No blogging?

Ok, I just said that I was impressed at the efforts to include young people, but I also wanted to comment on the fact that it seems like the church doesn't get young people at all. As often happens, "including" seems to mean inviting people to show up and speak, but without being culturally accommodated. In our attempts to be a global church, we often forget to speak slow enough or provide interpreters for those who do not speak English (and things generally operate in English), and we forget to make space for people who are culturally more hesitant to step up to the microphone. (Although today one of the Bishops did ask people who are white or older to pause and allow space for youth, young adults, and people of color to step up first).

But lets get back to the youth. I was having a conversation with someone last night, and we were talking about the laptop and cell phone ban as a sign of the cultural age divide. I am sure these things are considered a distraction, but for us they are a way of life. I was planning on blogging throughout Jurisdictional Conference as a way of connecting people to the process (and a way for me to process the experience). Teens are often out of hand with texting, but one of our youth delegates was texting all day yesterday - to our Conference YPM Director. This was his way of responding and reacting to the candidate interviews. Personally, I can't sit still for more than two hours without multi-tasking or I will lose focus. If I had my laptop during the 13 interviews yesterday, I could have been googling the candidates, looking for more info on them, reading their blogs, etc. These rules about electronics are hardly a human rights violation, but they are another way that the next generation is subjected to the social norms of the previous generation.