Stuff we learned on Sunday
Youth Sunday, I now realize, is as much about the adult congregation as it is about the teenagers. This annual ritual is a chance, yes, for teens to plan all the music, to lead all the prayers, even to preach the sermon, but it is also a chance for the grown ups in the pews to hold those teenagers in their moment of risk and vulnerability.
That is a momentous thing to do.
It is as if we say to these moms and dads, Sunday school teachers and octogenarians all, “Here, do this: for the next hour concentrate as hard as you can on these kids and channel every ounce of grace and courage you can to them, for they are trying to summon the divine for you, and that is dangerous business indeed.”
The church is always, I’m finding, up to this task. It is hungry for it.
YoRocko! 
Thomas described his graduation as an ascension (joking that it must be miraculous for the parents to finally see it happen) Up to my eldest daughter’s turn, I only felt anticipation and enthusiasm, waiting for her grow up so she could have this moment. Now, because Daughter really did leave home, Youth Sunday has become more emotionally churning, in a cycle-of-life kinda way. I felt the vulnerabilities.
Youth Sunday is revitalizing too, open to the unexpected, not so much of a boiler plate, and there was no grinding organ to sand the eardrums, not once, which is rare at this church, so it felt homespun, thoughtful and refreshing.
it was fun to see someone new go up and lead the service. I thought they did and extraordinary job. It’s a good idea in general to give the keys to someone else to drive now and then, don’t you think?
I do think, and I want us to do it more often