Keep it real

I've grown up in Goulburn . It's my home and I love the place, I tell people I was born here and I will die here. I've been the pastor a church for the last 6 years and my observations about the spirituality of young people in this town is that religion of any kind is irrelevant, boring, weird, and most of them “just don't get it”, and are “ just not into it”.
This follows an increasing trend all over the western world, yet in Goulburn it seems the issues are magnified as our youth on the whole are are just not into God.
The reality is we have everything we need and all we could ever want at our fingertips, we are smart, savvy and successful. We are the master of our own destiny, what need is there for God?
Maybe that's right. Or maybe the main reason a whole generation of young people feel like that is because too often those who have called themselves God's people, have dropped the ball, let the team down, and sadly done such an ordinary job at representing God on the earth.
We've blown it, and I'm so sorry.
We've turned so many people off God and repelled them from meaningful spirituality because a lot of what has been seen from the church is just plain ugly and has been about everything other than what Jesus was on about.
The real tragedy however is , that at some stage soon, you are going to need a spirituality that connects you to God in a real way. I'm going to go out on a limb here, you may be clever, but you don't have enough inside you to make this life work. You actually do need God.
People these days hate talking about God. I think the problem is that when God is brought up it always seems to be about someone forcing their opinion of God onto you, and people just get tired of that.
I remember trying to talk to someone about Jesus in the park one day and as soon as I mentioned His name they went bug eyed and totally freaked out. I don't want to put anyone through that kind of pain, I mean who knows what would happen if I scared someone half to death twice?
But heres the point: What if our young people need to talk about God?
There is a whole generation of young people growing up today who are facing all kinds of issues and problems that even their parents never encountered and they simply have to do it alone because God is off the radar.
The new year is a great opportunity for some reflection and a chance to rethink a few things - so lets go there. Lets try to have a fresh look at what it would look like to be connected to God in this world. Lets cut the nonsense, ask the hard questions, deal with the inconsistencies and keep it real.