This coming Sunday, February 2, is not only the Souper Bowl of Caring, the day of the Super Bowl, it is also Youth Sunday!
On one Sunday each year all the adults from BMPC take a seat in the congregation and let our our teenagers lead the worship services. As a youth pastor, I am absolutely biased, but it is perhaps one of my favorite Sundays of the year. And it is not a Sunday that happens in every church. BMPC has chosen and continues to choose to value and recognize the impetuous, passionate and messy faith of teenagers as a worthy expression of Divine love. So worthy that an entire Sunday is devoted to learning from our youth.
I am honored to be the youth pastor in such a church. And I am humbled to get to work with the teenagers that I do. Since my first month at BMPC I have been utterly delighted by our youth. They are brilliant, challenging, loud, kind, silly, wise — I could go on.
A month or so ago, Student Serve, our youth leadership group, took a look at the lectionary text. Unlike plenty of lectionary days, all of them were fantastic. Matthew 5 (the Beatitudes), 1st Corinthians 1 (God chooses what is foolish in the world to shame the wise), and Micah 6 (the prophet challenging the Israelites to remember God’s works and what it is that God requires of them).
We read through all the options and eventually settled on Micah 6, focusing on Micah 6:8, which reads:
He has told you, O Mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
- Micah 6:8, NRSV
We have three incredible seniors who are going to preach for us, each focusing on one of God’s requirements — justice, kindness and mercy (same word in Hebrew), and humility. I am excited to have Alexa Elder, Jill Getty and Jack Odiorne share their faith with you, helping us all to know God better through their lives.
The rest of the service also will be led by teenagers – sophomores Jack Stevens and Remy Erdman are leading the Children’s Moment; the BMPC Youth Choir are singing all or our music; and youth from sixth to 12th grade are leading other parts of the liturgy and ushering during the service.
I am grateful to be at a church that so clearly affirms the call and inclusion of their teenagers in the life of the church community. I am grateful for your grace in listening to them (we’re doing our best to get them to speak up!) and willingness to learn from those whom the world often looks down on because of their age.
I hope you can make it to these wonderful services!
