Rites of Passage - More Relevant than Relevant

I'm sitting in a late night discussion among men of various ages at a men's conference. It's late. I'm tired. The session is one of those 'ask the pastor' things that I hate, and so I'm anticipating questions about the origin of Cain's wife and other such silliness. Instead, a man opens his heart with questions about whether to remain in his existing church because as he's growing in Christ he's finding errors in his church's doctrines. This question is directed to the group rather than to me, and the group answers. The conversation is honest, stimulating, and encouraging.

One of the mutations of the conversation led to a discussion of rites of passage for the American male. I was pondering why our Christian universities seem plagued with passivity among the male gender, even more than in the culture at large. There are probably many causes, but I'm increasingly convinced that one of the causes is the appalling lack of any rites of passage. The Indian has the vision quest. The Lutheran has their confirmation. The Catholic has their first communion. The Judaism has their rites. And then there's the Evangelicals. What do they have?

1st R rated movie - first kiss - first drink. Perhaps these don't satisfy (how could they?) and so the hungry adolescent keeps looking: first sex - first ??. Combine this with a redemption centered faith, whose focal point is on getting to heaven, and you have the makings for a completely irrelevant faith. Why is it that the modern church has dismissed that which has been a part of historic Christianity for millenia?

Perhaps it's because we who are charged with passing on the torch of the testimony have, ourselves, failed to fully embrace our calling as representatives of a whole new way of living. If I take Jesus and plaster Him onto my lifestyle as some sort of veneer, all the while continuing to maintain the same attitudes about money, power, enemies, financial security, and upward mobility as my culture, then I really do have nothing distinct to say. In such a setting, the best I can do is teach my sons that men go to church and read their Bibles. But that, of course, falls far short of the real deal - and the steady decline of so many churches is proof of the same.

We think Relevant means being culturally literate and so we publish a magazine towards that end (or so it appears to me). I think it may include that, but if that's the best we can do, I'd say Rolling Stone does it better. No - relevant means I have a vision for embodying the hope that is found in Christ, and that vision permeates virtually every area of my life. Stepping into the story God is writing, and inviting others to do the same is an incredible adventure when one sees the vision of what that story is. Articulating that, living it, and helping young men find their unique voice in that same story is a gigantic need in our culture.

What should rites of passage look like for young men, if we want them to grow up as praying, discerning citizens of an alternative kingdom? A special thanks to the men's conference men at Ravencrest Chalet for prompting this question.