hmmm…..

Just read this article. It talks about how we shouldn’t expect the same things (opening and closing ceremonies, etc.) from the 2012 London Olympics, as we saw this past month in China. And behind all the bragging about Chinese performers and their incredible abilities/dedication…you can hear the real reason behind it: human rights.

An actual quote from the article:
” Like the moveable type cubes (at the opening ceremony), the performers follow orders,” he said. The actors listen to the orders, and can carry them out like computers. Foreigners admire this. This is the Chinese spirit.”

I’ll admit. The closing ceremony was pretty stinkin’ cool. The 5-story flame made of humans dressed in colored suits, and all the pageantry that went into it….holy cow. But at the same time as I was “wowed”, it also felt really awkward. Like I was watching robots. Like one of those scary scenes in a sci-fi movie where thousands of people are doing some ritual under mind control.

And that is the “Chinese spirit” that foreigners (me) admire? I don’t think so. It was interesting. It was curious. It was “grand”. But it still freaked me out a bit.

Trying, as always, to make some sort of connection to religion/youth ministry. It made me wonder what, human rights and individuality aside, would I desire for “youth group” to look like if I had as much control over the teens as this guy had over his actors. Sure, it’d be nice to have them uniformly obedient, quiet when asked, tame, and thirsty for every word I spoke.

But that’d freak me out a bit.

Thankfully, I can always count on them coloring outside the lines. Interrupting. Being curious. Showing up late/early. Asking the hard questions. Being young humans. And watching them become more of who they are becoming every year, praying that Christ/the Church/the Kingdom become infused every step of the way…