With the new term upon us, the summer may be feeling like a distant (warm!) memory. Like many youth workers up and down the country, my summer included a residential and a youth festival, and if you’ll allow me, I’d love to take some time to share some of my rambling thoughts about the former with you all.
Cast your mind back to mid-July when the heatwave still felt like a novelty, and imagine yourself checking in 28 teenagers, five youth workers, one vicar, and a Bishop onto a coach in sunny London. This was my reality as we embarked on an 18-hour (give or take, very much loo break dependant) journey to Taizé, France. This trip was arranged in collaboration by YMIC London and YMIC Southwark. YMIC (Youth Ministry in Communion) exists to grow and build exciting youth ministry in churches that sit within more liturgical traditions.
If you’ve never heard of Taizé before, now might be a good time for me to explain a bit about it:
Taizé is an ecumenical monastic community (meaning, Christians of different denominations live together and follow shared daily rhythms of prayer and work) in Burgundy, France. Over the course of a year, they welcome tens of thousands (yes really, TENS of thousands!) of young people and visitors of all ages and invite them to partake in everyday life for a week. This consists of prayer three times a day, Bible reflections, small groups, work groups – which could be anything from serving dinner to setting up the church for prayer –, whilst providing them the space to ask questions about life, the future and the world around them. The community exists to be a tangible sign of reconciliation between divided Christians and separated peoples. Taizé is widely known for its contemplative worship, meditative chants, and fantastic pottery which is hand-made by the brothers and can be purchased on site!
Like most of the teenagers in our group, I’d never been to Taizé before and so I was unsure of what to expect. I went in thinking I’d try something new and spend a lot of my energy encouraging/begging young people to engage. What I found, however, was quite the opposite. Walking into the church on our first evening for prayer with approximately 2,500 others, I was met with deep peace and a somewhat overwhelming, almost tangible sense of the prayers that had been prayed in this space by the thousands that had gone before me. Asking a group of 28 teenagers to chant in languages that are unknown to them, to sit in silence for 5-10 minutes three times a day, and to mop floors just shouldn’t work. The Youth Advisor in me says, ‘don’t even bother trying, you’re setting yourself up to fail!’ And yet not only does it work, but the majority of my small group shared that the times of silence were the highlight of their days there.
Over the course of the week, not only did I feel personally refreshed, but I was also immensely challenged. Challenged with the prospect that I’ve allowed myself to box in both God and young people. Over the past decade of youth work, I’ve found myself, unintentionally, viewing teenagers as simple equations that are predictable and easy to solve, but God, through His kindness, gently but radically challenged my complacency.
When you find yourself in ministry for a chunk of time, it’s so easy to fall into the trap of thinking, ‘I’ve tried that in the past and it didn’t work, so I won’t try it again’, or worse, ‘I’m not convinced that will work, so I won’t even bother giving it a go’. Following Taizé I’ve been challenged to reflect on the areas of my ministry where I’ve gone into autopilot. Where are the areas that I’m assuming young people will respond in a certain way, either positively or negatively, that is then impacting my ability and desire to risk new things? And where are the areas that I’m being invited to have another go?
Humans are not equations. Every single one of us and every single teenager is a unique, beloved child of The Creator of the Universe. We’re unpredictable! And as much as that can be a hinderance, it can also be a beautiful invitation to give things a go; to not assume that we, as adults, will know for certain how a young person will think, feel or respond to what is in front of them. I’m so incredibly grateful for the young people that came with us. I’m grateful that they reminded me that ‘new’, ‘different’ or ‘uncertain’ are not bad things to be avoided, instead, they are exciting invitations into the unknown, into a space where we can make room for God to move, challenge and guide.
Whether your summer consisted of holiday groups, retreats, chaos or annual leave, I hope and pray that it was full of pockets of peace, and that as you enter this new term, you can do so with expectancy. Expectancy to be proved wrong, challenged and led into the unknown, by the kindness and grace of God.