I have some friends who particularly notice if there are wrinkles in an altar cloth. I have always found their obsession with wrinkle free altar material a bit much, but the other day, I found myself looking at an altar and thinking—wow, that could use some ironing. In the scheme of the glory of Mass, the wrinkles are pretty insignificant. There are a lot of small things in our Life Nights and Edge Nights that, like wrinkles, don’t particularly matter in the bigger scheme. Taking time
In a homily I recently heard, the priest told a story about being challenged to recognize how good things were. He told us that in the busyness of trying to juggle everything it was easy to miss that the Lord’s goodness was abundant. It’s not a stretch to see how easy that is to do in youth ministry. We know youth ministry is hard work. We can be working on environments for Life Nights, trying to find a chaperone for a retreat, scheduling what events we’ll get to this week, checking
It wasn’t too long before I had a nagging suspicion that something was wrong. I’d been driving down this road for far too long, but I hadn’t seen my turn, so I kept going. The road was one of those two lane roads, winding through the woods. Occasionally I would see another set of headlights or a house set back in the trees. It was foggy and dark. Panic started to set in and improbable, yet fearful, endings began forming in my mind. Would I go around a bend in the road and end up in the river? Would I end up on someone’s land—the kind of people who hate trespassers? Would I ever see civilization again?
I have been finished with school for a long while, but being in youth ministry my calendar years run in school years. The “New Year” for me is when the teens head back to school and Life Teen and Edge kick off again. Freshman experience what it is like to be in high school, trying their best to fit in and not get lost. Seniors try to enjoy their year as the kings and queens with the added pressure of answering the question of what comes next. And, those of us in youth ministry begin anew trying
Obedience to God is one thing (sometimes difficult, but understandable); obedience to others is a whole different story. When it comes to submitting to other people we struggle. God is perfect; we are not. Yet, I think our discomfort with submission comes more from feeling like we are giving up control rather than a desire to actually do the disobedient or contrary actions. We want to be in charge of our world; when we are a called to function under authority, we think we are losing our freedom.