Date: 20 July 2018

To: UCC Eastern Regional Youth Event

      California University, Pennsylvania

Day’s Theme: Love of Children

RE: “It ain’t Easy… No es Nada de Facil…”

Scripture: Jeremiah 1: 4-10

5 “Before I shaped you in the womb, I knew all about you. Before you saw the light of day, I had holy plans for you: A prophet to the nations—that’s what I had in mind for you.”

6 But I said, “Hold it, Master God! Look at me. I don’t know anything. I’m only a boy!”

7-8 God told me, “Don’t say, ‘I’m only a [child].’ I’ll tell you where to go and you’ll go there. I’ll tell you what to say and you’ll say it. Don’t be afraid of a soul. I’ll be right there, looking after you…”

9-10 God reached out, touched my mouth, and said, “Look! I’ve just put my words in your mouth—hand-delivered!  See what I’ve done? I’ve given you a job…

Your job is to pull up and tear down, take apart and demolish,

And then start over, building and planting.”

Our Theme Song (Modern Scriptures)

This Little Light of Mine

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine

Let it shine, Let it shine, Let it shine.

My Umi Says by Mos Def   

My Umi said shine your light on the world

Shine your light for the world to see

My Abi said shine your light on the world

Shine your light for the world to see

(I want black people to be free, to be free, to be free)

My Abi said shine your light on the world

(Want black people to be free, to be free, to be free)

Shine your light for the world to see

(Want black people to be free, to be free, to be free)

My Umi said shine your light on the world

(Want black people to be free, to be free, to be free)

Shine your light for the world to see

(Want black people to be free, to be free)

Shine Bright Like a Diamond by Rihanna (lyrics written by Sia in 14 min)

Shine bright like a diamond, Shine bright like a diamond

Find light in the beautiful sea, I choose to be happy

You and I, you and I, we’re like diamonds in the sky

“It ain’t Easy… No es Nada de Facil…”

When I was invited to preach a message for this gathering, I was nervous… see it isn’t easy to preach or teach Youth (that is what we are told regularly). Could this be because we who have been told that we are adults are often taught that teaching/preaching a youth message means “dumbing it down”  using simple words that the kids will understand.

But here is a deep secret that adults usually don’t share, not even with each other…  adults don’t necessarily understand the message any more than you do. And, the real reason I am nervous, is because an invitation to speak at a youth gathering means looking at faces that are often marginalized in ways that I know to be ever so problematic…

Rev David yesterday sat with me and paved the way for me to show you my fau0lts… from the soles of my feet to the tips of my ever so perfect curls I know that God loves me, even on days when I only see my faults and can’t quite love myself.

See the church, written with a lowercase c is constantly sending messages across the globe saying that they wanna know how to become a diverse community of faith across lines of difference

saying that they want to know how to keep youth in the church, and young adults too

Saying that we each matter

Saying that they have out banners with rainbows welcoming all expressions of God’s beloved community

Saying that they are immigrant welcoming congregations

And that they welcome the least of these and of us

And yet somehow they want to do new church, weird church, church different

As long as it is and remains exactly the same for ever more…

And I see our faults…

And so, today’s reflection is titled:  “It ain’t Easy… No es Nada de Facil…”

Have you heard the parable that Jesus shared with John’s disciples?  It appears in Matthew 9:14–17, Mark 2:21–22, and Luke 5:33–39. And many call it New Wine/Old Wineskins. In it, Jesus says:

16 “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse.

But I wasn’t asked to speak about being good stewards of this planet or of environmental justice, I was asked to bring forth a message for love of children. And so, let’s continue onto verse 17, Jesus says:

17 Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”

But what happens when we don’t have time to wait for the new wineskins to arrive… when the new wine is needed NOW right now?

Kids, you are new wine.  

We adults holding onto the building and church business as usual, not asking your input or getting your recommendations, keeping hold of the reins of power as though we are in control… we are the old wineskins. When we exclude you from leadership responsibilities and block your input from being heard… And when we attempt to pour you into these old wineskins, these models that for some of us have worked so well in the past…Jesus told us, warned, taught us that the end result would be the wineskins bursting and the wine spilling out changing the old model…

But we need you now… we cant wait for the old to be made new.

When you hear people say that someday someday you will be the church…  I remind you, to remind us that you are the church of today, that God named you for this season too…

And so let me return to today’s actual scripture passage found in Jeremiah 1: 4-10

Before God shaped you and molded you

Before parents made choices that led to you

Before you were a thought

Before your first breath was breathed

God knew you

God loved you

God looked at you

And God called you…

And then you breathed

Through labor and hardships

Through conflicts and fights

Through chaos and music and dance

God reached out, touched your mouth and said: I’ve given you a job.

Your job is to pull up and tear down, take apart and demolish,

[and I like to think that means you are with us in the fight to end systemic racism, the chaos of ineptitude, gender biases, need I continue—— Because, Jesus continued saying:]

And then start over, building and planting.”

Because it is easy to stay stuck in a system that feeds us and is not all the way broken:

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine

But that song may not feel like your generations anthem.  In 1999, Mos Def sang:

My Umi said shine your light on the world, Shine your light for the world to see

My Abi said shine your light on the world, Shine your light for the world to see

Every generation is called to take us farther along on the path towards justice…

And Mos Def named a call to justice… singing: (black people to be free, to be free, to be free) and I want to add: [I want all my people to be free, to be free…I want God’s people to be free, to be free]

For me, Rihanna’s song (as written by Sia in 2012) speak volumes:

Shine bright like a diamond, Shine bright like a diamond

Find light in the beautiful sea, I choose to be happy

You and I, you and I, we’re like diamonds in the sky

Shine bright like a diamond, Shine bright like a diamond….

Rihanna, talking about the meaning of Diamonds said, “I think a lot of people are afraid…because of what others might think of it… They are afraid to embrace that and embrace themselves and love themselves and do what they love and do what makes them happy.”

Her lyrics mention drugs, she often sings of the chaos of her life… and truth be told many would tell you that her words are problematic, that she is not deep, that her message is superficial.  And all that may be true. But I am not her judge.

There is a song that I love amd consider problematically awesome it says: Lord you are good and your mercy endureth forever… it reminds me that that Gods glitter and shine is for me even though I am ever so desperately in need of continued mercy…. and though God is neither male nor female…. God’s mercy is an eternal gift… shining bright in the midst of storms and chaos.

I can say that bullies exist,

that it is easier to fall in line with the crowd than to do what is right

And yet and still…

Today’s message at its core is simply this:

So, here goes:

words are important,

the spoken message is important,

WHY

because,

God is awesome

Love is a gift,

And so are you.

Oooh

Dance can motivate

Music inspires

And lyrics heal

Music inspires

and

Beats and rhythms

Give life

Give love

Shine through the darkness

And you are not the church of tomorrow, you are the church of today.  And I wonder: What is your anthem?

Let us pray…