Youth Ministry and the Incarnation

As a youth pastor, I have at times occasion to visit schools for things like soccer games, plays, concerts, and the like. I enjoy it a lot, but as a single 31 year old minister, it soon becomes apparent to me that I am a stranger in a strange land. I am not a parent and I am not a teen, yet I am there to share Christ�s love with both. Early on in my ministry I have tried to practice being prayerfully present in such situations when the occasion allowed. What I mean is that as I am present at the ball field, the school or wherever else, I ask God to help me have a glimpse into the teenage world and the parent world in that particular context. Sometimes that puts me in a place where I wish I was in their place (all the youthful energy, lots of people my age, or when you see a couple in the middle of their first true romance). More often though, I am moved by compassion. Would you want to be a junior high girl and have other girls size you up and find fault with your hair, your weight, the brand of clothes you wear, and your complexion among other things? Would you want to be the freshman boy who feels like he is low man on the totem pole at his high school because he is still under 5 feet, and the seniors that all the girls like are muscular, athletic, and over 6 feet tall? Our youth are tougher than we think. Many of us would be reduced to tears if we had to return to the sixth grade version of ourselves in today�s world.

I have been reflecting on how these experiences tie in with my understanding of Advent. Specifically, I have been meditating more on the Gospel of John�s version of the coming of Christ into the world. It must have been strange for Him. He was not exactly like every other human�because he was fully God. Eugene Peterson�s translation says that God �moved into the neighborhood.� Literally in the original language the Bible says Jesus �pitched his tent among us�. And the Gospel of John makes it clear that Jesus did not stay emotionally detached. He felt compassion as he entered our world. He hurt at the way we hurt one another. We can say, and be correct, that Jesus came because he had a plan. Even more than that though I think Jesus came because he can�t resist coming and showing us love in a world that can be so unloving. No wonder we worship Him.