We just concluded a series a couple weeks ago in our Sunday morning high school group that I had a lot of fun putting together. Over the course of three weeks we tackled the question of faith and science. For me, there was a basic, underlying purpose to the series as a whole; we know that, depending on the survey, something like 60-80% of young people disappear from the church when they finish high school. We also know that the number one reason given for this is over the issue of science and faith; that for many young people, their church’s present it as an either/or scenario, that you can only choose one. And when they see compelling evidence for scientific claims that conflict with what their church’s taught them growing up, they feel like they don’t have a choice. My goal was to help reframe the question, to give students room to reconcile faith and science without dictating a ‘right’ answer.

I’m a nerd, so yes, I lifted the title, and the weekly titles, from ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.” I also used Doctor Who and A Wrinkle in Time as well. More importantly, I drew on a LOT of theologians who have done far better work on this topic than I ever could to help shape the content. Here’s what the three weeks looked like (click the title to hear the audio):

• The Ultimate Question: We kicked off the series by wrestling with the question of whether or not we are asking the right questions when it comes to faith and science. What is the ultimate purpose of scripture? Does our cultural values give us unexpected bias while we read these ancient documents?
• Don’t Panic: We continued the series by taking a closer look at different theories of origins, ancient cultural values and beliefs, and Genesis 1. Is it possible to have different beliefs regarding origins and still honor God? How would the ancients have understood the first chapter of Genesis, and how should that inform our reading of it? Whatever you do, don’t panic!
• Mostly Harmless: We concluded the series by comparing the creation narratives of humanity in Genesis 1 and 2. How do we explain the dramatically different order of creation found in these opening chapters of the Bible? In exploring how the ancients would have understood the Hebrew terminology used in both accounts, reconciling the two accounts is possible.

Anyway, it was a fun series to work on … and I’m hoping to continue to refine and adjust the content in the years to come.

This past weekend was my tenth (!!!) winter retreat with Brandywine Valley Baptist Church; it was definitely one of the better ones! We had a great time. I actually went into the weekend a little worried; the weather was so mild in the weeks building up to the trip that there was no snow on the ground and the frozen pond … wasn’t frozen enough to play on.

So we changed it up. Saturday morning the group went on a hike to the top of a nearby hill, which they were surprised by how much they loved doing. That afternoon we went to an indoor water park; always a big hit in the middle of winter. Our theme for the weekend was “Run.” We had some fun with the children playing signs in our region that bear a striking resemblance to our intern, Zach, pointing out that they aren’t “no running” signs, but rather, alerts that someone IS running. That for us, those signs are now a reminder that we are running after Christ. We even made stickers and shirts to give out as reminders and prizes, which were a big hit.

Over the course of the weekend we had three messages; Melissa kicked off the weekend, Pastor Nate spoke Saturday night, and I wrapped it up on Sunday. You can find the messages on our podcast on iTunes, or listen to them with these links:

• Run the Race, Melissa Stein
• Run from Sin, Pastor Nate Keeler
• Run to Share, Pastor Matthew McNutt

All in all, it was a really fun weekend. The messages really seemed to flow together and the teens seem to resonate with what they were hearing. It was the largest turnout we have ever had – we literally ran out of beds and maxed the place out! And no injuries! If you want, you can check out the photos on our Facebook page.

The other week I finished teaching through the book of Lamentations in our Sunday morning student hour. It was a part of our larger, seven year teaching plan that includes walking students through every book of the Bible. It is a fascinating book, one I have not been able to stop thinking about. Essentially, if you’re not familiar with it, it is five poetic laments written and/or collected by the prophet Jeremiah, which the Israelite people would gather each year to read out loud together as they processed their grief from having been utterly defeated by the Babylonians. They had lost their independence, their capital had been destroyed, and perhaps the most devastating to their identify, the temple had been reduced to rubble. Over the course of three weeks we explored three significant themes that are throughout the poetry of Lamentations; God’s judgement, God’s compassion, and God’s sovereignty. What is particularly powerful about Lamentations to me is that it does not wrap up with a happy ending; they are still just as ruined at the end of it as they are in the beginning. The writer(s) are brutally honest with their pain, their loss, their suffering and their grief. And its final words – recited together as a community annually – ends with the question of whether or not God will help them or has He completely rejected them.

It’s powerful because it puts into words what so many of us feel during our times of suffering but are often times afraid to speak. Lamentations gives us permission to take all of our pain and suffering in its fullness and bring it out into the open to God. It gives us words to our heartbreak. Ultimately, it is a powerful lesson on how to grieve, something that I think our culture does not do well at. We tend to bottle things in, to celebrate those who are able to get back to normality quickly with comments like, “Wow, he’s handling it really well,” when in reality, that burying of pain is the opposite of handling it well.

If you want, you can find the audio to all three weeks on our iTunes podcast feed, or on our podcast website.