Greensboring.com | Greensboro, NC

It's sort of weird. I'm sitting at a park. I brought my Google Laptop, and I'm sitting at a picnic table in the shade. Ren and Chance are at 4-H today, so I came with a book to read, but I'm spending the first few minutes Googling on the internet. A youth group is here from one of the local churches. They're cooking hot-dogs on the grill, and at one point, one of the older ladies from the group came over to me and said "Come get your hot-dog sweetie." I'm not sure how I accidentally joined the youth group, or how unaware this woman is to think a 34 year old is apart of her clan, but I was hungry, so I figured, why the hell not. Perhaps she was just being friendly.

It's interesting to hear the young adults and their conversations. When I was in youth, they called it fellowship, but it's nothing about God. In fact I see something going on, that none of them do. There's the three kids playing soccer by themselves. Clearly social outcasts, due to their inferior love for some European sport. They don't seem to be as interested in sports as the vast majority of Volleyball players, as they enter into conversations about their future and school rather than fashion and pop-culture. The volley ball crew spends more time critiquing each other's dress and technique more than playing. Then there's the group of kids who stay glued to the older chaperones under the picnic shelter. Dysfunctional to the bone as they latch onto not being as silly and playful as the other kids. Lastly there's the musicians who have made a make shift stage out of the batters box on the baseball diamond and are playing Christian music so loud I've turned around to make sure I'm in a public place.

Wait, the music just stopped, and a day-care bus arrived. Oh my god, it's a puppet show. A puppet show for Jesus! "Get up, and get down... for Jesus!" This is going to make reading Kristin Espinasse's "Words in a French Life" a bit difficult.

I wonder how many of these children will be like me. Finding the irony of of sitting in some park many years from now, having explored their faith, other's beliefs, and seen a world in which the only explanation for God's abandonment was his sure disgust for mankinds' horrors.

The puppet show has now turned to dogs barking and saying "Halleluah, Jesus is my best friend." The day-care audience seems less than impressed. They're more concerned with the older youth and their soccer game which has now gained two additional players. Two girls who clearly have been reading those horrid socialist magazines, as one has a beret and the other a scarf. It's 105F in the shade, and I'm not even wearing a scarf.

The puppet show reminds me of the conversation we had in Belgium about the days when Shannon and Sarah used to mime. I have several memories of horrid church-like performances I won't divulge also. I wonder if these puppeteers will one day find themselves in Belgium eating frites laughing about this experience.

Oh another fat girl just ran across the park to join the soccer game. She ran out of breath half-way. The Fashion divas snickered. I ask myself as I peer out from over my laptop and this post wondering if that's WWJD (What would Jesus do?).

I now realize I'm not going to get any of my book read. There's only one thing left to do.... go play soccer. Hey I know this song! "Joy, joy, joy.... down in my heart!!!"

When I was a kid, the adults were told by psychologist to be concerned if their children made imaginary friends. Then they taught them about Je'bus.

A puppet show for a youth group? They need a new leader....one who understands teenagers a bit more than this one apparently does. LOL

I think youth groups are more about building a sense of community within the church. My kids went to youth group last night for a movie night...nothing religious about it except they were in the church doing it. They watched a movie, ate snacks, and the girls did each others nails. This is a good group though, they discuss a lot of tough issues that teens have to deal with and I'm glad they have it.

All churches are mainly about community life. They would deny it, naturally... Being social would mean not having God at the center of attention, and we all know how much of an attention whore ol' Yahweh is...

It was the Youth putting on the puppet show, for the day-care kids who arrived. Technically I think they were just lip-syncing the puppets to Christian rock.

Jamy wrote:A puppet show for a youth group? They need a new leader....one who understands teenagers a bit more than this one apparently does. LOL

I think youth groups are more about building a sense of community within the church. My kids went to youth group last night for a movie night...nothing religious about it except they were in the church doing it. They watched a movie, ate snacks, and the girls did each others nails. This is a good group though, they discuss a lot of tough issues that teens have to deal with and I'm glad they have it.

Agreed.

A good youth group leader will encourage team building among the teens and be able to discuss everyday problems that teens normally have and how it applies spiritually. The leader will also encourage all of the teens to be "encouragers" and not to tear down each other no matter how slight it might seem.

I can't say that all Youth are the same, but I suspect so, but my youth group when I was a teen was superficial, and the leaders and parents had no clue to the actual behaviors of the members.

Liv wrote:I can't say that all Youth are the same, but I suspect so, but my youth group when I was a teen was superficial, and the leaders and parents had no clue to the actual behaviors of the members.

That's a real shame Liv. It really is.

It's a generational gap. I suspect you'd find a similar thing today, in any church. Hell, truth is, all of history have parents assumed one thing and kids done another. Kids are never as innocent as we hope them to be.... except for me... I was always innocent.