Too Young

When I say "prophet," what comes to mind? I'll bet that it's an old man with a long beard wearing a robe and leather slippers. That kind of person can certainly be a prophet; but the Bible tells us that God calls young people to be prophets, too! Maybe, says this sermon, we should listen to them.

At the microphone of our society, some people are heard much more clearly than others. We don’t give our attention to everyone equally. The people who are interviewed on the evening news is a great example. My guess is that the vast majority of them are over the age of fifty. The reason for that, of course, is that the evening news wants to interview the movers and shakers of society; and (with the exception of young prodigies like Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg) those folks are usually older. The result is that we hear the voices of older folks much more loudly than we hear the voices of those who are younger.

But there is another reason that we listen less to younger people than we do to older ones. Don’t we secretly believe, deep down in our hearts, that younger folks don’t really have anything valuable to say to us? I’m talking to you folks who have been around the block more than once! (I’m one of them myself.) Don’t we believe that our experiences make what we have to say more worthwhile than our younger friends who haven’t been around as long as we have? When I was growing up, I heard all the time that there were things that I simply couldn’t know until I had lived longer. And, for some things, that was absolutely spot on! My experiences have allowed me to understand human nature in a way no psychology textbook ever could. The statement “With age comes wisdom” does contain truth.

But here’s the problem with that statement. Age is often accompanied not by wisdom, but by suspicion, skepticism, and doubt. As we get older, it is easy to become jaded by the injustice, prejudice, and downright stupidity that we have encountered during our lives. When that happens, we are tempted to throw up our hands in despair and cry, “Nothing is ever going to change! Why even try? This is just the way the world is!” Despite God’s promise to work with us in our efforts to remake the world into the harmonious place that it could be, many of us don’t try to change things, because we’ve experienced the evil in the world just once too often.

That’s when we need to listen to the voice of youth. Most young people haven’t had the time to become disillusioned and cynical; and so they are more willing to speak out against the injustice and stupidity of the world when they see it. Do you remember the story “The Emperor’s New Clothes” by Hans Christian Andersen? In that tale, an emperor who cares about nothing except looking good hires two weavers who promise him they will make the most beautiful suit of clothes ever made. They convince the emperor that they are using a fine fabric invisible to anyone who is either unfit for his position or hopelessly stupid. The weavers are actually con men, and only pretend to manufacture the clothes, so no one, neither the emperor nor any of his advisors, can see anything; but they all pretend that they can for fear of being judged unfit or stupid. Finally, the weavers pretend to dress the emperor in the completed clothing, and he marches in a parade before all the people. Not wanting to appear stupid, the people say nothing. It is a child who finally blurts out, “But the emperor has no clothes on!” Of course he didn’t. And it took a child to point it out.

Maybe that’s why God called Jeremiah to be a prophet when he was “only a boy.” Tradition says that Jeremiah was only 17 years old at the time when he heard God’s call. And what was Jeremiah’s response? “I’m too young!” Well, God was having none of that! “I will put my words into your mouth,” God responded. “Go where I send you and speak what I tell you!” God might have added, “because all the older people that I might call aren’t willing to rock the boat, and I need someone who will rock it in all kinds of ways!” When God needed someone to speak out honestly, God asked a young person.

Sometimes, those young people do much more than just speak out. I’ll bet that you’ve heard the story of Trevor Farrell, although you may not recognize his name. When Trevor was just 11 years old, he saw a story on TV about homeless people in Philadelphia. He lived in an affluent suburb himself; and he had no idea that such misery existed. “Somebody should do something about this!” he said. So he persuaded his parents to drive him downtown that very night, taking an old pillow and an extra blanket. When he gave it to a man who was sleeping on a grate and experienced his gratitude, it was the beginning of a 7-year ministry of distributing food and blankets to some of the neediest people in the city.

Of course, not every problem can be solved by handing out food and blankets; but that doesn’t stop the commitment of young people to protest problems to which many of us are resigned. Just one year ago last Thursday, 17 people were killed by a shooter at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. We adults were horrified, but – let’s be honest – we didn’t do anything about it. Oh, some of our legislators sent “thoughts and prayers,” but that’s about all; because – well, “that’s just the way the world is.” The young people were having none of it. One month after the shooting, young people around the country walked out of their classrooms in the middle of the day to protest our failure to take action against school shootings. One of the young people who protested in Florida carried a sign that said, “When leaders act like kids and kids act like leaders, we need change.” How can we argue with that?

Gun violence isn’t the only issue over which our youth are raising their voices. Even as we sit in church this morning, 21 children and youth aged between 11 and 21 years old are suing the federal government over the issue of climate change. They claim that the government's actions have actively contributed to climate change, violating the next generation’s constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property; and, further, that the government has failed to protect essential public trust resources. Despite the legal actions of the current administration that is trying to derail the case, it is slowly but surely proceeding through the courts.

Retired UCC pastor Dr. Jim Antal of Massachusetts recently reminded us, “The future is not yet written. God is calling us to change.” He was talking specifically about climate change; but he could have been referring to gun violence, or homelessness, or political oppression, or the refugee crisis. “The future is not yet written. God is calling us to change.” How frequently do we hear the voices of our young people saying just that? Maybe it’s time that we listened to them; because it just might be God who is speaking.