Our life with God is often thought of as a spiritual journey. Somehow, most of us understand the concept of traveling from one place to another. With people, alone, in joy and in pain. And in our ministries to children and youth and their families here at Holy Trinity, this community, all of us, seek to support people in these particular stages of their journey. In Godly Play our Sunday school teachers offer up the stories of our faith in increasing detail and scope as our children age. Our Youth Leaders walk with our young people as they explore their rapidly expanding world both around them and inside their own minds and hearts. But this is not a ministry solely to children and youth and their families. It is also ministry with. Both children and youth have an innate spirituality and an ability to grasp the essence of the truth that they are not alone on this journey as God’s beloved children. And so, this morning, to share some of their reflections on their journey both here at Holy Trinity and beyond, we have two members of our Sr. High youth group. Walker Rose is a sophomore at
Mr. Walker Rose
We are all on a journey, all moving forward in the name of Jesus Christ. And one of the first major steps we take on our journey is our baptism. Now, I do not remember my baptism, since I was baptized as a baby. But because of that, I am aware that something as important as a baptism, such a huge step in our faith journey, was not even my decision. My parents are the ones who chose to have me baptized in front of a congregation, much like this one. The people mentioned with Peter, they weren’t even baptized until Peter explained the importance of a baptism. They all understood that it is a privilege to be baptized. And then they decided to be baptized together. It was something they did as a group.
Being baptized is not all fun and games, we all don’t get it just for fun. Have you ever taken a really good look at the words that one says when they are baptized? I mean, it’s a pretty big commitment considering all of the things we as a congregation promise to do to help guide a newly baptized baby. Things like being willing to “seek and serve Christ in all persons” and “strive for justice and peace among all people” are pretty big commitments for all of us. Sometimes I feel like the people in the reading from Acts because I truly didn’t know what baptism was until I was much older and much more involved in my church. I always enjoyed when baptism took place on the Sunday I decided to go to church. I remember as a little kid going up to the front area of the church to watch the actual baptism take place. Sitting next to my brother and some of my friends that I had when I was younger always seemed like the coolest thing ever. But now that I am much older, I realize that there’s more to it than that. We as a church vow to help guide a child through his or her life until he or she is old enough to take responsibility for his or her own spiritual life.
I began to understand some of these things when I went through my confirmation just a year ago. I chose to do my confirmation because I felt deep down inside that I was ready to become an adult member of the church and I was mature enough to handle this responsibility. I knew that participating in confirmation would help give me guidance on my religious journey. Another turning point for me was the privilege of participating in a weekend retreat for youth and adults in high school and beyond called a Happening. The retreat is designed to help participants learn more about themselves in a very spiritual environment. On this weekend retreat, there was a very low key church service very similar to the ones that are held on Wednesday nights here at Holy Trinity. At that service, I sang along to songs with my friends and came the closest to God I have ever gotten to in my entire life. I can truly say that I felt God was in the presence of this group of people on that night. This was a
But I know that I myself have many more highs and lows on my journey, following the vision that God has for me. I look forward to continuing my journey into adulthood and beyond, with God guiding me, always and everywhere.
Ms. Elizabeth Brewington
Have you ever had a moment where the world just seemed to stand still? Or when time slows down and you can’t remember what you did earlier in the day? Moments like that are hard to find because the world is passing so fast. My 10th grade year is almost over and next year I will start visiting colleges and then the next year is my senior year and decision time for college and then well…. I don’t like to think that far ahead and neither do my parents. With busy schedules and hectic lives it’s hard to find time to stop and notice God. The sad fact is that most days I feel like I don’t even think about God until that moment right before I fall asleep, when I look back on my day and then look ahead.
The two men in the Gospel passage are also blinded by the hustle and bustle of life, so much so that they don’t realize that Jesus is walking right beside them. Only after they slow down are they able to see him and understand. Once they do they have one of those moments where time slows, where the world opens up and the Spirit comes rushing in. And if we follow their example, then we also can slow down, or as my dad says live in the moment, and by doing that be open to life’s mysteries and surprises (especially when they relate to god.)
The travelers in the gospel were so busy that they barely noticed the stranger walking beside them and then they didn’t even recognize him as Jesus. Believe me I know how hard it is to slow down when it seems like the world is turning faster every day or you are stuck in a rut or you have way too much to do and not enough time to be distracted by the least bit. Many days I feel that but, the worst time is when I am on vacation with my family. There is so much that I want to see and do but not enough time to fit everything. My dad has to remind my brother Brad and I constantly that we need to slow down and live in the moment, when we finally do I enjoy the trip so much more and I notice so much more than the times when I can’t stop rushing. Every day is filled with little moments that can change you if you let them. I’ve learned that I need to constantly remind myself that I need to slow down and take in those little special moments because they are so neat. Theses moments can be a child laughing, or finding time to walk the labyrinth, or singing in the choir or watching a bird make a nest.
But those moments are more than just neat. They can be life’s mysteries and surprises, sometimes even ones that can lead us to God. Each week at youth group we open with three deep and the last thing the leader says before we check in with each other is to “be open to what god has in store for you tonight”. I always thought that saying was really interesting but I never felt like I fully experienced it because I never figured out to be open to anything. But on two youth group trips that I really felt like that I have been able open to what god had in store for me and the group, partly because things didn’t happen exactly as we planned. Two years ago in the fall, we took a trip to bike the Virginia creeper trail. We started driving up there on Saturday morning and we watched in dismay as it started to snow the closer we got to Abington
A few weeks ago we went back to Grayson highlands, this time to go on a vision quest. We would camp out then on Saturday we would go off by ourselves in to the woods for three to four hours and spend some time in quiet and reflection. So we finally got off and were ready to leave bright and early Saturday the only little hitch in our plans we could foresee was some rain but that wasn’t going to stop us. As we arrived our sprits rose as we got out of the cars seeing that the sun was shining and it was in fact a gorgeous day. As we lathered on sunscreen and squeezed and a few more items in to our packs we were ready to go. We finally got to our camp site and there even were a few wild ponies. After we set up the tents and hung out for a little while we were sent off just as it started to rain. I headed up the mountain as I looked around and took in all the sights I found a rock with a tree growing from it. I headed for it for some shelter. After the rain cleared up for a while then I moved on to this rock where it was evened out on the top. And I saw the rain roll through and feel the wind rushing through the valley. As I heard the distant roll of thunder I started to head down the mountain, I could see the brightly colored tents of the little Boy Scouts camping near us. Even though I was a ways away from them I could here them laughing and joking in their camp site. That moment of pure joy touched me. The rocks, the boys laughing and wind all these little moments reminded me of god. This is how I really connect with god is when I’m in nature. So after I trekked down the mountain a while the clouds rolled a way. I sat and watching the birds and the rain move through the rest of the mountains. I learned on that trip that I don’t like to be in one place for very long. I had the chance to explore a lot of the area surrounding our camp site. But after enjoying the sun to my dismay the clouds came back. So I hiked back up the mountain until I met up with
From my experiences I think that Luke is trying to call us out of our normal routines to try to become more aware of our surroundings. Many of my friends have a common misconception that God is only in church. But I believe that god is found in everyday things in life not just in church. All we have to do is slow down and be open to what god has for us.
Conclusion
We journey together, through baptism, confirmation, Sundays together, retreats, trips, special events, even day-to-day contact. In those journeys we find ourselves and we find each other. And the wonder and the mystery of it all is that when we allow ourselves to truly encounter each other and the world, it is then that we most deeply encounter God, in the flesh and blood of another human who offers us contact when we need it most, in the wild beauty of the mountaintop, in the bread and wine we are offered here. And perhaps slowly we come to realize that, as both Walker and Elizabeth said, we are all on a journey together, following the dream of God for us and for our world.
Amen.