Come Together

I guess what I like about my Dad's e-mail is it sounds like the "older" generation has NOT (typo before) forgotten us.

I remember a conversation with my buddy John about 2 years ago. He said that our generation is really a bunch of orphans. So many have been abandoned by not only parents but by our elders. Think about the number of broken families and the way our culture has stratified us by age. Nursing homes, workplaces, schools, neighborhoods, are sectioned by age. Now even Facebook! I often hear students at the public schools groan because their parents have entered the Facebook world and now they want to be their friends! (Imagine that, your parent wants to be your friend on Facebook....derrr!) Worse, in the church we have discipleship (Sunday School) and alternative services that cater to specific age groups.

In the course of the past years some of the most valuable relationships in my life have been across generational divides. I actually seek and search for these relationships because the elder men and women have wisdom beyond my years. The guys I play soccer with on Thursday nights, my professors, the mentors at my church, my parents, my grandparents, all people who are so vital in forming me into Christ's church.

With my Dad's e-mail in mind it's refreshing to hear that we aren't just seeking an impossible possibility. I think there are steps to be made by both generations, it's just sad when we can't give up our tradition or humbly accept or limitations to enter the same space. Of all places, the church should be the place where the diversity in the body crosses generations.