed out that in Acts it took the Holy Spirit to make sense of the ìgibberishî to everyone - we need the same. Things got emotional, a show of how people are truly invested and have a real compassion for young adults. Things were quirky and great - an older gentleman shared how he became a Christian at 70 and felt like he was going through his “young adult” phase - it’s not an age group, but a frame of mind!

The discussion, of course, had to end when we ran out of time. I didnít feel that a lot of questions were answered, but I told them thatís a good thing: I want them to feel uncomfortable, just as I feel, so that we continue to wrestle and talk and digest and pray and act about this concern. I encouraged them to keep the conversation going. And I told them that this change isn’t going to come through an institution or a program: we’re just going to have to “buck up and start doing it ourselves.” Ok, so I’m a bit more eloquent writing than speaking.
My friend who shared his journey had an interesting idea for next year: offer one hour dedicated to this concern each day during Yearly Meeting. The conversation could continue, people could digest material and come back with other thoughts, we can spend time with Christ as He reveals His direction and call. Good, good stuff!

Iím sure Iíll be writing more, but my head is such a swirl that Iím going to need some time to do prayers of examen and play some videogames (I have a theory that when the conscious is too overwhelmed, it should be distracted with meaningless activity - movies, games, a walk, etc. - so that the subconscious can continue to work and not be nagged by the attention-deficit conscious. Freud and Jung might not agree, but hey: it works for me).

God is good!