This week we asked our bloggers what younger pastors are thinking about and what they think the rising generation of Presbyterian leaders sees different than previous generations. Here are their answers.
First, I’m not even sure I qualify to write about “what younger leaders are thinking about.” I’m 36 years old and while not quite midlife, it’s definitely just a few turns of the calendar page away. (Listen to me! Calendar pages! I didn’t even say “a few swipes on my calendar app.” See how old I am?!)
I heard it often said in college, “If you’re not liberal when you’re young, you have no heart; if you’re not conservative when you’re old, you have no brain.” Similar sentiments are echoed when we hear mention of the idealism of youth and the realism of adulthood. I regard generational analysis and life-stage research enough to accept whatever kernels of truth there are in these statements.
So what am I – just shy of becoming old, realist and conservative – still yearning for in my young, idealistic heart? Answer: The Kingdom of God.
I know. That sounds like a real good Sunday school answer, right? Like the old joke: A Sunday school teacher wants to mix things up a little and engage the class, so he asked, “I’m thinking of something that has a bushy tail. What is it?” Silence from the class. “It also eats nuts,” he added. Still more silence. A little exasperated he says, “It lives in trees.” Finally, Katelyn raises her hand, “I know the answer is Jesus, but it sure sounds like you’re talking about a squirrel.” Rim shot!
Yearning for the Kingdom of God is pretty much the right answer.
Yet there’s more to it than may meet the eye.
I mean the Kingdom of God. Not a “kin-dom,” because I don’t want a world defined by other Christians – my kin – no matter how sanctified their lives. No, I mean a world that is defined by the King, Jesus Christ. A world with a true ruler who is at once both one of us and wholly/Holy Other. In just 36 years, I’ve had enough elected rulers (six presidents) for a lifetime. I need a King.
I also mean a Kingdom of God. “Dom” from “domain.” I want whatever domain is the King’s – and Psalm 24 tells me “the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it/the world and all who live in it” – to be fully and truly under the King’s rule. I want flowers blooming in deserts, lions laying with lambs, swords beat into ploughshares. I want it all. I want blessed are the peacemakers and those who mourn. These are, I think, the King’s domain too.
I want the Kingdom of God. “Of,” meaning made from the same substance, at one with, originating from and aiming toward. All of those descriptions in “Kingdom” are not going to come by way of the United Nations or American democracy, denuclearization or even general principles of justice, mercy and equality. The stuff I want is holy, not handmade. It radiates a glory that is not of its own making. It doesn’t just reflect the brightest dim bulb; it is ofsomething that defines its boundaries and gives gravitas to its center.
I want the Kingdom of God. I mean the Triune God. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. I have no room for theism and no interest in definitions that take historical chronology to mean something more than it does. History, after all, is not linear. History bends around the incarnation, life, ministry, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. He is God’s fullest self-revelation (the only way in which we come to know God) and, therefore, is the definition of God.
I suppose in a few years, I’ll settle down. My rampant idealism will slowly erode to the realist’s pragmatism. I will replace “God the Father” with “Creator,” because it wins me more friends, allows me to try to wield my meager influence to a slightly larger pool. Jesus will become a “prophetic voice” that exists primarily to motivate my realistic attempts at minor legislative wins in American governance. The Holy Spirit will become an emotional resource to help me bat away the failures and add a little sugar and spice to the victories.
Until this time, when my pension and my mortgage and my frustrations get the better of me, I hope I stay (in the words of Jay-Z) “Forever young.” I want to cling to youth, not for reasons of energy, virility or good looks – all the typical reasons. No, I want to cling to it because the life I see in the vast majority of those who are not lucky enough to still be called “young leaders” frustrates and depresses me.
Those who have already succumbed to age tend to seek efficiency where they should settle for nothing less than fidelity. Of course, I understand it. Efficiency makes a lot of sense if you think that you don’t have much time left. Multitasking overtakes meditating. Any win feels big when every day you feel like you’re losing (time).
So, Lord, hear my prayer: Keep me young. Keep me idealistic and yearning for “thy Kingdom come.” I trust you can do this because, after all, time is not chronological. It bends around you. May you bend its youngest years around me — until my time is done. Amen.
JEFFREY A. SCHOOLEY is the pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Marysville, Ohio. He wants to believe he’s still young, but the ache in his knees and the blood pressure medicine he takes are telling a different story. If you’ve got thoughts about being young or old, he wants to hear them at thinklikechristians@gmail.com.
