By Jessyka Albert
Making hasty generalizations is one of the perils of being human. We make snap judgements about people, places, things, and ideas based on limited knowledge and evidence every day. We make broad claims like, “All politicians are liars!” “Every kind of vegan ice cream is disgust- ing,” or “The Broncos are the best team in the NFL!”
While some generalizations can be humorous, many can be harmful. Harmful to someone’s feelings, to a reputation, to God’s character. I’m sure we could all muster up a handful or two of hasty generalizations we have about the Seventh-day Adventist Church—some funny and many harmful.
Over the past two years working in Boulder, Colorado, at a local church, generalizations have brought me to tears more often than to laughter. Unfortunately, for many kids, teens, and adults, these generalizations hold a place of reality instead of fallacy in their hearts and minds. Because the church is the body of Christ and should strive to be the best representation of His character, the conclusions many of us draw about church are often transposed onto our view of who Jesus is.
As for the source of my tears, I’ve spent the better half of this year working closely with kids and teenagers whose hasty generalizations have become their reality. This is by no means making an excuse for the many teens and young adults who are leaving our church, but rather giving context to this generational exile. In many ways church has generalized Jesus out of the picture. Sure, we still pray that He is the center our churches, but is He the center of our lives?
Jesus is not satisfied when we restrict Him to our church addresses and Sabbath hours. He is an anywhere anytime kind of guy, so when we leave Him at church on Saturdays, we set ourselves up for failure. We try to push Jesus back into the temple to preach, when He’s trying to say, “Hey, I’m coming to your house for dinner tonight.” In the New Testament, we see Jesus hanging out in boats, on hills and mountains, in homes. When He talks, He talks about ordinary things, people, and situations. Jesus places Himself in the midst of life, in the midst of people’s Tuesday afternoons as they are going about mundane routines. Where is Jesus on your Tuesdays? If He’s not just as present in your life on Tuesday as He is on Saturday, what’s the point? When we leave Jesus out of our everyday life and place Him only in a church, only on Saturdays, we miss out on who He really is. For example, if you only saw me at church on Saturdays, you would only get to know me to a certain extent. The same is true with Jesus. When you just study your Bible, pray, and worship on Saturdays you’re missing out, and you can easily fall victim to generalizing Him.
When you box Jesus in at church on Saturdays . . .
. . . and your parents won’t let you go to prom because it’s the Sabbath, you begin to generalize Jesus as restrictive and a fun squasher.
. . . and your kids are throwing socks, throwing tantrums, or throwing up as you try to get everyone ready for church, you begin to generalize Jesus as stress-inducing.
. . . and you go to church and someone treats you poorly or talks down to you, you begin to generalize Jesus as hurtful. Do you see where I’m going here? Church won’t always be perfect. The sermons won’t always hit you to your core. The music might not be your taste. People might be, well, people. So when we confine Jesus to that place and time, we end up programming our minds to see Jesus only in that context, whatever that may be.
I make it my job (literally) to make Saturdays at Boulder Church the most fun day of the week for the kids. Last week before church started, I led a group up to the balcony because we would catch way more air with our paper air- planes from up there! When we sing in our kids division, Camp Sanitas, everyone gets an instrument. Our motto is: Sing Loud. Dance Loud. Love Loud.
Although Saturdays are the busiest day of the week for me, it’s my favorite day of the week. The trap of generalization is a double edged sword, and I have to remind myself that Jesus is not confined by church, when I’m leading a Bible story, or praying or preaching; He’s in my Tuesdays as well. That Jesus has a place when it’s just me, when I’m not leading anything, when I’m grocery shopping, folding laundry, hanging out with friends.
Jesus spent every day with His disciples, doing the everyday kind of things with them. Using ordinary things to describe an extraordinary God. Our discipleship to Jesus has to be a daily walk, because when it’s not, we make conclusions about who He is based on one place and one time, and pass that down to future generations.
I hope and pray that every person of every age seeks a personal journey with Jesus Jesus outside of their churches.
I challenge myself and you to ask the difficult questions:
Where is Jesus in my workplace or my school? Where is Jesus at my dinner table?
Where is Jesus on Tuesdays?
Where is Jesus on your Daily Walk*?
–Jessyka Albert is associate pastor at Boulder Adventist Church. Email her at: jessyka@boulder.church