"I am only a boy"
A Child, A Dead Guy, And Hindrances Turned Blessings
Dear Friends,
When people ask me about my winding path to my career, I typically go back to tales of teaching Vacation Bible School, a passel of stories I’ve told here before. But one of the things I often think about, and something I don’t have quite the same documentation of, is my confirmation.
See, Lutherans take confirmation very seriously, in my experience. One of the most startling things about my life in the Episcopal Church has been realizing how little structure and time is typically ascribed to this sacrament. Of course, unlike baptism and communion, it is often considered a “lesser” sacrament, one that is not essential in the same way. But every Lutheran I’ve met, both ELCA and Missouri Synod, shares stories of two year confirmation programs on top of Sunday School, service hours, sermon notes, and more. If you were going to be confirmed, you were going to hand over your life to the process. And, at the end of it all, one of the things we were asked to do was select a verse of scripture to be read at our confirmation service. I chose 1 Timothy 4:12 –
This is to say, I knew then what young people were capable of. Even now, over half a lifetime later, feeling much less young (though typically still treated like I’m quite young), I still know this. But I know it as much about myself at least as much as I know it about the young people I have the privilege of working with.
When I read this week’s lectionary a few weeks ago, in preparation for preaching this coming Sunday, this verse immediately came to mind. If you’re working from Track 1 of the RCL, this week’s Old Testament reading is from Jeremiah. Called by God to be a prophet, Jeremiah objects, saying “Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.” And God just doesn’t care. “Do not say, ‘I am only a boy,’” God replies. Do not be afraid of speaking out to the people. You were made for this.
You were made for this.
Isn’t that what we all need to hear sometimes?
In Godly Play, the revised language on Prophets in the Advent lesson notes that there might be young prophets sitting among us. That anyone might be a prophet if they can listen closely to God and discern what is right. Jeremiah is told directly that this is what he is called to do, but the rest of us have to listen a little more closely.
As children go back to school – we’ve got most of the next month still here in Boston, but some of my former students in Atlanta are already back in their classrooms – the ability to listen to that voice of conscience, a voice so entangled with God, is so important. We know about bullying and peer pressure and all the other shadows that lurk in locker lined hallways. We know that it’s hard to be a child or young person figuring out who they are. We know these things. So how do we help the young people we care about be that best self despite, well, the world?
I, for one, have always found strength in the imperfection of the prophets. Peder Eide sums their disastrous lives up delightfully in his song, “As Is”
This song is a little more appropriate for youth than younger kids (and please enjoy the singalong by the person who recorded this video!), while tracks like “God Loves a Cheerful Giver,” gets at the same themes with a little less color in a more elementary-friendly way. But I can never get over the words to Eide’s song
Moses was a stutter, David was a murderer,
Jeremiah, suicidal naked in the street.
Paul, he had a problem, the specifics left unsaid.
Timothy had stomachaches and Lazarus was dead.
Lazarus was dead. And God still put him to use. There’s a prophet or adjacent Biblical figure, someone used by God for greater ends, for all of us.
We can all be examples. We can all be models of a Christian life. And it might make us seem weird. As one of my favorite books on the matter, Mike Frost’s “Keep Christianity Weird,” puts it, being Christians means being eccentric, literally being off center compared to the world around us. We find our center elsewhere. We find it in God and in God’s word.
Living Weird
As you go out into the world to live weird, know there are so many things to bolster your journey.
One of the fabulous trends in children’s books in recent years is the enormous growth around books that encourage children to speak truth to power. You could always find kids books on what to do about a school yard bully, but there’s so much more scope covered now. I love this list of books that encourages kids to use their voices for good in the world.
Sometime we need reminders to keep us grounded in our best selves, and prayer beads can be a great way to be intentional about this. Choose some special beads and take time together to string them, naming prayer intentions for each one. You might turn this small strings of beads into a bracelet, zipper pull, or keychain to carry with you, making time to pray those intentions as you touch the beads, offering a tactile reminder.
Beads feel a little staid for your crew’s temperaments? Try Jennifer Grant’s “Sing, Wrestle, Spin: Prayers for Active Kids.” Grant offers us so many ways to pray as we move through our lives. Let go of quiet bodies and bowed heads. God gave us wiggly little humans to love. Let them be as they were created.
May you all find room for prayer and know peace as we move into these busy “Back to School” days. And I ask your prayers for my family, as I pray for all of you in this work. My wife’s first day of veterinary school is on Monday, and while we’ve been doing this back to school thing for a LOT of years now, this sure is a big one! Should I make her take a picture with one of those signs like all the families do with their kids? I might just have to!
Peace and silliness,
Bird