I went to one of the Challenge Days that Oberlin High School held about 10 days ago.

  I had no idea what Challenge Day was when I went. They had asked for adult volunteers who could spend the whole day at the High School, and on one of the days I was available.

  It was a wonderful and disturbing event. I guess one way to sum it up is to say that the hope of the Challenge Days at Oberlin High School was to help kids realize that many of them are going through tough situations, and a little kindness goes a long way. The Challenge Day leaders were there to help the lids learn to listen to and respect each other, and to make high school, what few believe it can be, a supportive environment where kids feel safe to be who they are. The challenge for the kids is to step-up and be there for each other.

  At the end of the day when the leaders were decompressing with the adult volunteers, they said that they don’t only do Challenge Days in schools, but for all kinds of adult groups, as well. Adults, too, could use the same lessons about respecting, listening to, and supporting one another.

  I’ve thought a lot about that time these past 10 days. And lots of Biblical stuff has come to mind, including the creation story. The story says we were created in the image of God and meant to be in relationship. It is not good, the story says, for the created one to be alone. And too many kids and adults feel too alone. We weren’t created to live this life without each other. To be created in the image of God is to be in relationship.

  One of the amazing lines from the creation story, for me, is the one that says the man and the woman were naked and not ashamed. Now I wouldn’t explore that image too much with high school kids. But it says that when God created humanity, and gave us a place called Paradise to live, we could reveal ourselves to each other. In Paradise, we didn’t need to find all the fig leaves we search for today to cover up ourselves because we were able to be vulnerable and expect we would be accepted and treasured as God’s image bearers, flawed though we are.

  The way the leaders at Challenge Day talked about this was the waterline. You know about icebergs and how only 10% of an iceberg is above water. The other 90% is below the waterline. The kids agreed with that image saying they spend much of their time projecting a image, the stuff above the waterline, while a good 90% of who we they are remains below the waterline. I don’t think this is news to any of us, because it’s not just kids who live that way.

  The leaders asked for words for the life kids live above the waterline and the most popular one was fake. The kids said the part of their lives above the waterline was this fake image they feel they need to project around other kids and adults if they are going to be accepted. That stuff below the waterline, that most people never get to see is the good and the bad, the joy and the sorrow, the struggles and the victories, the pain and the healing, the love and the heartache.

We played lots of games, did some booty dancing (more about that after the offering) and then got down to the hard work of the day, talking with each other and learning what kids were going through.

  Too many of these kids are facing adult troubles. We saw that especially when we played the crossover game where we were all lined up against one wall. The leader would ask kids and adults  to crossover the blue line on the floor when they had faced various situations. This was the hardest part of the day for many of us. Cross the line if you have lost a parent. Cross the line if you have a parent in jail. Cross the line if you have been a victim of abuse by a close friend or relative. Cross the line if you or a family member has tried or succeeded at suicide. Cross the line if a parent, teacher, or other adult has said you are stupid and not going to amount to anything. Cross the line if you have ever been hurt by the things a good friend for family member has said about you, even if they were joking.

  Along with the tears, there were a couple of common reactions. One was the disbelief that there were other people crossing the line, because the kids thought they were the only ones who ever faced such things. The other was the dismay when kids saw their friends crossing the line, because they never knew what those friends were facing. In her tears I heard one girl talk about how she never knew her best friend’s family sometimes didn’t have any food in the house. “How could I not have known?”

  Why were the kids so surprised to discover others were in the same situations they were in? Or why didn’t they know some of the hard things their very best friends were going through? It’s because they are too ashamed to reveal so much of themselves in front of each other, to be that naked. They are too afraid to bring that stuff above the waterline. What would happen if kids at the high school knew? Would they lose their friends or be made fun of?

  It turns out, though, they might start being a little less hard on each other, a little more supportive of each other, a little more open to each other. There were hard problems that no kids or adults were going to solve, but the kids realized they could be kinder to each other, make school, if nothing else, a little easier. When the kids crossed that line the ones on the other side of the line offered their support. That’s what the kids want.

  There were apologies. There were hugs. People asked for help and understanding and patience from each other.             

We were treading close to gospel grounds that day. Wasn’t Jesus’ life about calling us back to the garden, saying our lives would be much better if we focused on our similarities rather than our differences? How did he sum up all the law? Love God and love each other. He said we need to step-up for each other, make it so we are not so afraid to reveal ourselves to each other, more able to bring that stuff above the waterline.

  Those first followers of Jesus began to catch on. They got some of it anyway. It’s not good to be alone. Let’s take Jesus seriously by building a new humanity with each other. We’ll call it the church and call ourselves the body of Christ. Let’s work on really showing our love for God by loving each other. Our lives can be different than they are including the ability, as the Apostle Paul admonished, to “be kind and tender hearted to one another, forgiving each other as God has forgiven us in Jesus Christ.” We can build a new world.

 So they started these little churches all over the place where they were no longer divided between Jew and Greek, slave and free, men and women, but they were one, they were sisters and brothers, followers together  of Jesus Christ.

There were so many tears shed on Challenge Day. And I’m not talking about only the kids. It was hard to see so many of those kids stay behind the line as one after another hard situation was named. We wanted to bring those kids home with us and make it all better. But it’s not that easy. You can’t wish all that stuff away.

  What can we provide for these kids? We want to come up with the right program, we want to find ways to reach out to them. We want to be in meaningful relationships with them, realizing, of course, they may not care whether we are in any meaningful relationship with them or not. Kids are notoriously fickle about these kinds of things.

  Adults feel better when there are programs. Programs are of some help, and more are needed.  But there is something harder, yet within our grasp that we can do. Build the Church. These kids need to know that there are places like this that will care about them because we care about each other.

  They will never feel welcomed unless they see us welcoming each other, being able to reveal ourselves more fully to each other, bringing more of ourselves above the waterline. The kids know there is life in that.

What I immediately saw about the leaders of Challenge Day is that they had such a respect for the kids. By the end of the day I knew why. They knew the potential those kids have in spite of the awful things too many of them are dealing with. They knew the kids could step-up and make a difference.

  I knew the church--this church and all churches--were being challenged that day. Can we learn the same lesson from Jesus? Can we step-up and build a new world that looks more like Paradise than Hades? Can we respect the kids at Oberlin High School? Kids everywhere? Reach out to them, love them, and learn from them? Can they find Jesus in us?

  That revolutionary message of Jesus was that we are so incredibly loved by God that we can love each other in spite of all our differences, in spite of all that awful stuff we keep below the waterline, or cover up with our fig leaves. I think kids have a hard time believing that because they don’t see all that many adults who really believe it. They see that even in our churches we put limits on God’s love and on who we are going to love.

  What was most hopeful and most frustrating about Challenge Day is that I left not knowing what will come of all of this. Was it just a cathartic experience, or is there hope Oberlin High School will become a kinder place, a place where kids don’t feel so alone?

  I keep running into adults who were at one of the Challenge Days. We’re all still thinking about it. We didn’t know what to expect when we came that morning and we don’t know what to expect since that day. But we know things can’t be the same. The kids want something different. They have to find it. They have to step-up. They have been challenged. They don’t want to do it alone.

  They need our love and respect, and they need us to accept the challenge ourselves to create the world we say God wants them to have.  


Before we leave this morning we have to talk about Booty Dancing. That’s one of the things all 120 kids and adults did that morning. Have you ever Booty Danced? I’m going to find a volunteer and show you how it works.

  When you’ve booty danced with someone you have suddenly taken your relationship to a whole new level. The leaders of the morning suggested that one of the groups that could use to booty dance with one another is our world leaders. They said that world summits should begin with booty dancing. Once you have bumped butts with each other, you can start having a different kind of discussion.

  You can maybe talk about some of the lines you have crossed over. What if world leaders after being loosened up by a bit of booty dancing could start talking about some of the stuff going on in their lives, what they have had to cover up or keep below the water line. Maybe it’s alcohol abuse, or feeling like the price of power is neglecting your family. What’s it feel like to be reviled by x number of people in whatever country you lead, or when good friends sell you out for their own political gain? What are the things going on in your life you could never talk about because it would cause you to lose votes or support? Could they trust each other like we did on Challenge Day to respect each other by keeping what we hear from each other confidential?

  After booty dancing and having those conversations, with tears and hugs flowing, maybe they could talk a little more productively about the issues facing this world.

But it’s not just world leaders. I think Jesus would say all of us need to do more booty dancing on the way to Paradise.