Planning for Youth Sunday, occurring this Sunday, February 9, in the 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. services, has been underway for the better part of two months. Our preachers – Nina Bertrand, Maeve Daley-Gibson, and Kylie Liggett – have been writing, re-writing, encouraging one another, and getting used to preaching from a pulpit. They’ve met with Pastor Agnes to better understand the process of preaching and what makes a great sermon. Our high school Sunday school and Wednesday night Student Serve programs have been devoted to understanding all the parts of the worship service and writing liturgy that honors the tradition while interpreting it from their particular perspective. It has been a profoundly enriching experience.
In my former life in theological education, we spent a lot of time talking about formation. How do we form our students in the classroom, in worship, in informal interactions, and in our work as staff and administrators? And more importantly, what does all that formation yield when seminarians graduate and go on to become pastors themselves?
When I came to this call last summer, I knew to expect a high degree of excellence instilled in the young people of Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church. After all, their formation includes coaches who are former pros, access to unbelievable resources, attendance at the best schools, and an ambient culture of high performance. They are excellent and your experience on Youth Sunday will reflect that.
But more than that, and more importantly, what you will find on Youth Sunday is great faithfulness. You will hear from young people who have been formed in the church to wrestle with Biblical texts, find meaning for their own lives, exegete the culture that has formed them, and imagine another world.
Come to worship on Sunday and marvel at the excellence of the young people of this church. But more than that, allow yourself to be challenged and formed for greater faithfulness, as they desire to be.
Oh, and go birds!!
