Down the Mountain: Part 2 - Welcome to the Real World

1 Corinthians 1: 23-25: … but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

Returning down the mountain to our lives below is a challenge for everyone simply because the bottom of the mountain is so different from the top. This summer’s campers and counselors at Sky Ranch experienced God’s real presence in tangible ways. Talking about these experiences with one another helped them trust that their experiences were real, thus strengthening their faith and their relationship with God. When the counselors considered going back down the mountain and returning to the “real world”, they recognized the need to remember their experiences of God and trust that they were real. Yet as the conversation unfolded, it became clear that something else was of greater concern.

Each counselor explained that camp life offered a place where they could truly be themselves, sharing silliness and laughter, singing, dancing, and loving one another. More importantly, camp was a place where they could be vulnerable with one another. The family that formed among counselors shared highs and lows of both life at camp and their own personal lives. They became close with one another and trusted one another with their true selves. When asked about going home, the counselors shared their dread of returning to a world that didn’t understand the joy, beauty, community and Presence they encountered.

Each counselor knew that it was not safe to open themselves freely to those in the “real world”. Optimism, laughter and joy are fun for a time, but soon look like immaturity through the lens of the “real world”. They knew that before returning to their lives down the mountain they would each have to put on their masks. The mask would protect them from those who don’t understand the power of God’s overwhelming love. While the mask would allow them to hold on to the joy they found, it would also require them to bury it deep within. The idea of burying their true identity was a tragic and depressing realization.

Hearing their stories, it feels right and just to proclaim that they should “just be themselves” and "don’t care what others think”! Yet, for young adults completing graduate degrees or beginning careers, it is not always safe to be themselves because it matters a great deal what others think. Our world is a place that is not always friendly to people of faith. Overflowing joy is welcome at first, but eventually it is seen as immature or unrealistic. The world has a way of beating joy, optimism and enthusiasm out of us. In a world where cynicism is often considered wisdom, even the people we love sometimes disapprove of our naïve seeming faith.

As they strategized about going home, they shared ideas like intentionally practicing empathy, taking painful comments with a grain of salt rather than taking them personally, and greeting people where they are allowing that they too might grow in grace. They also talked about ways they might practice self-care, preserving their faith and joy along with their authentic selves. Quickly they realized that community was key to these practices. Alone, they knew they would fall into despair sooner or later. Together they hoped to pull one another up and return to joy and wholeness. Road trips were envisioned to visit one another bolstering community and renewing authentic joy. The counselors resolved to stay in touch with one another and I have no doubt that some of them will - for a while anyway. I also know that this is the song sung by campers and camp counselors each year just as it is the song of everyone returning from a spiritual retreat or any other kind of time on the mountain with others.

But whether or not they visit one another, they recognized that the key to the survival of their soul’s joy was to find a community where they could be their authentic selves, practice their faith together while learning from and supporting one another. The obvious place for such a community is the church. Indeed, some would argue that this is the entire point of the church. Unfortunately, for many of the counselors, their congregations were not only unsupportive, sometimes they represented their joy’s greatest threat. Counselors told stories of attempts they had made to share the skills they had learned at camp with those at church only to be rebuffed, sidelined or simply ignored. It seems astonishing that churches clamoring for “more young people” sabotage attempts these leaders make to actually share God’s love, but it is an all to common experience. According to Springtide Research, nearly 3 in 4 young people are religious, but only 16% see their faith community as a place they can turn to in times of uncertainty. A stunning 52% of young people who are part of congregations say they have little or no trust in organized religion. (See https://Springtideresearch.org for more information)

When leaders of churches hear statistics like this, the first impulse is to try and figure out how to “get young people back in church?”. But sitting with these young adult leaders at picnic tables on a Sunday afternoon, all I could do was lament that the church had failed them so miserably and wonder with them how else they might create other kinds of communities where they could openly share themselves and God’s love with one another.

God invites us to be our true selves with God and with one another. God offers sanctuary to us and gives us space to laugh and live into the person we are called to become. yet it is hard to live into this call alone. Continuous messages from the “real world” beat us down and place us in pre-designated boxes where we are expected to conform. Too often, church is another one of those boxes.

In this age of declining church attendance and fewer places for young people to authentically share their faith, the prospects seem grim. Yet the faith of these counselors and the campers they guided hints at a new dawn approaching...