transperancy for the journey

Yesterday I told my youth that I sometimes yell at, rebel against, hate, question, turn away from, ignore etc. God.

The response:
They listened. They thought. They engaged material, and each other. WE engaged each other. Encounter.

If lives are to be changed and if journeys are to be trekked, the shepherds and journey leaders along the way must emphasize that they are on a journey as well and that the perspective changes, grows, overwhelms, surprises, and differs. The perspective along the way takes the many things we know, such as God’s goodness, love, perfection and sovereignty and cultivates feeling and experience that appear to negate this knowledge. If we hold to our knowledge without encountering our experience, we lose relationship. God’s known love and goodness, then become the impassable block between our I and God’s Thou because we can never bring to Thou an I that experiences doubt over Thou’s goodness. Additionally, God becomes a list of attributes that cannot be denied and a person we refuse to meet if a step seems outside of these attributes. A list – and therefore, the God of list is a thing, an “it” and never a “thou.”

My anger at God when I watch my family suddenly decompose, whether founded or not, whether indicating a flaw in God’s goodness or not, must be brought to a God who is real and relational or else, by action, God’s personhood is denied in my hiding.

So what was the affect of my honesty with my youth?

First, I became a human being and not a position title.
Second, the mandate to meet God, even with filth in hand, is made.
Third, as the youth glanced around the room, their eyes revealed an interpersonal connection – they, we, must come to each other also with our perceptions that seem to negate each other’s goodness and promise to break our smiles and oddly heal our hearts.