Categories: uncategorized
Date: 02 April 2004 03:02:12
My parents' church has a new minister - they've been without one for years, they're only small - and he came around yesterday to see me about the youth. (Elicia and I lead the youth group at said church.)
He wants to get more involved with the young people, which I think is good, and he used to work in a high school as a chaplain, so he's got the credentials. But he went into a Youth Alive event with them on the weekend when we were away, and he had a few fairly critical things to say about it.
Youth Alive has a simple format: a popular Christian band for young people; a "famous" youth speaker, a 20-minute offering sermon and several alter-calls at the end. Held every six months or so. While I'm generally not a big fan of such US-style evangelistic youth events, the kids like them (albeit mainly for the music) and I think that's what is important. I'm willing to put up with annoying extended offering speeches and endless alter-calls because I sort of think that it can't be all bad. In our conversation on this topic I found myself standing up for the event, something I don't usually do, and I made a spur-of-the-moment argument that I have been pondering since.
There is no pure form of truth. Truth is always mediated. I remember this sort of argument from my philosophy books, but I can't remember who it was - but this sort of struck in a way that has a practical application. If we take God as being truth, or the subject which we want to know truth about, there is no way of getting pure God. It must always be mediated in different ways. Coming from a deconstructionist, postmodern mindset, I don't really have a problem with strange events if they have even a small portrayal of the truth that someone can find by deconstruction. I think the youth, who are undoubtedly postmodern, would accept that. But the Rev is from an older generation that believe the medium has a closer link with the message it contains, or something like that...
Anyway, the upshot is he might be leading a Youth Alpha - a program of which we both approve - while Elicia and I are away at the snow.