Peter Walker :: Blog :: They Said "I'm Sorry"...

How Genuine Grace Demands Community
“Pete, we just wanted to call and say… well… we were douchebags back in youth group.”
 

“All those things you talked about – about postmodernism and the church?  Well, we think we're there too now.  We agree.  And, yeah, we're sorry.” 

“Yeah, we were jerks.  You were right.”
 
Last weekend I got that call from several young men who used to attend a Wednesday small group I tenuously led at the local megachurch several years ago.  These boys were funny, good-natured and mostly well-intentioned, but they were also the most loudly condemning of the questions I raised.  I was gentle, especially in that setting, and mindful not to destroy any worldviews.  But I did question the watertight conservative Evangelical worldview they’d been raised with.  And I gave them permission to question, too. 

These three boys called me a liberal, and brought me toy guns as gifts, in hopes I’d be converted to their brand of militant teenage conservatism.  I assured them I had already come from there, and knew all-too-well the worldview they had inherited.
 
Their parents disapproved of me too.
 
The wonderful thing was, the boys kept coming to Wednesday nights.  Granted, one of them stopped for a time.  He was too frustrated after I suggested a Christian might vote for John Kerry for religious reasons.  But he eventually came back (equipped with newly prepared retorts).
 
And now, three years later, they all apologized to me.  With their own eyes, they can see the inklings I shared.  And they’re not afraid – they’re excited by it!
 
Oh, if adults could be so gracious as to sit through stretching sermons and small groups, remaining in community with the folks they disagree with.  Sooner or later, we might all stretch each other.  We might never agree, but the Holy Spirit can’t work among us if we’re not together.  I can’t admit to you that I’m a douchebag if you’re not in the room to hear it.

read more about my thoughts on Christianity in the real world at www.essenceproject.blogspot.com...