What if there was a time and a place that was created simply to be together, to share a meal together? What if there was a place where it was safe to mess up, where it was safe to snort while laughing, and be yourself as "unacceptable" as that may be? What if there was a place where middle schoolers were accepted and loved as humans by the older generation?
Tuesday night youth group rocked my pants off! (If that were true I would be in jail). But seriously, our Young Adult group from Corvallis Church joined our youth group for a potluck and games.
Can I just say that sharing a meal must be the best and most Jesus-y thing ever? Not to be heretical or anything, but in all honesty when we share meals it is like saying, "Hey, let us be friends. Let us commune. We are equals, on a journey at different paces and different stages, challenged with different obstacles. But one thing is for sure, you have a belly and I have a belly and we need food. Wanna eat?"
I will also say that hearing a spark-plug 12 year old girl squeal and squawk can actually make you deaf - I am sure. Especially when it happens every thirty seconds for about 2 and a half hours. It is like having an earthquake within your body and you are unsure if anyone has lived through it. And yet, not one of the adults left, not one complained, not one yelled at the excited middle school girl. No, they loved her. And she thrived with joy. To me, that is a mystery. It is a mystery that a group of 18-29 year olds got to spend the evening with a group of 11-17 year olds, and everyone clearly enjoyed them self. It is a mystery that sharing a meal and simply being together is possibly the most unifying act...but is also the easiest and simplest act in the world. It is a mystery that we played games and they were enjoyed by middle schoolers and career-ers alike.
On a world's standard, this makes no sense.
It makes absolutely no sense to spend time with "lesser than" people -- and in this world, if you are younger then you are lesser.
Jesus. Jesus brings us together when it makes no sense -- Jesus brings joy to the relationship that makes no sense: the man who breathes hunting & outdoors somehow relates with the man who grew up as a city boy and went to Bible College. Jesus is the unifier, the common theme. Jesus brings a middle school girl to heal a broken heart of a 27 year young lady. It makes no sense. But at the same time, it brings all the joy.
I am still processing the beauty & restoration that fellowship, koinonia, brings.
