It seems not a day goes by without news about tragic shootings in our inner cities and suburbs, or mass shootings in our schools and businesses. We find ourselves wringing our hands and pointing fingers at systems and politicians and failings of society, then we turn and continue on our plodding through a life of accumulation and insulating ourselves from need and brokeness.
Richard Rohr, in his wonderful book Adam’s Return writes this about our culture of men and boys.
” Someone has to give the young male boundaries and identity. He does not get them by himself or without guidance. We are not a healthy culture for boys or men. Not the only reason, but surely one reason is that we are no longer a culture of elders who know how to pass on wisdom, identity, and boundaries to the next generation. Most men are over-mothered and under-fathered , now even more in the age of single Parents.”
The answers to our problems as a society and as a church, will not be solved by pompous self serving leaders, whether in politics, business or the church, but rather in the formation of a generation of true elders, filled with wisdom, maturity and brokeness who will intentionally walk alongside a younger generation, pointing the way and marking out the path that leads to life. They will lead, not by words or pomposity, but by humbly walking the same path, sharing the stories of life and brokeness, and peeling away the layers of cultural decay and revealing light and purpose.
We need men who are willing to live out a life of wisdom and maturity that only comes through dealing with brokeness and disappointment and exhibiting a willingness to face the reality they see in the mirror of their soul.
This upcoming generation of young men and women are hungry for truth and are yearning to have someone point the way through the jungle of distractions called life and culture. As Rohr states so well,
“They are wanting and expecting and looking for greatness, significance, a compelling vision for life, a challenge, holiness, even God”
My generation has been sold a bill of goods, that life is about accumulation and achieving outward success with no inner nurturing of the soul. Let’s change that and begin to be initiated into a life of wholeness and truth and then intentionally speak and walk into the lives of the millenials, not lording it over them, but gently leading and speaking. Now that gives me hope for this world.
Drop me a note if you desire to walk this path and become the elder young men need to know and follow. we are in the planning stages of the first of what we hope are many more opportunities for men to be engaged in this process.
We are never too old to begin anew. You still have tread on your tires. How are you going to spend your second act of life?
