More Random Food for Thought

An Emerging church blog from Canada with a list of
emerging churches across the border. Fun and creative names!

At submergence.org * the author mentions rites of passage. She links to an article at Benedson.blogs.com where you'll find a significant conversation about the life and death of churches, suicide, and rites of passage - different threads of conversations intertwined. Really interesting thoughts leaving me with a lot of questions about child-like faith, grown-up faith, and responsibility.

I'm wondering if the closest thing to a rite of passage between childhood and adulthood in our culture is 1) getting a job/moving out on your own/ supporting yourself or 2) getting married if it includes all of # 1. When college comes first, those things are delayed unless a young adult enters college intent on becoming self-sufficient ASAP.

[past posts at Emerging Kids c. accountability and rite of passage: 6/19/07, 12/27/05, 9/14/05]

Yesterday I watched the DVD "Turtles Can Fly" with some of my young adult kids. Preview it. It's not for children. Not sure how old a young person I would show it to. Middle/Late High School? Maybe Middle School...not sure. To say it's a profound statement about the human spirit dealing with tragedy can't even begin to touch the heart of the story. I can't even imagine talking about it. But I don't think you can show it to young people without talking about it...

*Not sure how I feel about monasticism except that occassional retreats are wonderful! Jesus withdrew from time to time but it seems He spent most of His time out in the world. You could argue - "He's God and we're not" so people need to take long focused devotional retreats alone with God. Is it important for the church to have people who are thinking and praying in isolation? Something else worth pondering as branches of the Church revisit monastic experience. Children . . . children raised in less monastic and more monastic communities. That would be the topic of discussion.

Somehow all of this is connected. . .