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Youth and Age
2004-02-18 - 1:37 a.m.

There's not a joy the world can give like that it takes away
When the glow of early thought declines in feeling's dull decay;
'Tis not on youth's smooth cheek the blush alone, which fades so fast,
But the tender bloom of heart is gone, ere youth itself be past.
-George Gordon, Lord Byron

We have a peculiar attitude to age today. Magazines are full of makeup and style tips to make women look younger, cosmetic surgery is booming with men and women alike having injections and surgery to make themselves look younger. Youth has become desirable - not just sexually, but the ideas and opinions of "youth" are ever-increasing in importance. We can see it in the increased emphasis on youth ministry in the churches, on the redirection of theology to the ideas of young people, and in the obsession of politicians with what young people think.

It is curious how the situation has changed. At one time, older (indeed, elderly) people were the most important, their ideas were supreme and young people were expected to hold their peace until they grew old enough to comment. Not that young people were not adired - but they were admired for beauty, for their bodies and not their minds.

The Bible treads a line between these opposites. On the one hand we are to respect older people, and listen to them - but on the other hand both Jesus and Timothy were young men, and taught just as well as the older people. We tend to go to extremes and think either that young people lack the experience to talk about the things of God (or anything else) properly, or to think that their fresh outlook is by far better than the voice of experience.

If we can manage it, to combine the two would be the best idea. Not by separating young from old in the churches, having separate activities and services, but by trying to integrate them so that both sides can learn from each other. Of course that is not easy - older people may resent younger people's ideas (I'm sure that was some people's reaction to Timothy) and younger people may want to ignore what their elders say.

I was very fortunate at university. My college had a great many older students, the age of our parents and grandparents. I remember the best discussion group I ever participated in, where we had a good mixture of older and younger people. We all felt the benefit - we who were younger had fewer preconceived ideas and could think in a different way to the norm, whereas the older students could tell us of their experiences, what had been tried before, and knew people better, thus being able to tell us what would and what would not work. We mutually respected one another, and so we could talk without anyone thinking they were being ignored of patronised because of their age. It worked very well, and I think it could work well in churches too.

Many of the churches I have been to are made entirely of older people - and so tend to stagnation. Churches almost entirely made of younger people can suffer from a lack of maturity, always dashing off after new ideas with too little thought applied. A good mixture would make a better church.

The internet is excellent for breaking down age-related prejudices (among other things). On a message board or chatroom or indeed, a website, it is difficult to tell someone's age unless they tell you. Ideas stand or fall on their own merits and we get to know people without seeing their age. In some ways, the internet can teach the church a great deal, and its use in breaking down prejudice of all kinds should not be underestimated. The person who condescends to young people, thinking them just children, might be surprised to know the age of those they talk to online. The young person likewise might be taken aback to find they have been talking to someone their parents' age, never finding them stuffy or hidebound.

Perhaps we could use the internet to better integrate congregations in this way, to teach everyone to hear everyone else without looking at their external appearances.

"Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment." (John 7:24 RSV)

"Let no one despise your youth, but set the believers an example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in purity." (1 Timothy 4:12 RSV)

"Do not rebuke an older man but exhort him as you would a father; treat younger men like brothers, older women like mothers, younger women like sisters, in all purity." (1 Timothy 5:1-2 RSV)