This is a true incident that happened in my university department last week:<\/p>\n
There was a university department that had an “Important Visitor” that was to meet with as many of the graduate students as possible for lunch. When the appointed time came the “Student Leader” met the Important Visitor but they waited and nobody else showed up. So the Student Leader made some frantic phone calls but found only one other student to join them for lunch.<\/p>\n
Upon returning from the meeting the Student Leader sent out a “heated” e-mail that elicited the usual responses: One student said “nobody is required to attend.” Another replied “why should I care about this if others don’t care about me.” Others excused themselves with “I had a class,” “I had another meeting,” or “I had to TA.” One of the students even commented that if the lack of attendance bothered the Student Leader so much, maybe they should not be the Student Leader. This caused a third student to rush to the Student Leader’s defense saying that the Student Leader has “put in a lot of time and you can ignore them if you want, but don’t insult them.”<\/p>\n
Here endith the parable.<\/p>\n
I tell this story because while there are some character shifts from the original in Luke 14:16-24, and while the Gospel version has eschatological overtones that this does not, I still saw echoes of the original that give a modern tone to the “I can not come” and the ecclesiology of the version Jesus told. I think what surprised me the most in this department incident was that there were greater implications for “professionalism” and “networking” that the students either were not aware of or ignored. While for many there were legitimate conflicts with classes, for many others the concern was for “here” and “now,” not for taking the long view of their career. And it is tempting to look for a “parable of the vineyard” ending where the Department Chair comes on in and “destroys” them all. But that is mixing parables.<\/p>\n
So I make the jump to the contemporary church. These graduate students are one of the most under-represented groups in the Christian church today in the U.S. What holds their attention? They want to know how this relates, affects, and benefits them right now! A time line of a year or more is not much of a concern and eternity is not even on the radar. And their connection to the church may be tenuous at best if they did not grow up in a faith tradition.<\/p>\n
How do we work with the Holy Spirit to get them into church? Is it the energy, vitality, and uniqueness of contemporary worship? Do we need to be ready when they have hit rock bottom? (And believe me, many of them will.) Do we need to be in relationship with them so we are ready when they ask “what makes you different?” Do they need to see a faith community that looks like them, not like me and their parents? It is tough, but from where I sit these are the question I keep asking myself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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