https://www.quakerranter.org/learning_about_youth_religion/ A Weekly Newsletter and Blog from Martin Kelley Thu, 14 Oct 2010 15:49:29 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://www.quakerranter.org/learning_about_youth_religion/#comment-471 Thu, 03 Mar 2005 00:50:27 +0000 http://www.quakerranter.org/?p=127#comment-471 Sadly, I don’t think it is only young people who are looking for “examples, guidance, goals…” I must count myself among those who, as Isabel writes in her comment, “are looking for a Way, not a place to hang out with like-minded people who won’t challenge them or help them grow…”
For some Friends and attenders, acceptance and feeling welcome are not enough within our meetings (oh dear, I sense I am preaching to the Blog-choir here). Neither is having shared values, though that is a strong starting place. But after that, I hunger for a group that will be there with me in authentic worship, listening together for the Spirit that we know awaits us; a group that will be a part of my journey towards greater obedience to that Spirit, and that will not abandon me physically or emotionally when I risk speaking the truth as I experience it, even if it goes against the majority’s portion.
I have been reaching for Friends who are willing to labor with one another, willing to live in the tension between “We need to move forward” and “We don’t understand how or where God is leading us right now.”
Somehow, like a few others here, I have come across Conservative Friends–Iowa Conservative in particular–as a faith community that might feed my spiritual hunger… though I have been cautioned repeatedly that all Friends have problems.
I continue to look for the next stepping stone of my journey, regardless. When I was only a child, I remember thinking to myself, “I cannot be the only one in the world who thinks like me, feels like me, wants to be honest like me. I cannot be that alone.”
God did not and does not forsake me, and these blogs and each of your own acts of being faithful remind me that there are other seekers, other finders, other Friends out there. We are not all so young; we are not all so old. But I agree with Isabel: what would happen if Quaker Meetings began sharing what they have found, instead of always proclaiming that they are still seeking?
Blessings,
Liz

]]> https://www.quakerranter.org/learning_about_youth_religion/#comment-470 Wed, 02 Mar 2005 10:01:57 +0000 http://www.quakerranter.org/?p=127#comment-470 Great post (again) Martin. And I appreciate your comments, too, Isabel. So inspiring that I’ve offered a blog post as commentary!

]]> https://www.quakerranter.org/learning_about_youth_religion/#comment-469 Tue, 01 Mar 2005 20:52:00 +0000 http://www.quakerranter.org/?p=127#comment-469 Quite interesting, Martin! Something my own meeting does not address is that “young people” are not just looking for acceptance, they are looking for examples, guidance, goals. The idea that we’ll take them as they come does not delight, and in fact annoys and confounds. The young seekers I meet are looking for a Way, not a place to hang out with like-minded people who won’t challenge them or help them grow. I think Quakers have just such stuff as they are seeking to offer, but it seems to be rather buried and obscured. Not just that we’re shy, but that we’re … afraid?

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