I’ve been wondering…where do I fit in?
Here’s the breakdown:
1927-1945 Silent Generation or Traditionalists
1946-1964 Baby Boomers
1965-1983 Generation X or Busters
1984-2002 – Gen Y or the Millennials
2003-Current Gen Z or the Digital Generation
I am in Generation X. I also have three kids who are Millennials. We are all wondering where we fit in but I don’t know if this chart helps.
I happen to think we are more alike than different.
Regardless of when we were born, there are some things that never change.
I think you can be smart and successful and happy if you know a lot of stuff about the “now”. If you are tech savvy and post cool pictures on Instagram and know how to work a crowd you will probably have a lot of friends and be really cool. I think you can rock the world with your perfect abs and your reality show and your million followers on Twitter. I think you can create a life for yourself that is “of this generation” and you can be “happy”.
But I don’t want to just be “happy”. I don’t want my kids to just be “happy”. “Happy” is temporary and shallow. I want to swim in the deep end.
I want deep down in my bones joy and peace. I want to be wise. And to be wise, you have to know about the things that never change. You must attempt to understand the great mysteries of life. These are common to all of us. We all ask questions like: Who is God? Why am I here? How can I make a difference?
I just read this by Rachel Held Evans and it’s SO GOOD. It’s about the Millennial generation and church. I’ll give you a minute to check it out.http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/07/27/why-millennials-are-leaving-the-church/?hpt=hp_c4
My favorite line in the article by Evans is “We want to be known for what we stand for, not what we are against.” YES! That’s what I’m talking about! For sure! Let’s talk about Jesus! Let’s talk about Grace! Let’s love one another! Let’s encourage and support and be real! Let’s be authentic! Let’s wrestle with our doubts in community assured by God’s promises that we are still known and loved.
Even though I’m not a millennial, I agree with almost everything she writes. One of the things I don’t agree with for me personally is the part about “finding ourselves increasingly drawn to high church traditions”. I’m not drawn to that. Maybe it’s because I’ve been Catholic my whole life and maybe I take it for granted. The traditions are beautiful but I find myself wanting to scream out, “Is anyone awake??? Did you just hear what he read from Scripture??? THAT IS GOOD NEWS PEOPLE!! Wake up! DON’T YOU WANNA DANCE?!?!?”
Maybe if you are used to people dancing and praising in church, you get to mid life and look for churches where people are calm and ritualistic. Since I’ve lived in that world for my entire life, I’m looking for people who want to dance and sing and praise Jesus. Obviously. This is why I’m teaching Holy Yoga.
Speaking of Holy Yoga, I had a woman after class one day tell me that she no longer attends church because she really feels that it doesn’t apply to her life. She is Catholic and she told me that she “doesn’t get anything out of it” but that she loves yoga and feels in communion with God on her mat. I felt the same way when I discovered Yoga. I felt that I had come home. When I was talking to her that night something became very clear to me. She, like all people in all generations, just wants to feel connected to her source and to her community. I picked up the Bible that I had been reading from and I looked her in the eye and said, “This is the TRUTH. And Jesus is the Answer. And it has nothing to do with what church you attend. Even if you are frustrated with the church, don’t get frustrated with Jesus. He is not that. He is love. Read His word and He will lead you.”
As Evans says in her article, “Like every generation before ours and every generation after, deep down, we long for Jesus.”
I picture God and Jesus up there having coffee talking and watching and saying, “What the heck? Do you see what they are doing? They are separating themselves. They are making people feel less than. They are judging and condemning and they are doing it in our name…what happened?”
What did happen?
We forgot our source. We lost touch with our creator. We forgot to read HIS BOOK. He only wrote one. It’s a love letter and a “how to” guide.
As for “how to”…I don’t know but I keep reading Scripture trying to figure it out. Besides reading, there are a few things I intend to keep on doing as I continue to seek that connection to source and community. I intend to pray and love and move my body.
After all, this is GOOD NEWS PEOPLE!
Who wants to dance?
© 2013 Sue Bidstrup, Great Big Yes™ All Rights Reserved