In light of last night’s events, the announcement of Bin Laden’s assassination, I will not be blogging about Sr. High Transitional issues.
After hearing President Obama’s announcement last night, I quickly signed onto facebook to see what people were saying. As you can imagine, and might have seen, there was a wide range of different responses from "partying in the streets" to frustration.
As I sat there on facebook, what I thought was interesting was that little to no High School or Jr. High students made any of their own personal comments on the event. I started to think about why they were not updating their status like the rest of the world. With AP exams coming up, I assumed that maybe many of them were to busy studying to have the time to update facebook, but when I looked at who was online, many of my student’s faces were there. I had no idea what was going on. I mean, for some students, a loud car goes by and they are on facebook up dating their status, yet a large event like this they have no response?
All of a sudden I realized that many of these students have not known a world where “the war on terror” did not exist. Think about it, the current teenage students were one to eight years old when the events of 9-11 took place. Even as a child, they might remember some of the images of 9-11 that were broadcast on the news, but they didn’t have the cognitive ability to realize the gravity of these events on this culture, economy, and the world. That is why there was nothing from teens on facebook, because they were unsure about what this might mean for them and the world.
After a little, I updated my status. A few minutes later, I started to get “likes” from a good group of students, but no comments. Then another observation hit me, they where wanting to process what was happening, but didn’t know how to, so they were waiting, watching, and learning.
Even though many of today’s teens might not remember what the world was like before “the war on terror,” that does not mean that they did not comprehend the weight of the event that occurred yesterday, they where just unclear how to respond to it. For this reason, I urge you to take sometime this week and sit down with your teens and talk about this event and what it means to respond to an event like this.
There is no better time to create conversation about what this event means, or events like this one, might mean to us and the world. Or, what this event communicates to us about our culture and world to teens. Christian teens all over the country will be looking to the church, to their parents, and to their faith leaders to see how to respond as people who are in the process of forming their faith. Whether people want to deny it or not, this event is a milestone in “the war on terror” and many people will see this event as a turning point in this war, and maybe even with our own culture and economy. Teens might be wondering what this event means? How are they supposed to respond? Is the world going to change, and if so, how?
Not only are there questions about what this means for our lives, families, and country, but there are also some deep theological questions within this event. What does this event tell us about justice, forgiveness, war, and judgment? What does God say justice is? Is this justice? What does Jesus say about forgiving those who hurt us? Can we forgive Ben Laden now? What about war? Is this an act of “just war?” Did Bin Laden final face the judgment he deserved for his role in 9-11? What is our role in judgment? What is God’s role in judgment? Can someone who did something like Ben Laden, be forgiven by God?
I pray that as you sit down with your families, your youth group, or small group that they Lord guides your conversation. That he uses this conversation to inform your teens about what this event might mean for our country and how Christians should respond to events like this.
No comments:
Post a Comment