Restoring hope

My wife recently went to Australia. She took something priceless with her. On every step (and long-haul leap) of her 21,000-mile roundtrip, she carried a little burgundy booklet. Inside, a royal inscription permits her to pass “freely without hindrance” and even affords “such protection as may be necessary”. Her passport will take her to the other side of the planet, and back again, in relative comfort. This astonishing object, no bigger than a smartphone, will keep her safe.

It’s easy to take our freedoms and protection for granted, when millions today live in danger, and 10,000 children have gone missing trying to walk across a continent. Despite the disturbing headlines over the last year, I still have great hope: hope in a God whose love has overcome death. And an unrelenting hope in young people, whose energy and faith can always turn tragedy into triumph...

For example, in 1896, 241 young hopefuls from a dozen nations embarked on their own journey to Europe, by land and sea. They were the first Olympians of the modern games. Among them was a student from Hungary, Alfréd Hajós. Alfréd was just 13 when his father drowned in a river. Alfréd responded by becoming the world’s greatest swimmer. Aged just 18, he stood out as the youngest champion of the first Olympic Games. He was the Simone Biles of his day. When Hajós was in the water, no one came close. Back then, there were no heated pools or jacuzzis to warm the muscles. Competitors were taken out to sea and left in freezing waters. Swimmers suffered from extreme cold and were battered by four-metre-high waves. They raced back to the safety of the shoreline. “My will to live completely overcame my desire to win,” Alfred admitted, after winning his Olympic freestyle race. He was swimming for survival.

One in every 113 people across the globe is displaced due to conflict today. Many are just children, sent away by distraught parents, as Britons were during the Blitz. These young people are scared, alone and vulnerable. Some must even swim to survive - like one teenager from Syria, Yusra Mardini. Yusra pushed a sinking boat in the sea for three hours, saving 20 lives, including her sister’s. 120 years after Alfred Hajós, this 18-year-old heroine vowed to turn her own tragedy into triumph by swimming a freestyle race at the Rio Olympics. “It’s quite hard just to think that you are a swimmer and you’re going to end up dying in the water which you know the best,” Yusra told the media after arriving at the 2016 games, as part of the team of refugees competing under the Olympic flag. Training in Syria, she would look up at gaping holes in the roof of the pool caused by relentless bombing. Yusra travelled to Rio with one goal in mind: to keep the media spotlight on desperate and dying refugees.

Adversity

Both Alfréd Hajós and Yusra Mardini chose to turn adversity into opportunity. It’s something people have done for hundreds of years, from William Wilberforce to Florence Nightingale. Most young people are righteously rebellious, incredibly tenacious, and stronger than we give them credit for. They are activists at heart: resilient and resourceful. Give a young person a cause to fight for a purpose to propel them, and a fire in their belly for the Lord and wild horses couldn’t hold them back. It’s in their DNA.

But being a teenager this year has been a serious, sombre and scary experience. It’s knocked many young people back. With so much sadness filling their thoughts and screens, it’s not surprising our young people may not know how to respond. Can we blame them?

Thousands have now lost their lives in overcrowded boats on narrow stretches of Mediterranean water. How many harrowing images have we seen that can’t be unseen? Fear in the eyes of fathers, clutching their children. Tiny innocents washed up on holiday beaches. As adults, it’s hard to comprehend such tragic loss and even harder to know how to respond to such pain and suffering. Imagine how it feels as a teenager.

Our young people are watching the biggest global migration since the Second World War. They are witnessing a sequence of horrific and indiscriminate atrocities, all while hearing chilling warnings of a terrorist attack on British soil. Our young people can be forgiven for feeling afraid and powerless, in the face of such unimaginable pain and unthinkable evil.

Things at home are no less bleak. Speaking after the murder of Jo Cox MP, Archbishop John Sentamu, quoting a journalist said: “We can’t control the weather, but in politics we can control the climate in which the weather happens.”

Young people are anxious about a growing climate of fear and xenophobia that’s stirred up some ugly ‘weather’ in recent months. The streets seem less safe for young people since June 23rd. In the wake of the Brexit vote, police recorded a 42 per cent surge in hate crimes. Social media sites were awash with videos and photos that seem so out of place in our enlightened and tolerant society.

Throughout their lifetime teenagers have enjoyed a steady stream of progress in human rights and equality. It’s understandable that young people feel baffled and perhaps a little betrayed. This is a generation who feel European; the EU is all they have ever known. The majority of young people celebrate tolerance and champion multiculturalism, they cherish the freedom to move around Europe by rail and air. Yet, they’ve just learned that their parents’ and grandparents’ generations want to ‘leave’ and go it alone. Whatever your own political views may be, a YouGov poll found over two-thirds of under 25s voted to remain in the European Union. The majority of young people voted to stay, yet they will live with the effects of the decision to leave (for better or worse) far longer than those who decided the outcome.

Our young people are living through a disorientating chapter in world history, and they are looking to us to help them. It can be hard to know how to respond to young people who feel overwhelmed or hopeless...

Jesus-inspired opportunities

As ever, we turn to Jesus with our questions. His life on earth modelled inclusion and his ministry set the tone for embracing diversity. Jesus spoke of a kingdom without borders, a kingdom which transcends every national identity, social hierarchy and cultural barrier. Where children hold the highest standing, the lowly are lifted to their feet, and the voiceless get a hearing with the king. Christ empowered females in a patriarchal society, extended his hand to untouchables, and ate in the homes of the hated. He literally went to the outsiders of his community - leper colonies. Jesus even began life as a child refugee (Matthew 2:13) and ended his time on earth suffering the humiliation of the cross - a swear word at the time. Make no mistake, Jesus knows first-hand what it is to feel marginalised and excluded.

It’s therefore not surprising that Jesus exemplified God’s heart for the stranger, the traumatised and the outcast. When an expert in God’s law asked Jesus: “Who is my neighbour?” Christ replied with a story about a Samaritan helping a man who was set upon by robbers (Luke 10:27-37). Samaritans and Jews were deeply hostile and mistrusting towards one another, they refused to talk or eat together (John 4:9). Jesus’ message is crystal clear but utterly dynamite: love the person you are most inclined to vilify. Love those you despise and dehumanise, who do not share your religion or customs. They are your neighbour.

Jesus teaches us ‘professional Christians’ and ‘experts in God’s word’ to spend our time, money, and even our tears, on those who are different from us. To reach out to ethnic minority communities on our doorstep, who may hold polar opposite values and beliefs to ours. To care for them as much as we love ourselves and our church family. It was an incredibly controversial and counter-culture message at the time, and in 2016 it still is. There’s a genuine challenge here for every Christian leader, youth worker and young person. How much time and thought are we allotting to loving those nearby, with whom we struggle to find common ground?

The parable of the good Samaritan seems to resonate more keenly with every breaking news story and social media share. Never in our lifetime has this message been so important or pertinent. Whole nation populations are being “beaten down and left for dead”, to draw on the imagery in Jesus’ parable. Many are running for their lives or swimming for survival. Some are moving into our communities. They are looking to see who will walk by, and who will stop to help them.

So often, the voices and needs of ethnic minority communities are wrongly overlooked or outright ignored by the majority; the 2011 census revealed 90 per cent of the UK population are white British, yet ethnic minorities have been painted as a ‘threat to our way of life’ by some public figures, so they are facing a rising tide of discrimination and xenophobia. Now, more than ever, we need to heed Jesus’ command to love our neighbour. As do our young people.

How should we respond?

What can we tell young people, when their mates find notes calling them ‘vermin’? How can we support them when they hear that 10,000 children have gone missing in the refugee crisis or that children their age are living in a slum a few miles from our coast? You can help restore hope in the lives of young people amid a climate of hopelessness and uncertainty. Here are three ways you can respond to those who are disheartened by events at home or abroad.

Listen, Remind, Pray

Take time to really listen, to hear your young people’s fears and to empathise. But don’t leave it there. Remind them God is sovereign. Reassure them God is still on his throne. This is a truth we must all grapple with, no matter what. Jesus is always our hope in the midst of hopelessness. He is alive and well, and active in this world, not least through his Church. The God who rose from the dead is never overwhelmed or out of options. The gospel is good news because God can bring hope and life to any and every situation. It is never too dark for Christ’s light to shine.

Although we cannot provide a glib answer or bitesize theology to satisfy their questions, we can pray with and for our young people. The prayers of the saints have seen God move during the bleakest chapters in Europe’s history. God cares deeply for refugees and the fatherless. Psalm 146 says: “The Lord protects the strangers who live in our land, he helps widows and orphans.” By interceding for those who are suffering or displaced, we can affect change and even help turn the tide in world events.

Discuss, Meet, Learn

Talk about diversity with your young people. Some would have us believe our communities are becoming more fragmented and fractured; that diversity means disunity and difference means division. But diversity is God’s idea. He made us different on purpose.

There has never been a more critical moment to be talking about diversity and encouraging young people to reach out to those from minority groups with the love of Christ. Provide opportunities for your youth to meet and learn from those who are different from them. Perhaps you could visit a part of your town or a project you wouldn’t normally.

Rev Kate Coleman said recently: “Whatever your present context, it will become more diverse and complex over time. A mentality attuned to diversity is a requirement for all in Christian leadership.”

Empower

Finally, empower your young people to be part of the solution. Dan Lodge, from YFC’s church resource team says: “Tell them ‘you have power to change it’. Ask them ‘what small thing could you start with, to help solve the problem?’”. The parable of the good Samaritan warns us not to walk by on the other side, not to prioritise other worthy activities (and church meetings) over helping our neighbour.

Young people have a contribution to make. Give them a sense of empowerment and permission to start small. Help them harness their ingenuity, energy and compassion. They can cook a meal, hold an event, take on a sponsored challenge or simply welcome someone who feels scared and unwelcome. In short, young people can pray, learn and do.

It’s easy to understand how hopelessness, apathy and cynicism can set in. Both candidates in the US Election, for instance, professed to be ‘Christian’; both painted the other as a fraud. As the Church debates the motives and morality of President Trump, one thing is certain: young people will be watching, waiting and weighing everything up.

Both Brexit and the US Election have given our fledgling leaders cause to question whether fear or faith has the stronger sway; whether hatred or hope holds ultimate influence, and whether truth or lies are rule today.

Scripture tells us that: “Perfect love drives out fear”. Fear and hate may have got a foot in the door, but I am convinced that young people’s faith-filled love can slam it shut again.

Our young people, like Alfréd and Yusra, have the ability to take a tragedy and turn it into a triumph. To see past the rubble of the present and begin rebuilding the future. By God’s royal order, we have the privilege of raising up a generation who will usher in his kingdom without borders, uniting communities and rekindling hope - no passport required! We can channel their boat-pushing, safety-pin wearing, race-winning passion.

What do we say when young people begin to lose hope? In essence, our answer is simple. It’s the same message that’s echoed down the centuries: love those God created different from you. Live out the power of the good Samaritan in your own neighbourhood. The good Samaritan chose to show mercy irrespective of ethnicity or past hostility. In the words of Jesus: “Go and do likewise.”