Young people are searching for identity, belonging and relationships; however, for the most part, they seem not to be doing this searching in the context of community that we commonly call “church.” Or at least not “church” as we know it. Therefore, in response to this challenge, the Canada Youth 2009 theme of Rooted emerged, both as a concept that could help us claim our faith in God, exploring the roots of who we are, and as a concept that could move our faith and the church forward. A young person’s ability to seek understanding about life in Christ and their journey with God was a fundamental principle throughout the week. The sense that God had laid a claim upon our lives: our living, our moving, our being and even our dying, was a drastically important reality for the participants who function in a strange world that is ever-morphing and changing, hour to hour, minute to minute and second to second.
The theme Rooted allowed us to think about faith in this current context, and what the future of faith might look like, strengthened by our understanding of the ways in which we have been rooted and grounded in love. The daily themes that we journeyed through during our time together in community were as follows:
We began with God who created the world and humanity in love and called them “good.” Believing that we are rooted in the Creator, we explored the initiative that God takes to be with us and for us from the beginning. Unpacking the stories of the creation of the world and humanity, we wrestled to understand what it means to be formed from the dust of the earth in a garden and named children of God. We were challenged to understand both who and whose we are.
Life is a journey with many twists and turns, some that shock and confuse us. Despite our best efforts to live up to the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, we often fall short and feel distant from God. At times we find ourselves and our communities Up-Rooted and we are left feeling separated from each other and from God. We sought to confront the realities of the world in which we live, a world that groans and yearns ever more frequently and loudly for re-creation.
Despite our moments of feeling out of place and separated from the Creator, God is at work. We explored the story of Mary, who finds herself weeping many tears and speaking with a gardener, who is God. We celebrated God’s work of love through Christ, who breaks into human history and transforms a tree of death into a Tree of Life. We celebrated the power that God, as Redeemer, has to transform, not only humanity, but also the whole created order.
Claiming the life and hope that we find in the resurrection, we are Re-Rooted. We shared in the reality that we are called and gifted to be the faithful community of believers. We explored what it means to be the church and how this affects and shapes our daily life and faith. What does it mean to be the family of God in our current world? How do we live a life of authentic faith amidst deep questions and doubts? Who are we called to be as the church?
In order to celebrate our calling to act as the church in the world, we are charged to Branch Out. We attempted to explore the realities of a God who creates a new heaven and a new earth; making all things new. Indeed the end is only the beginning of God’s work, so we are called to go forth out into the world to share that good news!
What an exciting journey we embarked upon as the people of God! As we celebrated the roots of our history, tended to the garden in the present and planted the seeds of hope for the future, we are thankful that we have a God who journeys with us. We are confident that God is still walking in the gardens of life and know that God “is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine.” Thanks be to God!
