The Installation of Rev. Bryan Breault as Director of Outdoor Ministries: The Sermon

Psalm 62:1-2,5-8  and Hebrews 11:1-6 

             Nine years ago and two states away when my daughter Emily was four years old, I came to know a place called Quarry Hill Pre-School.  Snuggled amid rolling Vermont pastures and nestled on a hillside this was a special, perhaps a sacred place.  The school was run by three women who appeared to never really have gotten over the ‘60s.  Their approach was to stretch the creativity and playful energy of every child that came through their doors.  Each week would have its own theme.  One week Emily would return with all kinds of seeds: peach pits, and sprouting avocados, and white haired dandelion stalks.  The next week would be butterflies.  And of course there was the Beatles week, not the crawling kind, the yellow submarine kind.

                One experience I will never forget occurred on one of those Vermont October mornings when the whisper of winter was clearly in the air, but summer had not quite breathed its last breath.  I volunteer to chaperone a field trip to a nearby meadow here the class would search for fairies.  That had been their weekly theme and these twenty preschool kids were convinced, or at least seriously suspicious, that fairies were indeed real.  So we walked through the meadow and imagined that the blowing dandelion seeds were fairy umbrellas.  Perhaps a water sprite was sitting on a rock near the stream.  Children were running as quickly as they could to look behind every tree in hopes of snatching a glimpse of a fleeing pixie.  I lay back in the field and new this was indeed a holy space.  Playing in the field, looking for fairies, assured that they were around us: the assurance of things unseen.

The same generation of kids that went to Quarry Hill is now coming to PL.  Their world is not one of yellow submarines, and avocado pits.  Theirs is a world of an onslaught of information from the media.  The average post-modern youth today (when I talk about youth, I’m referring to the ages of 11-25) is plugged in to a radio, TV, VCR, CD or computer at least 75% of their waking hours.   And the messages they are receiving are far from mindless.   Advertisers continually tell our girls that in order to be of value, they must be extremely slim… are we surprised by the degree of anorexia present in our schools today?  Boys are taught that that to be a man, you must look and act like Bruce Willis or Brad Pitt… why are we surprised when we hear the 6 o’clock news reports on the latest incidence of school violence.

Probably some here have heard me before speak about the characteristics and various generations.  Each generation has a defining moment that seems to sum up in an instant the hopes, dreams, and values of a generation.  For the World War II generation it was the troops landing at Normandy.  Good vs. Evil; and we, the good guys, would kill the evil empire.  For the Baby-boomers it was the moment JFK was shot.  While a nation watched JFK Jr. salute his father’s grave, a generation was inspired to believe that although the king was dead, Camelot would live on.   For Generation X the defining moment was when a nation watched the Challenger leap into the heavens only to learn that the sky does have a limit, and that dreams can die.  The generation of youth that we find ourselves working with today are called the Millennials, and their defining moment occurred last year.  It was Columbine.  My God, now we are killing ourselves.  Do you honestly believe that every single time each kid hears their classroom loudspeaker announce: we must evacuate our school building in a calm and orderly fashion, that the first word that comes into their heads isn’t: Columbine.  And in their hearts, the deepest corner of their hearts, do you think they are not wondering why is this world so scary and  so very screwed up?  These are the same kids that were looking for fairies in the field… and they still are.

Now friends, that’s the bad news.  But there is Good News.  This generation has not given up on finding the things unseen.  Listen to the lyrics of their popular songs folks:

 Dishwalla’s repeating refrain in “Counting Blue Cars”: Tell me all your thoughts on God, ‘cause I’d really like to meet her.  Ask her why we’re who we are.”

 We have a generation looking.

 Joan Osborne sings:  “What if God was one of us?  Just a slob like one of us?  Just a stranger on the bus, trying to make his way home?”

 That’s incarnational theology friends.  It is how this generation articulates Advent.  When Natalie Merchant sings “Kind and Generous” it is nothing less than a post-modern hymn of praise.  The kids in the October field are still looking for the things unseen and they still believe that they will find it.

Bryan,  you asked me not to make this sermon focus on you.  And I haven’t, up until now.  But this is your installation and I do have a few words particularly for you.  I said that the Good News is  that the youth are still looking and believing.  It is our Good News that this is also our ministry: to help those who look and those who want to believe.  You, my friend, are particularly gifted for this ministry.  You are unique.  Unlike most who find themselves in this ministry,  you have been nurtured by the church from birth.  You have been blessed with parents, family and a wife who have always embraced you, encouraged you, and loved you dearly.  From a very early age, God has lead you on the path toward ministry,  And perhaps particularly Outdoor Ministry.  (Bryan has been a camper for nearly 30 years)  You are also blessed with the responsibility of being the steward of this sacred space;  not only of the septic field and Cabin 5 and the woodstoves, but also of the rocks where young people climb and sit and sense the presence of holiness; and the trees that whisper hymns of praise amid laughter and tears and dark sleepy nights; and the loons that laugh and remind us that God does indeed have a sense of humor: after all She made laughing birds, silly porcupines and even us.

You are the steward of the table grace, the challenge space, and the honest face; the place where a young girl does not have to weigh 90 pounds; where a young boy does not have to look and act like Bruce Willis; where a Down’s Syndrome teen is not left sitting on the side during the dance; where a paraplegic girl can wash windows and smile;

where every youth knows they are accepted and loved; loved by their peers, by the adults around them and perhaps, yes, even by God.  You are the steward of this space where youth find the holy in each other and in themselves.  And best of all, my friend, you are called to this.  You are equipped for this ministry.  And you are gifted.

One more thing, and I am done.  The best part of all:  The children who were running after fairies and things unseen were pursuing that which is not real.  But the youth who pursue God in this place will find that which is.  Make it so.