Our cart was filled with red ink pens, file folders, scotch tape, and blocks of putty for hanging posters. That can only mean one thing for my wife the teacher: back to school. While I walked the aisles beside her, I spotted a family of four. The boy held his dad's hand while he stared back longingly at the bikes. The girl hung her head and walked slowly behind her mother, peeking up every now and then when asked what folder she liked best. I felt like I was watching a funeral. In a way, I was: summer, may she rest in peace.
The same scene is probably being played out right this very moment at your local Target or Wal-Mart. Shopping carts are banging into one another, and they're all filled to the brim with the usual array of school supplies. If two Boston fathers have it their way, there among the High School Musical folders and colored pencils you'll find a backpack - a bulletproof backpack. The long shadow cast by Columbine, Virginia Tech, and other assorted school shootings inspired the two men to design a $175 knapsack that is lined with a lightweight, bulletproof plate. Should a shooting occur, the student need only curl up behind the bag or wear it across their chest for protection ("Back-to-School Armor," TIME [8-27-07], p. 17).
When my dad was a kid, parents would lay awake at night and worry about whether or not their son was wrapped up in a swirl of drink, chew, and girls that do, too. When I was a kid, my parents worried about sex, drugs, and rock and roll. As for today's kid, parents may very well worry whether or not their daughter has taken the time to map out a quick escape from her third period chemistry class or if their son will be brave enough to report the proverbial bad apple to save the whole batch.
It would serve us well as preachers to keep this grave, new world in mind as we hit the ground running with fall programming and new sermon series fit for families. When a bulletproof vest is there among the school supplies, we've got a tall task ahead of us as we offer the Word to the hearts of our listeners. Application concerning parenting isn't as neat and tidy as in the past (as if it ever was - but I hope you get my point). The men and women who populate the rows of chairs under your nose need fresh direction that helps them navigate especially choppy waters. The word you offer to the students among your number isn't quite enough if it only selectively (and safely) addresses what's on their iPods or the clothes on their backs. Talk of whether or not to spank your child or how to help your teenage kid avoid "that" crowd has its time and place for sure. But now is the time to speak to the deep issues of our society's bubbling anger and rage that is terrifyingly boiling over within our children. Now is the time to speak in - here comes a buzzword - missional terms, encouraging parents, teachers, and children to be more of a kindly light that guides than a light that primarily shines to scornfully expose a darkness that does not yet know it's even dark. Now is the time to help the young creatively and incarnationally beat "swords into plowshares, and?spears into pruning hooks."
Perhaps these things are on your radar, and you're wrestling through them in your heart as you prepare to "take the pulpit." I'd (we'd) love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to share them in the comments section. If you want to simply lurk and pray as you weigh these matters as a preacher, know that we are praying for you, asking the Father to give you that deep wisdom and insight that only he can.
Posted by Brian Lowery at 9:41 AM on August 20, 2007
