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Adolescence is a tumultuous time. I know this from reading books, observing others and, most profoundly, from firsthand experience. However, it is only as I look back on those years that I recognize their significance in my personal faith journey. If our lives of faith are like maps, separating space and making note of important pieces of topography, I can honestly say that my adolescent years would be akin to Yosemite National Park or the Grand Canyon. Just as glaciers powerfully sculpted the rock to make those natural wonders, so the weight of growing up formed me. Throughout middle school, I felt like a traveler between two distant lands—the secular one, inhabited by humans, and the sacred one, which humans could not enter, but should strive toward, as though they could. I remember thinking that if only I could bridge the gap between those worlds, how much more connected my life would feel. Strangely enough, I did find a bridge, but it wasn’t the one I had imagined. During the 1980s, I was a typical teenage girl. I loved being with friends, listened to pop music and liked clothes, dancing and fun. I also loved being at church. At that time, Pastor John Wilde became the new minister at our small Presbyterian church, and in addition to all of his many other duties, he staffed the youth group. The greatest thing about him was his authenticity. We teens knew he wanted to be around us; it wasn’t just a job for him. My parents and Pastor John were the most important adults in my life at that time, and I was a sponge, eager to learn. Pastor John taught me a lot about God and my place in the world that God created. He also taught me something less predictable as well. He helped me to see that meaning could be found in unexpected places.
Kathleen Robertson King is a graduate of Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary and an ordained Presbyterian minister working with three college campuses in Kalamazoo, Michigan. She enjoys listening to music that inspires with her husband, Kevin, and their two daughters. Call 800/524-2612 |
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