Millenials Meet Matisyahu
As I write, the song "Youth" by Matisyahu is pumping through my headphones from My Videos link on Yahoo Music.
http://music.yahoo.com/ar-16201287---Matisyahu
As one born on the threshold between GenX and the Millenials, Matisyahu (Hebrew for Matthew) was a young man wandering aimlessly through life, who found God by turning to Hasidic Judaism and now sings hip-hop reggae -- yes, reggae. Go figure.
Better yet, go watch the video and listen to his music. www.matismusic.com It's powerful spirituality focused on the God of Israel. Millenials are yearning to tap into a vibe of deep spirituality, and even many (read: most) Christian Millenials aren't finding it in mainstream Protestant churches.
Why?
My theory is because churches are so eager to please, so ready to make faith accessible and comfortable to consumers that we fail to offer anything deeper and authentic -- something bigger than all of us that claims our whole lives. Matisyahu found this in Hasidic Judaism. The man who dropped out of high school to follow the jam band Phish on a national tour, found God in a life of discipline.
Dare we say it? DISCIPLINE! That's not appealing to consumers; that's not easy to access. But it does offer a way of life in which we may connect with a spirituality that claims us. The offer requires that we ask people to make a decision. Matisyahu sings:
Now before my Lutheran friends blast me, I'm not talking about decision theology. I'm talking about repentance; I'm talking about conversion; I'm talking about being Jesus' disciple. Because the word 'discipline' turns off consumers, churches hesitate to coach people how to be disciples. But you can't be a disciple without discipline. And churches can't make disciples if they're not willing to hold them accountable to the way of life that seeks to participate in Jesus' mission 24/7/365.
To GenXers and Millenials who are leaving the church in your search for authentic spirituality, allow me to introduce you to the engine of the world. The power is in your hand, and her name is Holy Spirit. She is Jesus' gift of salvation to you. At every moment, Holy Spirit invites you to participate in Jesus' mission of reconciling the world to his Father.
Take a stand. Make your move.
Salvation is at hand. You have the freedom to choose.
The church -- when it dares to be the church -- can help and guide you.
3 comments:
Kevan - it has been a while since I 'checked' in on you, and I just want to say thanks for your words. This post and link to Matisyahu is great. And the focus of your post goes to the heart of what I am studying right now in young adult faith formation and disicpleship. What have we lost when we as a church choose to 'go with the flow' and become secular number seekers? We sell out discipleship indeed because it is too hard, it requires something of people, it calls us to be in that 24/7 relationship.
Hope all is well...keep on writing my friend.
Thanks for checking in on me, Kim. I'm glad you liked Matisyahu, too. He's a regular on my Yahoo tunes. May you be in God's blessing in your ministry.
This is wonderful stuff Kevan; and stop apologizing to our one-dimensional Lutheran peers. Let the dead bury their own as it were...and keep us focused on the God who is acting and turning hearts and minds, transforming personal and corporate cultures RIGHT NOW!
I'm personally really drawn to spiritual disciplines right now; the truth is that I know in my deepest tissues the need (as a follower of Jesus and paricipator in his reign) to have him and his work (and that which he's invited me to participate in) at the center of who I am 24/7/365. I'm thirsty for this orientation more than I ever have been before in my life. And I praise God for this thirst. It comes from Her.
And I'm finding that as a pastor, this authentic burning quest in me is fanning the flames in others; that the hard-work of disicpleship doesn't turn people away; we were designed for the deep stuff. It's a genetic yearning in us that predates the scrambling affects of sin.
Perhaps this is why pledging in my congregation is being so well received; not the simple sort that just involves our pocket books; but the sort that calls us to ORDER all of our lives. We are yearning for the deep soil, and the challenge of "repenting" and leading holy lives.
Praise be to God for the gifts of his grace that free us to do the good works he prepared for us to do before the founding of the world. In him is light and life and freedom!
Nathan
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