It was really exciting to see these young people struggle with what they do believe. They expected, I think, that we (the adults) would simply tell them what they SHOULD believe. And as usual, when asked the first answers were typical answers (the ones they know you as adults want to hear).
But then they realized that the question was serious. If they could choose, which elements from the "articles of faith" would they keep, which would they throw away and what would they add to it? There was a time of discussion to talk about things that they believed. Some of these points included: "That man and animals will always live well together" or "That God will always help me to love animals." There was also mention of "eternal love", "friendship" and "forgiveness".
One of the most interesting points came after everyone had had a chance to say some of the things they believed. We then voted on what should stay or go. What with Idols and such, that is what these kids were used to (and to be honest - that is what a lot of adults would like to think they should be able to do with their "articles of faith"). But they only had three votes! They had two blue (a full "YES") and one red ("maybe?"). At the end, we had a board with the various points blue or red-dotted.
An intriguing point came from the article (mentioned by one of the participants): "That we should forgive because Jesus forgives." This point was one that had the most stickers, but they were mostly red. When discussed it was made clear that many thought this a VERY important point, but they also realized that it was very difficult to do.
Some other points concerned whether there really is life after death, whether God created the earth or what it means to be part of the church. The most exciting point of all of this to me was that these young people were seriously THINKING about all of this, instead of just learning something by rote or writing something down. They will struggle with these concepts, for a little while at least. And that is what we are supposed to do!
No - just because we decide that something shouldn't be on the list does not determine whether it is true or not. We don't get to vote on what is true. But we DO, we MUST decide what we really believe. Belief is not cerebral, it is entire - encompassing our thought AND our life-actions. That is something these young people were exposed to in this weekend and I hope in the coming months and years still.
Sounds like a very good weekend!
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