I have a couple of Gen Zers in my household, and so keeping on my toes is essential when it comes to debate and discussion. As well as being a generation glued to electronic devices, and consuming content at a rate like no-one else, they are a generation of 'global citizens' with passion and zeal for causes of righteousness. At least that's what I've found.
A conversation with a Gen Zer the other day got me thinking. They are not so different from the rest of us; although the number of voices and influences in their lives is unthinkably large compared to my experience at the same stage of life. Competing models of ethics and social responsibility can be confusing for those growing up now, and especially for those wanting to add Christian voices into the mix: voices of Scripture, tradition, and their parents!
The discussion centred around the need for us to be thinking. We all need to think clearly if we are to think fruitfully. But I think the challenge is huge for this young generation right now. I was suggesting to my Gen Zer exactly what a good friend had said to me the day before. This friend was speaking about the need to discuss at church leadership level the way we approach certain hot topics of ecclesiology and culture. Key to this is the thinking clearly part. If we want the Bible to shape our theology, indeed our lives, then we have to do the hard job of disentangling it from other voices. The Gen Zer in question got this, but also gets how hard it is to do!
If we want to talk about what the Bible says about something, we have to be able to reflect fully and honestly about what in our convictions and beliefs comes from our own tradition/background/way of seeing the world; what comes from the contemporary culture around us; and what comes truly from the reading of the Bible with all the help we can get from others in the community of faith to read it well.
All of this sent me back to a brilliant speech I've listened to a few times over the years. I don't know about you but there are a few things I go back to over and over, whether books, speeches, sermons, or films. This is Water by David Foster Wallace, a commisioning speech at Kenyon college, a prestigious liberal arts college in Ohio, has been listened to millions of times since Wallace gave the speech in 2005. If you want to think about how to think, and how to do so honestly and with a scary dose of self reflection, I think you'll find it interesting.
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