Guest blogger Mary Rhodes writes today.
I had lunch last Friday with a Northfield friend who grew up across the street from me. We’ve known each other about 65 years. Kathy was a brilliant student, and she enjoyed a thriving career as an investment advisor. She is well-traveled, well-read and has lots of friends. Although she lost her husband a few years ago, she’s been filling her calendar again and reclaiming her life.
But there is one big area where she is still stuck, she admitted, and it’s getting worse.
It’s the news. “I just find it so overwhelming, everything that’s happening in our world,” she said. “It’s getting harder and harder for me to handle. I literally cannot take all the bad news.”
What could I say? My friend is not an avid churchgoer. I managed to empathize with her sense that the world seems more and more out of control. So we left it at that and moved on. But it bothered me. My friend was sharing something so raw and honest and I just didn’t know what to do or say.
But now I do, and it’s this: “Come to church with me on Confirmation Sunday.”
If you want hope, that’s where to find it. Just think, each Sunday we immerse ourselves in scripture, sacred music and inspired preaching. But once a year, we get to see it all through the eyes of young people who are inheriting this increasingly baffling and confused world. What I saw this past Sunday was a revelation. Every testimony was so inspiring. I know my friend would have felt it, too.
Several of the young people who spoke said they were lucky to have grown up in our Church where they always felt comfortable and loved. But I was especially moved by Carter Ryan and his sister Ramona who said they started coming to Church when they were older, and it wasn’t a quick or easy fit. They didn’t feel an instant connection. It took time.
To you, Carter and Ramona: there are millions of adults out there who feel the same way you do. Coming to Church for the first time and finding a place where you fit and feel comfortable can be hard. You’ve done what so many adults have never learned to do: you stuck with it, you found a real inner life with Christ and deep, authentic relationships that will be your ballast in this world. If only all the adults not willing to risk that first step through the door could learn from you. You’ve found out it’s okay to feel some discomfort and to question. The rich reward you’ve gained in your struggle is clear.
And to you, Makeda Hausman: thank you for sharing with us your heart for a multi-cultural understanding of the world. So much of the chaos and confusion we read about each day stems from a lack of this understanding. You shined a light in your own creative way on a critical issue, and we are grateful.
And one more thing I want to say to all three of you and to Mark Bouwman, Tessa Bowen, Fritz Gerster and Sonja Johnson, from the class of 2023:you are the Covid kids who felt the brunt of isolation and confusion these past few years. But look at you now! I suspect faith will play an even more critical role in your lives because you don’t take the freedom you have for granted. You have all become so much more resilient in this fast-changing world.
And finally, to your parents: you who out-maneuvered every conflict — sports, homework, social calendars and lessons — to ferry your kids to youth group and confirmation, this was a big day for you, too. Your kids are staring high school with the one thing every person in this chaotic world needs, and it was hard-won. We are so grateful to you. These young people with their burgeoning faith will build a better world.
I know my childhood friend, if she’d been sitting with me last Sunday, would have seen it. Maybe the difficulties of these lean Covid years helped make what I witnessed more clear. You’ll never read a news story about what’s happening each Sunday afternoon or Wednesday evening with Lynnea Miller at Winnetka Covenant Church. But it’s just as powerful and real as any news story from the New York Times or CNN. How lucky we are as a Church community to have had a glimpse of some real good news last Sunday!
Mary Rhodes
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