.by Rev. Bob Johnson
I have nearly completed my time with you as an interim pastor at the Lake Lillian Lutheran Parish. Reflecting a bit, I see many positive and wonderful things about this whole area. On the other hand, the influence that the parish has here, or for that matter the influence any Christian parish has had, has declined. Many seem to believe Christianity is a sometime thing, and it counts for nothing. Yet while attendance at worship has declined, single-parent homes have increased, teen suicide has tripled, the number of married couples with children is much less by 30% and serious crime among juvenile offenders has increased dramatically by 200% in 12 years.
You may be wondering what facts there are to back this up. Since 1970 the growth in single family homes has increased by 225% from 4 million to 9 million. Married couples now comprise 26% of the population which is down from the 40% in 1970. The average child has watched 10,000 televised murders and 150,000 acts of violence before finishing elementary school. One in six young people between the ages of 10 and 17 have known or seen someone who has been shot. Children under 18 are 244% more likely to be killed by guns than they were in 1986. An estimated 70% of juvenile offenders come from single-parent families.
Young people today live in fear and see the world as "bad". They worry their elders will reinstitute the draft and they will be fighting a war they don't want. Further, children are left more and more to fend for themselves. They are given the message there are strange hostile adults, mysterious economic forces that can destroy their families, and dangerous sexual enticement they don't understand. Perhaps the most frightening statistic of all is the one that states less than 5% of parents speak to their children about morality or give them sound sexual information, and less than 2% speak of their Christian beliefs to their children with any regularity.
So what do young people worry about? One article in Newsweek magazine stated young people worry about contracting AIDS (42%), being injured in an auto accident (32%), being beaten up or attacked (28%), having to fight in a war (24%), and fearing divorce in the family (17%). Economically, 61% fear they will not be able to find a job, 49% worry they won't have enough money, 43% worry they won't get into college, and 23% worry about their parents losing their jobs.
So what do people need, young or old? They need a reason, a meaning, and a purpose for life. What is yours? Could you explain it? How would you explain it to your children? How would you explain it to your friends? How do we explain it to each other? Essentially, the answer we give is what we hold most sacred in our work-a-day world. Where we spend out time, use our talents, and spend our money defines the dimensions of the God we serve - that may or may not be the God of the Bible. It may, or it may not, serve what Jesus Christ has taught us as the meaning, reason and purpose for life. People are the church, the Body of Christ. If you count yourself as a part of the church, what is your response? I would like to know. E mail me at dfjrdj@worldnet.att.net
Do you have a question or a statement? Send email to Pastor Bob Johnson at
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