Talkin’ `bout my/your generation

Last updated on: May 7, 2009 at 1:02 pm by Michelle Van Loon

Talkin’ `bout my/your generation 2009-05-07T13:02:00-05:00 Michelle Van Loon

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A good percentage of us boomers who came to faith in Christ in our teens are the the Jesus Movement‘s direct offspring. But we know that our offspring are increasingly distancing themselves from the kind of faith practice that grew in the rock-n-roll soil of this hippie-style revival. (Check out the trippy chart accompanying this sad, sobering blog post that tells the story of nextgen faith migration.)

So I wonder…what is the legacy of the Jesus Movement?
CCM?
Church buildings that look like corporate office parks and function like religious community centers?
A presentation of the gospel that relies more on making the sale instead of changing a life?
Therapy?
A faddish approach to Christian spirituality that generates a lot of sprinters but relatively few marathoners?
One leader after another after another caught in sexual sin?
Goosebumps as a spiritual gift?
The desire to experience Malachi 4:6 in our families without anyone to show us how because we’d learned that no one over 30 (“suits” and authority figures) was to be trusted?
The Republican Party?
Lifestyles that mirror the ugliest parts of our culture instead of the counter-culture that initially beckoned us?
Power hoarded and spent on ourselves?

My soul cries out, “I don’t want my faith in Christ to be a hiccup in the long history and future of my family, a one-generation “experience”, an abberation. This is not what I signed up for.”

Asaph the psalmist, sang these words as a declaration to the generation up and down the line from himself. This song is a bit of an antithesis to Jesus Movement values:
O my people, hear my teaching; listen to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in parables,I will utter hidden things, things from of old-what we have heard and known, what our fathers have told us.We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD,his power, and the wonders he has done. (Ps.78:1-4)

A few weeks ago at a local prayer conference, I had the privilege of teaching a workshop on the parable of the persistent widow. About 75% of the people in my workshop were there because they had prodigal kids. Maybe a better way to put it was that there were a lot of us in that room whose kids weren’t buying the kind of faith our generation has been peddling. The sobering reality that the malnourished generation behind us is eschewing the empty calories of boomer faith culture and is in search of something substantial. Something like the kind of sustenance Asaph encouraged his peers to feed to their children: parables, testimonies, demonstrations of God’s power. The call was to introduce children to the wonder of God Himself instead of a diet of spiritual Twinkies, disposable trinkets and forgettable experiences.

At times, I have been guilty in my own family of participating and promoting Christian sub-culture instead of Christ – and I grieve this. I mourn my willingness to be parented by my peers (a core value of the Jesus Movement) instead of learning to be a part of a kindgom community with older, wiser voices who could sing Asaph’s lyrics in my life. And at the same time, I bless the work of the Spirit, the messy and miraculous way He was moving among an entire generation of lost children like me.

As I move toward my 50th birthday, I wish only one gift for my kids and for all of their generation: Faith that will save them from their sins, and from the consequences of ours.

Agree? Disagree? Why?

Uncategorized

Previous Post

May 1, 2009

Waiting at gate C-8 at Ben Gurion Airport

Next Post

May 12, 2009 Ritual

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Baggage Books Calendar Church and Ministry CVID Ecclesiology Everyday Christian life Faith Falling Upward From The Margins Housing Jesus Movement's Unintended Consequences Midlife Midlife Survey #1 Midlife Survey #2 Moments and Days Out To The Margins Pilgrim's Road Trip Regret Seminary Spiritual Formation Uncategorized What's A Nice Jewish Grandmother Like You Doing In Seminary? When The Heart Waits Writing

Select a Month June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What was the outcome of Sennacherib's army attacking Jerusalem?

Select your answer to see how you score.

The city fell They won Destroyed by an angel They captured Hezekiah