Open to Change

I was home from college this past weekend, and my family and I went to church on Saturday night. This was much different, though, because we didn't go to the church I grew up in. We attended a church called Autumn Ridge in Rochester, MN which is the one they have regularly started going to. We have gone to Autumn Ridge a few times, as I've grown up, for a change in pace every now and again. However, my family is making the complete transfer now, and I was very skeptical as to why they would want to do that.

My other pastor always gave exceptional sermons full of hearty content including historical background and various viewpoints. I loved the sermons for these very reasons because I was a hungry Christian who came to eat, and I was most often fed like a guest at a royal feast. I attribute much of my spiritual growth to the pastor I grew up listening to, and I never had a doubt that he loved watching me grow, both up in stature and beauty and down as I rooted myself in Jesus Christ. So, it makes sense that I would be pretty averse to sitting in a different church when I came home this weekend.

We walked in and sat in the back, which was fine. The back row is never a thing to be ashamed of, but I usually love to sit up front and be as engaged as possible with what's being taught. This was quite acceptable, though, because once again, I was in a new place full of people I didn't know. I've been dealing with that a lot this past year, and I prefer to fade into the shadows when those situations arise.

The music began and it was stellar! I was blown away by the talent of the musicians on stage and the ways that they worshiped when they played. It was not merely a show for them, as I have witnessed from so many other praise teams. They worshiped. I was also shocked by what occurred between the song. Yes, I said between, because do you know what there was? Silence. There was silence. Typically, what you hear is a filler interlude that leads into the next song, but Autumn Ridge did not do that. It was DEAFENING. Oh, but it was good, because you could just feel the presence of God with such full intensity. That still small Voice was all of a sudden quite loud.

I looked around and the other members of the congregation worshiping, and what I saw hit me like a ton of bricks in ways I'd never seen before. People of generations well before my own were singing these songs wholeheartedly, too. I'd always thought they hated the new music that's become modern worship, and here they were singing just as I was. I realized the people of this church wanted to connect with the younger generations and desired to worship with all of them as one body. They maybe weren't so keen on the new electronic melodies and repetitive words, but still they sang to glorify God with all of their brothers and sisters. What an example to set! My eyes were opened and I saw then that Autumn Ridge probably wasn't the only place where this occurred. I'd been living with the wrong perception of older generations all along.

I have always had some sort of reverence for people much older than myself, because they've experienced a great deal of life. It perplexes me as to how people in nursing homes sometimes are treated as small children when really they have exuberant amounts of stories to share and love to give. When I was still blessed with her company, I used to love occasions where we visited my great aunt, Norma. She seemed to remember everything and I got to see small glimpses of her childhood. Sometimes, I even felt as though I was spending time with my grandpa when he showed up in her stories.

It's because of those reasons that ending generational segregation is so crucial to our younger people. To me. Yes, a single generation can learn much from everyone in their own generation, but it's the older ones that have experienced and already learned far more. By paying attention to them, youths can develop models of how they ought to live and pursue Christ.

In the same way, the older generations can look upon the youths and be reminded of the childlike character that Jesus spoke of. The youths can show them that just because something is new does not necessarily mean it is dangerous to the church. New music styles, for example, do not define the faith of a Christian. I was overjoyed this last weekend, because I saw older generations that embraced this in ways I don't think I've ever been called to notice before. My eyes were opened, and I still have much to learn from everyone around me.

#People #God #Church #Generations