Skip to main content

Millennials and Our Priorities

Millennials.

Much proverbial ink has been spilled bemoaning our well-documented flaws, but that's not what I'm here to do.

I'm not here to predict the demise of our culture because of a generation that refuses to do anything but listen to "music" and drink craft beer.

I am not here to talk about how all of society's problems are blamed on us despite the fact that these issues have existed throughout the history of mankind and are simply exacerbated/more noticeable due in the age of technology.

I'm not here to talk about how our parents' and grandparents' generations laid the foundation for our licentious, hedonistic lifestyle.

I am here, however, to say that we Millennials need to reevaluate our priorities.

So, fellow Millennial, what is important to you?

In an age where our open eyes are rarely off of a screen, what is truly important to you?

In a culture that rarely stops to think deeply about anything, what holds value for you?

Moreover, what does your lifestyle communicate about your priorities?  If it is true that we demonstrate that we value something by the time we are willing to dedicate to it, and I believe it is, what does our use of time communicate about our priorities?  We might say that we have overcome the frivolity of previous generations, but do our habits decry this claim?

For those of us Millennials who are parents, these questions are particularly important.  Everything that we do, and don't do, communicates something to our children.  We communicate our priorities to the next generation every day without even thinking about it.  Do not be fooled--our children know what is really important to us--what we really love.  What do they see when they watch us?   

As a generation we have expressed discontent with the lifestyles and priorities of our parents, but have we arrived at anything more concrete?  We're fed up with the inanity of the 9-to-5-until-you-die, but with what have we replaced it?  We want to live life and experience experiences, but are we living for anything more than pleasure and self-advancement?

Think about the topics that dominate social media: sports (guilty), travel, fashion, entertainment, etc.  Meanwhile our religion and politics are only meme-deep.

What are we teaching our children to value when we dress them up like hipsters and point a camera at them all the time?

What lessons are they imbibing when we spend more time watching movies than reading books or helping others?

What are we saying when we invest more time and energy into our home decor than we do our souls?

What are we telling our children when we spend more time scrolling through our phones than playing with them?

These are tough questions, but asking them is essential to the spiritual health of the next generation.  If we are not honest with ourselves, our children's lives may reveal our true answers to these questions.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

4 Reasons I Affirm Paedocommunion

If you have interacted with me on social media, you know that I have always been outspoken on the issue of Paedocommunion .  It is a theological position and a liturgical practice about which I am passionate.  Having been raised, and having raised my children, at the Table, I cannot imagine attending a church that didn't allow PC.  I hope that when I am old and gray, I will still be an advocate for bringing little children to the Sacrament. Throughout the 12 years that I have had this blog, I have written scattered thoughts on the topic, but it appears that I have never written a concise summary of my reasons for affirming PC.  I was thoroughly convinced that I had, but I can't seem to locate it, so I guess I never did.  So, to rectify the omission, here are four reasons I hold to PC. 1) Paedocommunion is Biblical.   Any discussion of the topic should start here, and I would hope that both sides of the debate would make this assertion.  However, l...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Real Presence & Paedocommunion: A Deeper Rift Between Reformed Churches

You're going back to Rome! Theological disagreements within the Reformed world, especially those of the last half century, often devolve into these sorts of accusations.  As controversialists like Doug Wilson and Peter Leithart began to break away from the larger conservative Presbyterian and Reformed denominations, it became clear that the rift was deeper than semantics and systematic minutiae.  Much like the Reformation four centuries before, the Table was a primary point of conflict.   What does it mean?  Who may partake?  What do we call it?    These questions, along with a few more, divided Reformed brethren as the physical elements of our religion reflected deeper conflicts.  Good men began to understand that the problem wasn't just in our logos, but in our pathos and ethos, as well. Paedocommunion (hereafter PC) has been one of the hottest points of contention.  PC has always been normal to me as I grew up with it.  I underst...
Post a Comment
Read more

Anglicanism, Paedocommunion, & Being Reformed

I consider myself Reformed.  I was baptized as a baby in a PCA church.  I grew up in a Reformed microdenomination that allowed its member churches to subscribe to any of the Reformed confessions (we subscribed to the Three Forms of Unity).  In many ways, whether I like it or not, I still think and act like a Reformed Presbyterian.   Some, however, would seek to deny me that label.  I suspect there are many reasons for this, but paramount among them is that I hold to Paedocommunion (hereafter PC), which, for some reason, is absolutely the worst thing ever to these people.  Some would go so far as to say that PC makes me a heretic, but they all agree that I am certainly not Reformed .   My recent engagement with these opponents of PC has caused me to reflect on what it means to be Reformed and what it means to be a Christian.  This online jousting has dovetailed well with some of my recent study, particularly  An Apology of the Church...
Post a Comment
Read more