I do not cease to pray for you, and for your ministries as you proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom; and as you teach, baptize and nurture new believers in your various communities throughout the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. This task is great, and at times difficult, yet, by God’s grace, it is a task for which we all have been equipped.

For it is by God’s grace through baptism that we are given the strength to follow Christ as our Saviour and Lord. Resting in our assurance of God’s grace and mercy, we continue to practice the presence of Jesus Christ in our midst, even to this day.

For it is through such practice and apprenticeship that we open ourselves to God’s forming, reforming and transforming work as we gather together in public worship, and make Holy Communion.

It is through practice that we grow deeper in faith as we devote ourselves to private prayer, Bible-reading and self-discipline.

It is through practice that we bring the teaching and example of Christ into everyday life and witness boldly to our faith in Christ.

It is through practice that we offer our personal service to the Church and the wider community; so also do we offer our finances in order to spread the good news of God’s kingdom to those who are near, and to those who are far off.

I find myself constantly encouraged, dear friends, as I hear the news of your great faithfulness, in witnessing to the work of Jesus Christ, whose birth we await in this advent season. I am overjoyed by your ever-deepening faith, and your readiness to share this world-changing hope that is within you. Be not afraid in declaring the mercies of our God. Be not afraid in sharing your infectious, expectant hope.

For this is a season of great hope, and it is in hope that we are saved.

Our hope, dear brothers and sisters, is built on nothing less than Jesus’ love and righteousness. And as we seek to minister in the shifting sands of this culture and time, it is on Christ the solid rock we stand.

This hope, dear friends, is not a naïve hope. It is not naïve, but it is expectant. Our hope is in the God who made all things, who sustains all things, and who redeems all things. Our hope is not in ourselves, but in God’s power working through us.

And as we enter this advent season together, I pray that we will maintain the discipline to practice the presence of Jesus in our midst. Though we struggle, though we stumble, we know that God remains ever-faithful.

As we charge through the malls, and charge through our credit, may we be mindful of the God of small things. May we also be mindful of those greater things to which God has called us.

May we be reminded of the liturgy of God’s church, even as we participate in the liturgy of the shopping mall.

For we practice hope each and every week. We practice hope as we eat the bread and drink the wine. And we practice hope when this Eucharist ripples forth through us, transforming our lives and the world around us. We practice hope in many audacious ways.

As we reach out to others in loving service, new hope is born. As we transform society’s unjust structures, new hope is born. As we safeguard the integrity of creation, our hope for new life is born anew.

Dear friends, this advent season we wait expectantly. And in such expectation, we await the world-changing arrival of the carpenter’s son. As we wait together, from Maberly to Maniwaki, from Mattawa to Hawkesbury, may the God of hope fill us with all love, joy and peace through the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Rev. Schell, now president of San Francisco-based consulting group All Saints Company shared that “The Episcopal Church is on the edge of the precipice you’ve already fallen off.” Awkward silence filled the church. These were not the words of hope we had expected to hear.

And yet they were, perhaps, the right words for this moment. They were, perhaps the right words for a parish seeking to renew its ministry. They were perhaps the right words for each of us there that night, as we deal with the realities of our current cultural context – one in which the church does not find itself at the centre.

“This is not Gregor’s ministry,” Schell declared, “this is ours.” Before any of us could shrug off any shred of responsibility, Schell reinforced his point, “If it’s not us,” he said, “it’s no-one.”

If it’s not us, it’s no-one.

Each of us has a part. Each of us has been set apart to participate in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Each of us has been set apart to engage in mission and ministry. Each of us, with our varied and particular gifts, are a part of this body, and are called to share the good news that we have received in Jesus Christ with all whom we meet.

Perhaps we find this uncomfortable. And yet, contrary to the threads of moralistic therapeutic deism that permeate our culture, Jesus did not humble himself, take on flesh and head to Calvary that we might feel good about ourselves. He has called us on a journey and a mission, as part of a movement that has this nasty habit of turning everything upside down.

As a part of Christ’s body, we too are called to seek the good of others before we seek our own. We too are called to proclaim and to embody this upside-down mustard seed kingdom as we love God with heart, soul, mind and strength. As we seek daily to love our neighbours as ourselves.

If it’s not us, it’s no-one.

This is our call. It’s difficult. It requires much of us. And it will transform us as we continually open ourselves to the God who was, and who is, and who is to come.

We, created in God’s own image, are alive at an exciting time in the world’s history. The world into which we are called to proclaim and embody the gospel is changing at a rapid rate. It is into this world that we are called to translate the gospel anew into our local dialects and cultures and communities. We need only step out the door to do so.

Our call – yours and mine – plays out in so many ways. It plays out in our day-to-day lives, at school or work, or at home. In relationships with all we encounter. And in the midst of all of this, Jesus calls us to die to ourselves.

If it’s not us, it’s no-one.

Thinking on Rev. Schell’s sermon, it became clear to me: without life there is no death; without death there is no resurrection. If there is pruning that needs be done, may it be to God’s glory. If the church is in decline, and if this is the context into which we are called to minister, so be it.

What are the things we need to die to? May we die to them, for Christ’s sake, for it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Eavesdrop on a conversation amongst teenagers and you’ll hear them talking passionately about many things: Friends. Video Games. Relationships. Celebrities. The Environment. School (well, scratch that).

But try to engage many young people in a conversation about faith, and you may as well prepare yourself for blank stares.

Have you noticed how passionate and articulate adults can be about anything except their faith? Friends, Family, Work, and even Politics are all fair game. Yet try to engage many church-going adults in conversations about faith and you may as well prepare yourself for blank stares.

Coincidence. Yes or No?

In her challenging new book, Princeton scholar Kenda Creasy Dean writes, “Since the religious and spiritual choices of teenagers echo, with astonishing clarity, the religious and spiritual choices of the adults who love them, lackadaisical faith is not young people’s issue, but ours.” If youth ministry is struggling in our churches, we all have some work to do, together.

Throughout the Anglican Church of Canada, and increasingly in this diocese, we spend a great deal of time speaking about the importance of youth ministry. For some of us, youth ministry is about the future of the church. We want our tradition to continue, our buildings to stand strong, and our community presence to last a long time.

These are all good things.

We remember the times when we were younger, the relationships we had, and the role the church played in our own lives growing up. We recall the large Sunday Schools, the church picnics and outings. We recall, with fondness, many wonderful memories. We might even remember a bible story or two.

Perhaps we think back to camping trips or dances. Perhaps we think back to New Beginnings or Challenge weekends we’ve sent our children on.

Sometimes, when we gather to talk about youth ministry, we focus on technique. What will keep young people interested? What will attract them to church? What will keep them there in the long run? We’re concerned for the future of the church, and rightly so.

But sometimes we’re just spinning our wheels. Sometimes we spend far more time trying to find the latest tricks and techniques than we do remembering what brings us together in the first place. Sometimes we forget God’s story, into which we have all been invited.

We are created in God’s own image. We are loved by the God who constantly offers us hope and new life through self-sacrificing love. We have been entrusted with the stewardship of all of God’s good creation. We are a called-out people who follow Jesus in proclaiming God’s upside-down kingdom to all we encounter. We are co-heirs with Jesus of this kingdom, which will one day be fully revealed.

This gospel is astounding. It is good news for all people. Yet we struggle to communicate that sense of awe and wonder with one another. We are recipients of God’s grace and mercy against all odds. And in all of this, as the Rev. Canon Bill Cliff pointed out to the 1000 gathered teens and leaders at the Canadian Lutheran Anglican Youth Gathering, God always acts first.

This is mind-blowing stuff. Do we treat it that way? Do we live that way? Can we articulate what it means for ourselves to be a part of God’s family? If we cannot, how then will we communicate the importance of our Christian faith and Anglican tradition to our children?

In “Almost Christian,” Dean goes on to share four significant traits that teens committed to their Christian faith hold in common:

1) They have a personal story about God they can share,
2) A deep connection to a faith community,
3) A sense of purpose,
4) A sense of hope about their future.

And these things are as important for teenagers as they are for adults. Dean continues: “If teenagers lack an articulate faith, it may be because the faith we show them is too spineless to merit much in the way of conversation.” As a church, if we’re to get this youth ministry thing right, we too will need to develop the traits Dean speaks about. The research is nearly unanimous: parents matter most in shaping the religious lives of their children.

If youth ministry is important to us, we will find the words and ways to articulate our own stories about God. We will connect more deeply with our faith communities. We will seek to understand our purpose and God’s call on our lives, and we will place our hope in God’s future.

Youth ministry is simpler than we think yet it does require something of us. It requires that we share our lives with young people, and that we model in thought, word and deed, what it is we believe. This is something we can do together. Will you join me?

We have rules about these kinds of things. We have rules, and we attach age limits to them. 14, 16, 18.

Now then. At what age does a person become a full member of the body of Christ? At what age is a young person given a voice in the church? At what age do we hand them the keys? At what age do we release them into their God-given vocations?

I’ll understand if you want to take a moment to grab a pen and paper for the theological mathematics. Or, if you’d prefer, pull out a mat and a trampoline for some further mental gymnastics. I know we all explore these questions in different ways.

So what’d you come up with?

Did you sense that the answer is different in theory and practice? That it might change from church to church and person to person?

Even though from the time of baptism, our children have been signed with the cross and marked as Christ’s own forever, we still wrestle with the idea of empowering youth leadership.

At baptism, we pray that God sustain the baptized in the Holy Spirit; that God would give inquiring and discerning hearts; courage to will and to persevere; spirit to know and to love God; and the gifts of joy and wonder in all God’s works.

Baptism is one thing. Confirmation is another. If baptism is about God’s covenant, confirmation is about commissioning. It’s about the decision and proclamation of our active participation in God’s mission for others. We are commissioned in the midst of a community replete with others who have made this commitment themselves.

For my part, I was confirmed at the age of 29. As someone who came to the Anglican Church later in life, confirmation was about publicly offering myself in service to Christ’s church. In the midst of my parish community, it was a public commitment to live into the ministries with which God has entrusted me.

Praying over me on All Saints Day this past year, Bishop John said: “Renew in this your servant the covenant you made with him at his baptism. Send him forth in the power of that Spirit to perform the service you set before him; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.”

These powerful words resonate with me still. It’s incredible to see young people committing themselves to follow Jesus. And yet, I think I would be more excited if confirmation didn’t all-too-often mark the time when young people graduate out of the church.

In some instances we make deals with our children: “you only have to come to church until you’re confirmed.” In others, confirmation is a cultural phenomenon – We see young people at the appointed time for confirmation, and then they slip back out into the night.

But what if we expected more of young people than the “fact” that young people simply leave the church in their early teens? Have they no spiritual yearnings? If they do, where are they going to explore them? Why can’t the church go there?

Let’s step back and play with the idea of graduation for a moment. If confirmation is like graduation, isn’t it about a graduation from one thing to another? If true, what comes after confirmation?

What if this rite of passage carried more weight? What if it ushered young people into greater responsibility? What if it amplified their voice? What if it handed them the keys to the church? What if it empowered them in their God-given vocation?

These times of transition aren’t easy. My mom tells me about her nervousness on my first day of school. My parents were terrified when I first got my license. The first summer I didn’t join the family on vacation, in order to work, was a difficult transition. And yet, each of these milestones contribute to the people we are today.

As we prepare young people for confirmation, are we preparing them to embrace their God-given ministries? Are we empowering them to ask questions about how they might participate in God’s mission to the world? Are we encouraging them to dream God’s dreams for the world they know (and the one we find so mysterious)?

If the church is going to thrive, and to minister in all generations, we need to create more space for young people to take ownership of their faith and opportunities for them to embrace the ministries of the church. It is part of the Baptismal Covenant, after all.

Could confirmation be the place where this could happen?

I’m hoping that after we’re done with all of the theological mathematics and mental gymnastics we can handle, the answer is yes.

Of course, Kenda puts it a lot more softly than this. But no matter. This is an interesting place to start. It should, inspire those of us in churchland (whether young people or adults, whether youth leaders, or clergy or whatever) to ask some important questions.

Do we really suck? If so, why do we, and furthermore should we continue in this so-called sucking? If our churches don’t demand that adults become committed disciples of Christ; if our churched adults don’t model the lifestyle of discipleship; if adults themselves cannot, then, actively participate in their childrens’ faith formation, how then can we expect the faith life of our children to grow? It’s all connected.

Which is why we should divert ourselves from the matter at hand and fight about prayer books. For my part, I’m looking forward to reading Kenda’s book. In the meantime (while I await its arrival), I’m looking forward to reading Tony’s analysis.

The past few weeks have involved planning for September, preparing Synod reports and workshops, working on the partnership agreement for The Open Table, writing a grant proposal, and sitting in on some interviews for a parish looking to hire a new half-time youth minister. That seems like more than enough to keep me busy until September hits again.

In my reading this past week, I came across an interesting blog post speaking about the investments we make in youth ministry. How do the time and money we put towards ministry amongst youth and young adults affect their active participation for years to come? Do they stay? Do they leave? How are they involved?.

I found this to be one of the more interesting quotations from the article:

“For evangelicals, if children and youth are not enjoying church, it is the church’s fault and evangelical parents either find a new church or try to improve their youth ministry. For liberals, the tendency is the reverse; if youth do not find church interesting it is their problem. Evangelicals are simply more interested and invested in reproducing the faith in their children and youth and their churches reflect this priority.”

These observations come from a book entitled “Evangelical vs. Liberal: The Clash of Christian Cultures in the Pacific Northwest” which explores the differences in worldview and practice in these poles of the American protestant church.

It got me thinking about how this spectrum of perspectives plays out in our context. As Anglicans of a spectrum of theological views in Central Canada, how do these observations translate? How do we respond to the needs of our young people? How do parents in our congregations make decisions about their childrens’ faith formation? What can we learn from the approaches of evangelicals, liberals, and everyone in between?

If you’ve got any thoughts, I’d love to hear from you. I’d love to hear more about what we need to be doing to support youth ministry in our parishes, and how we can encourage healthy, vibrant, and growing youth ministries. I hope that we can continue the conversation throughout the year! Email me, or get back to me in the comments section below.

For the new The Open Table partnership amongst several Anglican parishes and churches from 4 denominations, it means that things are wrapping up for the season. It’s hard to believe that an idea hatched in Spring 2009, just celebrated its last meal of the season at All Saints Sandy Hill.

I want to thank the dedicated folks from All Saints Sandy Hill, Church of the Ascension, St. John the Evangelist, St Thomas the Apostle and St. Mark’s Ottawa who took part in supporting this ministry over the course of this year. Working alongside our partners from the Lutheran, United and Presbyterian churches, these Anglican parishes contributed time and energy and food and space and money towards seeing this project through it’s inaugural year. What a year it’s been!

It never ceases to amaze me what God is doing in our midst. For me, one exciting place I’ve seen the spirit move is in and through the supporters, volunteers and participants in The Open Table – the meals, the retreats, and even our big event with Shane Claiborne this past spring. Perhaps you’ve seen similar things amongst your dedicated youth ministry volunteers, parents, youth, and from time-to-time even amongst paid ministry staff ;0)

It’s a joy, and it’s a challenge to minister an ever-changing context. Perhaps you feel that in your parishes, in your youth ministries, and in the other areas you minister.

One of the ongoing challenges as we pioneer new ministries to reach a wide variety of people is our desire to nail down all the details a little too quickly; To ask so many questions about what it is and how we can box it up and sell it (to the parents, kids, parish council, whomever…), that we don’t allow it morph and grow to meet the ongoing needs of everyone involved (not just the “leadership”).

Even though I find myself tripping on those impulses from time to time, I hope and pray that this emerging community never stops working through opportunities to grow, and morph, and succeed. I hope that we never stop learning from our mistakes, and when we fail, we fail well.

It’s going to happen. It does happen. We’re trying new things, and we’re learning from them. But we’re also convinced of the importance of inviting young adults to embrace God’s mission and their own ministries in the world. And in the midst of this we’re seeing exciting spin-offs, including the birth of an intentional Christian community. These are exciting times! Did I mention that none of us planned that?

The one thing that we keep batting around, and that we haven’t moved on yet is this nagging question: what might a worship expression look like coming out of The Open Table? Participants have asked this question. Some of the leadership team are asking it as well. And yet, it still hasn’t felt like the right time. This week I breathed a bit of a sigh of relief as I read Bishop Graham Cray’s thoughts in the most recent edition of Expressions, the Fresh Expressions newsletter in the UK:

“One of the most common misunderstandings about fresh expressions is the belief that they are new types of worship service. It is an understandable mistake as worship lies at the heart of the life of the church, and fresh expressions are new congregations or churches, (not rebranded or experimental church services). There is also an honourable stream within, and pre-dating, the Fresh Expressions initiative, called ‘alternative worship’. However, our recommendation is that the shaping of an act of worship normally lies near the end, rather than at the beginning, of the planting process.”

The reality is, I’m not certain that we’re at that stage yet.

An incredible community is forming. We are excited to see upwards of 70 young adults at any given meal. We’re excited to see the intergenerational connections being made. And we’re excited to see congregations from a variety of denominations working hand-in-hand to minister amongst young people. There are so many little things about this little experiment that challenge and encourage us.

And yet there’s always this impulse and push to define things. To draw these young people into a Sunday morning church. To create a worship expression on their behalf. At the same time, Bishop Cray’s words ring true. Perhaps we’re not ready for that. Perhaps this intergenerational group has to grow as community for a while longer before they move towards expressing worship in an organised fashion. Perhaps we need to come to know one another more deeply. Perhaps we need to have more conversations about what it means to be worshippers of God in this context. Perhaps we have more yet to learn.

In his article, Bishop Cray goes on:

“Ideally fresh expressions are planted following a process of prayerful listening, and making relationships through acts of service. But if the initial point of contact is a worship event it can only be one which it is hoped the relevant people will like, rather than one which they are involved in shaping, or which we can shape for them with greater care, because we know them. There is also a danger of self indulgence, of creating an event which suits us, or which relieves the frustrations we have with the worship in our own church. ‘I like it so they will as well’ is not the way to plant. What Mission-shaped Church called ‘dying to live’ challenges us to sacrifice our preferences for the sake of what is appropriate for others. Finally it is likely that the result will be an event to attend rather than a church community to which to belong. If there is no intention to form a new congregation, it is not a fresh expression ‘of church’.”

With The Open Table, we’re beginning with community. Over time, a distinct worship expression might evolve. It might not. I suppose it partially depends on the kind of community that continues to form around the Table, and the direction it needs to go. For now, we have an incredible opportunity to minister amongst this diverse group of people. We have the opportunity to encourage them in their God-given ministries (as they encourage us in ours). We have the opportunity to accompany one another on our faith journeys, to prompt one another with questions about the ways in which faith and life might intersect.

And in all of this, we have the joy of knowing that the spirit continues to move in our midst. As you seek to pioneer new ministries in your communities, and as you respond to your various ministry contexts, my prayer is that you will be constantly challenged, and constantly tell the stories of God’s faithfulness, and the movement of God’s spirit in your midst.

I get asked this question time and again (and it’s a great question – with an ever-shifting answer!). We all approach this question, as askers or hearers, with our own assumptions. Maybe those assumptions have programs or curricula attached to them. Maybe they have particular outcomes in mind (keep the kids out of trouble, instill moral values, increase biblical literacy, make good friends). These are all important aspects of our ministry amongst youth, and they speak to some of the ways in which we minister, the programs we administer, and the topics we cover in our ministries.

And yet, as communities of faith centered around the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, our task is much more holistic. In our ministries amongst youth – as in our ministries amongst children and adults and seniors, we invite young people to join an awe-inspiring cloud of witnesses that includes thousands upon thousands of patriarchs and matriarchs of our faith. We invite them, as we have been invited, to follow Jesus with our whole lives, and to participate in his ongoing ministry in this world.

It’s a challenge, isn’t it, to figure out how to incorporate faith stuff into our youth ministry? Sometimes we stop and rejoice that we have a group of youth willing to meet, and in the church, for that matter. This is something in which we should rejoice, and yet our task, as Christian Educators and Mentors and Youth Ministers and Priests is to invite these young people into the whole life of the church.

After a week of watching bits and pieces from General Synod, of hearing the stories of the young actors from Roots Among the Rocks, of reading some books reflecting on Jesus’ call to enter friendship amongst people on the margins and of hearing the words of National Indigenous Bishop, Mark MacDonald when he said:

“We have become a church that the poor cannot afford. We need to become a church that can spread the Gospel in all marginalized areas in this land…We will be trailblazers in that.”

I wonder what that would mean if we embraced that as a church. I wonder how that would change the way we approached youth ministry. Would we be focused solely on the children of parishioners, or would we, as Bishop Michael Curry suggested when he was speaking out our diocesan stewardship conference, look outside the doors?

We have the opportunity to invite young people into God’s mission, and to the mission of the church. God’s mission exciting, and it demands much of us. It calls us into transformed, passionate lives lived for the life of the world. Our call, and the call God has extended to the young people in our midst is one for wholeness and shalom extending to the ends of the earth. God’s call is one of reconciliation, and it is a call that changes everything.

How might we invite young people into that kind of passionate life? I’m guessing that a lifetime of crafts and lectures and playing ridiculous games won’t get us there. Those things will be highlights along the way, to be sure. And yet, if we are calling young people to live into God’s mission, we have to wonder (alongside St. Paul):

But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent?

Each of us, as baptized Christians have been sent. We have each been given a ministry, and each of us has been called to invite others into realizing the ministry of our baptism. So today, I’d like to call you, and encourage you in your ministry amongst young people. And I want to leave you with the Five Marks of Mission our church has embraced. It is something that gives focus to the life and ministry of our church – from each of us as individuals to the worldwide Anglican Communion.

What if our ministries amongst youth lived into this as well?

How would that change what we did, and how we did it? How would it change what we invited our young people into? And how might it change our lives, as we sought to live more deeper into God’s call on our church:

To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom
To teach, baptise and nurture new believers
To respond to human need by loving service
To seek to transform unjust structures of society
To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth

Here are some notes via The Anglican Journal from Judy Steers’ presentation at General Synod. But before we get to that, a quick reminder that you can keep up to date on General Synod by viewing “Synod on Demand” on Youtube or by following General Synod on Twitter (#gs2010). There are apparently some tech-savvy Anglicans to be found out there!

Also – Be sure to check out Roots Among the Rocks (premiering tomorrow at General Synod) as they make their stop in Ottawa on Friday June 18, 2010.

Why are you wasting your PhD doing youth ministry? You should be out there doing real ministry.”

This view, encountered by one of her youth ministry colleagues, is all too common throughout the church, said Judy Steers, the co-ordinator for youth initiatives for the Anglican Church of Canada.

“It is up to you to get rid of that attitude anywhere you see it,” Steers told delegates to General Synod 2010. “I am sending you out as 350-odd prophets advocating for youth ministry.

Quoting from Kenda Creasy-Dean’s book The GodBearing Life: The Art of Soul Tending for Youth Ministry, Steers asserted that “Youth are looking for a heart-waking, soul-shaking, world-changing God to fall in love with.”

Seen almost as a luxury, youth initiatives “are often the last thought of and first eliminated,” said Steers. A couple of years ago, she pointed out, a lot of dioceses renewed their commitment to youth ministry. Then came the economic crisis, which was felt strongly at all parish, diocesan and national levels. Youth positions were among the first to be cut.

“There has been a pattern of sporadic youth ministry commitment, which is damaging and more counter-productive than no youth ministry,” said Steers, adding that it can lead to disillusionment. “This is a challenge to the wider congregation,” she said. “If the ministry of the community…is focused on self-preservation, is disconnected from the world around it or is lacking in passion, congregations shouldn’t be surprised if young people aren’t excited about coming onboard with that.”

Often, youth ministries are cut with the idea that volunteers can step in to replace them, said Steers. “… if you don’t have anybody who’s got the training and experience in youth ministry to direct projects… to provide leadership to committed volunteers, [there’s] a big gap.” The national church can help by providing training and resources for people to do good ministry, she told theAnglican Journal.

The good news? Some of this training is already taking place, and Steers highlighted recent successes and upcoming events made possible with funding from foundations, grants, fundraising, cost-recovery based programs and “massive amounts of volunteer energy.”

They include:

*the first national Anglican youth ministry forum, Generation 2008. “Ties and relationships were forged that led to many new initiatives, training opportunities, collegial networks of support and more, right across the country,” said Steers.

* the National Anglican youth website www.generation.anglican.ca, launched in 2006, now provides resources for youth ministry in more than 40 countries;

* Five annual Justice Camps have been held to support a new generation of young people committed to social justice;

* The national youth leadership program, Ask & Imagine, which is operated by Huron University College in partnership with the Anglican Church of Canada.

* Common Ground 2011, a forum and training opportunity, will bring together Anglicans with a passion for youth ministry as well as Lutherans, Presbyterians and United Church members.

In the fall of 2007, Council of General Synod (CoGS) established the Youth Initiatives Task Force, which recommended that youth ministry not be limited to youth groups. “Youth ministry is what you do, whatever you do. Invite a young person to come alongside you, whether you teach, preach, visit, plan, act, work for justice, whatever it is that you do,” Steers said.

So the group is home. Everyone, that is, except me. I guess you gotta love it when the airlines overbook the flights, and everyone shows up at the gate. Anyhow – we promised that all the participants would get home in one piece. We forgot to include the leaders in that. Perhaps next time!

Tonight will be a night of sleep back home (for most everyone) in our own beds, and the comfort that brings. Even with the comfort of our beds, I suspect that some of us will find ourselves more uncomfortably reflecting back on the past week and each little moment that caught us from a different angle, caused us to ask questions, and to seek answers. Why is this world the way it is? What can we do about the bits that are in need of a little TLC?

This has been a week of new experiences, and all in a culture not altogether unlike our own. New Orleans may have quite the sassy reputation, and it may have a variety of differences from our home culture in the diocese of Ottawa, but at the base are people in relationship with one another, in the midst of a set of circumstances in which everyone needs help in one form or another (whether acknowledged or ignored).

This is as true of New Orleans, Louisiana as it is of our homes in and around Ottawa, Ontario.

Over the course of the week we’ve had the opportunity to ask ourselves what it’s been about this trip that’s been so different from our lives back home. Why is it that we’ve been so open to the stories around us? What is it about this place that’s connected with us at a deeper level – a soul level?

Perhaps it’s been the unfamiliarity. We don’t know this place, its streets, how to get around. We don’t talk in southern drawl (unless we have a propensity for adopting local accents), and we’re not used to such open hospitality. Perhaps that’s what’s throwing us of guard. Perhaps it’s something else.

There is something to be said about the draw of community. About the loyalty to family, no matter what. Down in New Orleans, like everywhere else, it’s impossible to choose your family. But in New Orleans, that seems to mean something more. The family is core to existence. Even if family steals from you, is thrown in prison, whatever…they’re still your blood.

I wonder what we as the church can learn about true community from this example.

Reflecting back on this strange connection to a city and people in the southern United States, I think that there might be something important about the unfamiliarity of our circumstances that has granted us new perspectives. Perhaps that’s why pilgrimages like this one are so valuable – they furnish us with the opportunity to look at life from a different angle. They provide us with new tools for understanding the world, and broaden our localized perspectives.

Unfamiliarity helps us to see that the story is much bigger than simply my story, your story, or even our story. Unfamiliarity, analogy and metaphor help us to see things from different angles. And perhaps, if we’re paying attention, this same unfamiliarity will help us to understand that this is not just about you or me, but also, and primarily, about God’s involvement in this broken/beautiful world.

And this is a world where we get to help. This is a world where we get to participate in God’s mission. A mission to care for, to be stewards of God’s good creation, to build houses, to plant gardens and to love everyone.

Those things helped us to frame our experiences here in New Orleans – the prophecy of Jeremiah 29 aided us as we came down here to help build houses, to plant new seeds of hope, and to love everyone we met in whatever way we could. That’s what we did, and that’s what we as a team hope to continue to do upon our return. What a challenge!

It may be a challenge, and yet it is all too simple. Build Houses. Plant Gardens. Love Everyone. It’s what God calls the church to do. Whether we like it or not, whether we heed it or not, this is what God is calling us to. And if we are to truly be the church, then I guess we better get out of those pews, roll up our sleeves and find ways to live this out at home, in whatever way we can.

Because if we don’t…if we refuse to be renewed by our gatherings as church in order to move out and seek the welfare of our cities, towns, and all of our neighbours, what could that possibly mean about the state of our faith?

Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

Jeremiah 29:5-7