1. Isn't it amazing that 6000 Youth all gathered in one place? On a CHRISTIAN retreat? Dude, REALLY? Surely there's been some misunderstanding. I'll close my eyes and y'all can leave if you want to. What? Still here? AMAZING. Didn't you get the word that you're all supposed to be apathetic and shallow? Materialistic texting addicts who can't look away from their little screens for 5 seconds...Oh, excuse me, I just got a text, one second...OK. What? I can multi-task...Well, I reckon you didn't get the memo, 'cause you don't look that way to ME. 6000 youth who are willling to spend their weekend, during the playoffs, freezing their butts off and singing songs about this Jesus guy who lived a couple THOUSAND years ago....And wanting to dance for the Lord like David danced. I swear, alert the media.
2. OK, now that you are STILL here, much to my amazement, let me tell you another amazing thing. I have heard that some of you have been learning that Jesus was a radical, a non-conformist, the kind of guy who probably would NOT win any popularity contests at school. A lover of the unloveable. A helper of the poor and downtrodden. Not necessarily "most likely to succeed." And yet, in spite of that, many of you have the gall to say "I'm with HIM. I'm a Christian. And yeah, I like football, and I watch reality TV, and I'm funny and human and play video games, and yeah, I'm a Christian." You don't have to be boring or prudish or out of touch to be Christian. After all, Jesus wasn't boring or prudish or out of touch!
3. One of the first reality shows of all time was this show on MTV called "Real World." And it started off kind of cool and then it got crazy and then it got lame. But it always started off...this is the true story of 7 strangers, picked to live in a house, and have their lives taped, and find out what happens when people stop being polite and start getting real...the Real World. And I always thought that was funny because the viewers were all living in the Real World to start with. I mean, when I was in high school, if you wanted to see the real world, like, just ride the bus one day. Just one day. Come to my school cafeteria. Real World. The good news is, Jesus came to tug on the Real World of our life. Jesus knows how it is in our Real World...and if you feel misunderstood, and if you feel like a lone wolf, and if you feel lost and alone sometimes or awkward or ugly or just can't fit in, Jesus knows all those feelings. And Jesus can see the real you, the one you are and the one you are going to be. Jesus loves you. The real you. The you that you don't know how to show the world. God has made you in God's image. Even on a bad hair and bad complexion day, you are beautiful and beloved and gifted. Your gifts and passions are there from God, and God wants you to use them to change the world. We have a real savior for our Real World.
4. Youth are not only the church of tomorrow, you are the church of today. And Christianity is a radical, amazing, counter-cultural thing. Teenagers want to rebel, I think I read that in a magazine, somewhere, and be radical, and are almost genetically against the status quo. (My folks were from the Disco generation. Vile, vile music. Thank God we came along to set them straight) Well, listen, Jesus was the biggest rebel of them all and the biggest challenger to the status quo! He said to a world that thought there were no other options than Empire and the status quo...Blessed are the poor, blessed are those who mourn, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness....Is it any wonder that his disciples were the youth of his age--young adults. Breathe some fresh ideas into your church and make it the kind of church you'd want to invite your friends to. Start a skateboard ministry or a band, or a tutoring program. Sometimes we old folk run out of ideas and energy, and y'all have those in spades. Give us your ideas and energy and if we won't listen, do it anyway, and then, we'll catch up. For example, I was at a church in this conference where they were on a mission trip to the Gulf Coast after Katrina. And one of our high schoolers decided it was silly to have to wait a whole year to come back to finish the work because there was so much more to do. She gathered her friends around her and they formed YOAM (Youth on a Mission) and they raised money and came back early. YOAM goes to the Gulf Coast twice a year now. She was 16, 17. Imagine that!
5. With God, nothing is impossible. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. God has a plan for your life, and you can't necessarily see the end of the road from where you're standing. I get that. But I also know we are not alone on the road. And if we aren't sure what the future holds, we believe we know who holds the future. Jesus Christ, God's beloved Son. God So loved the "real world", God so loved you, the real you, the one you try to cover up with makeup and hair and masks...that God sent the Son, so that we might know just how much we are loved and know what we were made for. (I'm often not sure where my keys are, and I've plumb forgot the quadratic formula and lots and lots of stuff I've been tested on in my life), but I realized early on that if I was going to make it in this insane world, it would not be as a lone wolf. It would not be through pretending to be something I'm not. And I realized that Jesus really did love me, even me, with my zit cream, and awkwardness, and Jesus really did have a real idea in mind for my life. And I didn't know what that idea would be, but I was willing to put myself, my faith, my life, in the hands of the One who thought up that idea. When I realized I couldn't be perfect, and I couldn't please everybody, and then I realized there was a God who came to free me from all my mistakes, to love me and let me have a new start every time I screwed up, that's when I decided to throw my hat in with Jesus, the Rebel, the Non-conformist, the Saviour of the world.
6. God does mighty things with crazy kids like you, crazy kids who come to Ocean City for their weekend to sing crazy Jesus songs and freeze on the boardwalk and eat their weight in Gummy Worms from Candy Kitchen. God works up mighty things from folks who thought they were screw ups and dorks and geeks and jocks. God said to Jeremiah, "Don't say you are too young for this work. Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations." Youth, don't say you are too young to take your faith seriously. Don't say you are too young to change the world for the better. Before God formed you in the womb, God knew you, and God appointed you to do some work for the Kingdom. God sends you to be the body of Christ in this world. Don't keep waiting for someone else to do it. God sent you. Don't keep waiting for someone else to speak up. God sent you. Don't tolerate bullying and racism and hate. God sent you. If 6,000 youth can come together for this weekend, and hold each other's hand and begin to see that there are ties between us that make us ONE...beyond our clicks and our groups and all the labels everybody wants to put on us...just imagine what 6,000 youth can do out THERE, in that world, in those schools and in those homes and churches. What if those youth were willing to dance like David danced, but then they were willing to love like Jesus loved and speak the truth to power like the prophets and then what if they went and made their churches into churches that took risks for the Gospel, and fed the hungry and housed the homeless and worked to end malaria in Africa? What if they were willing to put aside all the other labels they claimed or the ones that were put on them and said, wanna know what I am? Before all the other stuff in the "about me" part of my FB profile, I am a beloved child of God. I'm with Jesus. I'm a Christian. I'm not yet what I should be, but I am on my way, I am becoming. Great God a'mighty! Alert the media! Put it on Facebook and Youtube. And then, watch God use them to change the world.
Prayer -- A text msg without a roaming charge... Preach on Pastor Mandy.
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