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07434 July 18, 2007
'Holy hope'
Youth Triennium kicks off with plea to be 'God's agents of disruption,' breaking down categories that divide
by Jerry Van Marter Presbyterian News Service
WEST LAFAYETTE, IN - More than 4,000 Presbyterian teenagers from all over the country and around the world streamed into the Elliott Hall of Music on the campus of Purdue University here Tuesday night (July 17) for an exuberant kick-off to the 2007 Presbyterian Youth Triennium.
The theme of the event is "Hope Is In Our Midst," and judging by the raucus two-hour opening celebration and worship, there is plenty of hope left in the PC(USA). Even the reading of Scripture brought thunderous applause.
In energizers, hilarious theatrics by Goose Creek, Inc., music by a five-piece yet-to-be-named electric band with vociferous sing-alongs, a poignant video entitled "Free Hugs" from "YouTube" and numerous spontaneous outbursts by participants, this opening worship had a decidedly Pentecost feel.
At one point, the crowd was chanting in a three-part round: "Peace will abound if you pass it around and it begins with me"; "Justice will bring us a lasting peace"; and "Peace, peace, peace, peace, peace."
Participants were challenged to contribute $25,000 during the six-day event for disaster relief through Presbyterian Disaster Assistance and Emergency Relief Fund of the Cumberland Presbyterian churches, co-sponsors of the triennium.
The Rev. Linda Morgan-Clement, preaching from Romans 8:18-28 and Acts 2:1-13 (the story of Pentecost, of course), started the sermon time with the call-and-response: "God is good, all the time." But she reminded her young audience that they have all arrived here also carrying burdens - disagreements with parents, estrangement from friends, the deaths of family or friends, and loneliness.
"You are struggling with questions that don't have answers. Maybe you have been caught up in an addiction. Maybe you struggle with depression. But God is good all the time and God's spirit blowing through you is a free gift."
The theme of the evening's worship was "Seeing the Signs of Hope." In times of joy, it's easy, Morgan-Clement, Presbyterian campus minister at the College of Wooster in Ohio, said. "But in the times of sadness it's tougher. We have to bring those times, good and bad, together if we are to be the kingdom of God."
Reflecting on the Romans passage, she said Paul's churches were wracked with questions about who is in and who is out, churches facing persecution while still being faithful. "Paul struggles with these questions and comes up with the metaphor of a woman in labor," she said. The metaphor of birth is powerful because it holds all of life's power - pain and fear and hope and joy ... the essence of life ... and death."
The cosmos is groaning in labor, Paul wrote, with all of its pain and promise, Morgan-Clement said. And the same is happening today, and again Christ's followers are called to the search for hope.
"We must look in the right places," she said. Hope is not the same as optimism, she said. "Optimism is that which can only happen if we look for people like us - it only happens when we limit our vision, when we only trust what we can do and do not look to what God can do ... and pretend that we are content."
Hope is also not realism, Morgan-Clement added. "Realism holds us to a vision of the future that is trapped in the present and limits what is possible. Realism is so blind to Christ that we cannot possibly see God's hope for us and for God's creation."
God's hope, holy hope, is what Paul speaks of, she continued. "A holy hope that sees death and resurrection as the way to face the tragedy and redemption that is life in Christ."
The signs of holy hope are present here "in ways that are so simple that you might miss them," Morgan-Clement said. "God wants us to be agents of disruption - disrupting the world's categories of worth and worthlessness, of power and powerlessness - so that God's hope comes alive in you and therefore in God's creation."
This week cast off optimism and realism and the ways they distort God's creation, she implored.. "Let grace abound and love overflow. Let holy hope overtake you."
The 2007 Presbyterian Youth Triennium continues through Sunday (July 22).
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