January 3, 2010
The Second Sunday after Christmas (Year C)
Jeremiah 31:7=14; Psalm 84:1-8 (9-12); Ephesians 1:3-6, 15-19a;
Luke: 2:41-52
Today’s sermon is a two part presentation by Carolyn Platt and Carol Brady on the J2A Program.
Part 1, Carolyn Platt:
Journey to Adulthood or J2A is a new youth program starting this month at Good
Shepherd. The J2A Steering Committee asked Rector Gale if her sermon could show how the story of Jesus as a Youth relates to this new youth program. We were very surprised to learn that the gospel lesson for today is the very same lesson that is at the core of our new program. Be careful what you ask for! Ironically . . . or the will of God ?? Carol and I are here today doing exactly what we had asked for!
What images of Jesus do you carry in your heart and mind? Certainly at this Christmas season, we imagine Jesus as “a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger.” But there are many images of Jesus, including teacher, friend, healer, savior that we hold dear. We have given the Sunday Schoolers pictures of these images of Jesus to color in their pews.
Today's reading calls to mind an image that is referenced only once in scripture, that of Jesus as an adolescent, and an opinionated, difficult, probing, engaging one at that!
On close reading of Luke's lesson, most parents or people close to teenagers can connect easily to the emotions and events. Jesus and his parents went as usual to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. The story is reminiscent of going to First Night at the Boston Common with a group of families year after year, relatively safe, familiar, a place where parents can give their kids some money, and send them on their way never thinking they'd not have their cell phones on or that they would neglect to mention they were driving home with another family. So it's easy to imagine that when Mary and Joseph asked people if they had seen Jesus, someone could have replied, “I think I saw him with the other boys up ahead.” It's also easy to identify with the cold fear Mary and Joseph must have felt when they realized he was not with the group.
Then there was the frantic searching upon their return to Jerusalem. Perhaps they went in desperation to the temple to pray and surprisingly found Jesus seated among the elders. Their relief quickly turned to anger at Jesus' insensitivity to their feelings. The fact that Jesus was amazing his elders with his questions and answers probably made them even madder.
Mary asks a question that will be familiar to many of us, ”How can you treat us this way?” And when Jesus answers, “Didn't you know I must be in my father’s house?” we have a classic example of lack of communication between parent and teenager. “Father?” – Mary and Joseph must have temporarily forgotten the holy birth of this Son of God just as we, when overwhelmed by our children, can forget every good thing we knew about them on the day they were born.
The Jesus in the temple account is every teenager's and every parent of a teenager's story. And, if we each stop long enough to remember, we know what Jesus experienced as well. We all have tucked in our memory the first time someone, somewhere, took us seriously and gave us enough time to amaze and astonish them with our questions and insights.
Could it be that during his time in the temple Jesus the adolescent began to understand who he was separate from his parents? that maybe he needed others, the elders in addition to his parents?
Often teens become disengaged not only from their parents, but also with the church at the very time in life when they are experiencing the most profound changes that they will ever experience in their hearts, minds, and bodies. And where do they go? They turn to their peers and the culture to grapple with a plethora of challenges: driving, falling in love, alcohol, drugs, and the incessant media's message of “it's about what we want, whenever we want it, without consequences.” They travel through adolescence and into adulthood without the support, guidance, and experience of the elders in the Temple.
It is our hope that Good Shepherd be a place for our teenagers to understand themselves in the context of a community of faith and also a place to validate and support parents. Churches are among the last of the intergenerational institutions. We can offer support, guidance, a place to stay to consider God's action in the world as well as the very particular calling God has for each of their lives.
It's for this reason that Rector Gale and Barbara Kean have been running monthly meetings since August about a new youth program called J2A, Journey to Adulthood. A J2A Steering Committee was established and is actively running the program. We are always looking for more parishioners to join us! But before you all run to the sign up sheets to volunteer, Carol will tell you more about the J2A program and how your support will enhance the lives of our teenagers!
Part 2, Carol Brady
What I like about the J2A Program is it recognizes a need for a Christian parish to offer a rite of passage for our young people. Typically, a rite of passage has three phases, and each of these phases corresponds to a phase of the J2A program.
1. Separation from childhood.
J2A starts with a group of preteens (11-13 year olds) who are recognized in front of the entire parish community and their parents through a liturgy called Rite 13. Our first Rite 13 Ceremony will be on May 23rd. These young people are leaving childhood, loosening the ties with parents, strengthening their ties with peers, and exploring their identity. In J2A language, this is a period of time to celebrate the gift of their gender, and an awareness that manhood and womanhood are gifts from God. Their gatherings are marked with fun, fellowship building, exploring identity, and hearing faith stories. This is the Rite 13 Group we are launching today. Over thirty youth and their parents have been invited to a Kickoff Celebration this Friday night.
2. Initiation and Instruction Period marked by a Life-Changing Event.
After two years, this same group of youth (now age 13, 14, and 15), enters the second phase. They are now called “The J2A Group.” The second principle of the program is emphasized, namely, that Adulthood must be earned. Time is spent preparing them for adulthood. Near the end, the youth go through the Confirmation process.
The J2A Group devotes many meetings to the planning and fundraising for their Holy Pilgrimage. Anticipation and excitement builds as they pick a destination - some place in the world - where they want to meet the faith traditions of the people, both in the present and past, of a particular region. The Pilgrimage is not a sight-seeing trip, nor is it a mission trip. They go for one reason: to seek and to find Christ. This is the ultimate goal of the J2A program: to help our youth seek and find Christ in oneself and others. This pilgrimage is a celebration of their passage into adulthood.
3. Rejoining the Community.
After Confirmation and their Holy Pilgrimage, this same group of youth enter the final phase. As 16, 17, and 18 year olds, their group is now called “Young Adults in the Church.” Here they practice their newly acquired skills in the context of our supportive parish community.
Now, what I just described is the next 6 years for our current 11-13 year olds. But every two years, a new group of 11-13 year olds will begin as the new Rite 13 Group. So eventually, there will be three groups going on at the same time: a Rite 13 Group, a J2A Group, and a Young Adults in the Church Group.
Each group has its own set of adult leaders who commit for two years. The leaders for our first Rite 13 Group are: Amy and Jon Gothorpe and Kevin Gross, with Lesley Murray as a substitute. We are very grateful to them for volunteering.
We are very excited about starting J2A in our church. It's like launching a boat into the water. But our jobs are not done after we've given that big shove. In fact, our job is not to stand on the shore and watch from a distance. Our job is to be on the J2A boat, each and every one of us. We're on the journey, as well!
The entire parish is called to a ministry of presence in the lives of our youth as they grow through their teen years. Just as Christ knows each of us by name, we, too, ought to know the names and faces of those in Rite 13. You should have a handout of the many other ways your presence is needed. Prayer is on the top of the list. Pray for our Rite 13 youth, their parents, their leaders, and the J2A Steering Committee. We hope you will choose to become involved in other ways, many of which are one-time events. I draw your attention to our immediate needs for this Friday's Kickoff Meeting and for our Sunday, January 17th Breakfast Outing. Please, stop at the sign-up table in the parish hall and offer your support.
We are all on this journey together. It will have its ups and downs, its calm and stormy waters. Our success will not be measured by how many teens are in the group, how far we travel, how often we have fun, or how many service projects we do. We embark on this journey with the faith that God's presence and grace is among us, working through and with us, as we seek Christ in all places and people we encounter along the way.
Mary and Joseph spent three days seeking Christ. And where was he? In a sanctuary surrounded by elders. Oh, that our youth may find Christ in the midst of us in this sanctuary! The Gospel reading ends with, “And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor.” That, my friends, is our prayer for our youth. Through our ministry of presence within the framework of the J2A program, may each youth increase in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor.
Amen.