My sons love their experience in the Mukilteo schools.  My wife and I value what they are getting; but there is one thing I wish our schools could teach.  I wish they could teach my boys how to watch TV. 

 

Please stay with me, dear newspaper devotees.  I don’t want them watching mindless reality shows.  I just want them to sit with me for longer than 10 minutes and recreate my childhood nostalgia. 

 

I fondly remember gathering with my family in the “sacred” living room for television events.  I long for my boys to connect with small screen moments that moved me when I was their age.  I’m not picky.  It doesn’t have to be a rerun of “Kung Fu,” “Wild America with Marty Stauffer,” or a classic “Twilight Zone.”  I’d be happy if they would sit still for a Rudolf Christmas special or even the Super Bowl. 

 

Despite my boys’ generally serene demeanor—their ability to sit through church astounds me—they just don’t get why they should sit still for something they can’t control.  In the age of video games and Facebook, they are used to far more interactivity.  Even my college students consider movies in class to be tedious aspects of learning, rather than the special treat they were for previous generations. 

 

What has this to do with religion?  Religion is about ultimate meaning.  It is about what moves us profoundly.   Some, of course, associate the term “religion” with legalism, oppression, and even cruelty.  For this reason, many people describe themselves as “spiritual, not religious.” 

 

By this, they usually mean that they experience and appreciate awe and mystery in the universe, or even that they have some connection with God, but they don’t like to use traditional religious methods or structures to connect with this divine presence. Between the observant and unaffiliated, there is a religious idiom gap. 

 

Idioms are figures of speech that only make grammatical sense within a particular culture, like “piece of cake” or “sitting shotgun.”  

 

It is easy to see how simple religious idioms can fail to connect with new generations.  What, after all, does it mean to “anoint my head with oil”?  Where do I apply the “Balm of Gilead”?  What would we do if the rivers around the Puget Sound started flowing with “milk and honey”? 

 

Have you even ever heard these phrases?  These biblical idioms that are rarely understandable today, and even when we grasp their original meaning, they usually fail to affect us as they once did.

 

In the larger sense, an idiom is the unique manner of expression within a culture or group.  This is where the religious idiom gap is most problematic.  Just as my sons don’t “get” the idiom of watching television as a family, many younger people fail to understand the value of traditional religious practices. That doesn’t mean they can’t learn, however.

What religious idioms do you find meaningful?  The bad news is that emerging generations probably do not appreciate them as much as you do.  The good news is that, while idioms change, we humans tend to share common longings, pains, and joys; we may not be as far apart as it seems.  Speaking different “languages,” our challenge is to learn the art of translation. 

 

Take care not to confuse translation with mimicking the fads of cheap commercial culture.  Latching on to current trends is a particular temptation for religious leaders, but its results are fleeting. 

 

To remain relevant, faith communities need to accomplish more than cosmetic changes.  Trading one facade for another does us no good.   Figuring out what is truly meaningful to people, however, works wonders.  How do we do this?

 

Start with something we all still like do: talk.  By authentic dialog with each other, we accomplish two important things.  First, we help young people understand the deep meaning behind the art, drama, and poetry of our faith practices.  Second, and perhaps most importantly, we can learn new idioms or ways of speaking about our faith (and even doubts). 

 

In the case of my sons, they have introduced me to complex video games as a way to spend rewarding time together discussing a game’s “mythology.”   These conversations, it turns out, provide a chance for us to discuss the big questions of myth, meaning, ethics, and faith: and none of us get bored.  

 

Lately, my family is discussing eliminating our cable bill.  We don’t watch as much television as we used to.   It’s not that we are too good for the “idiot box,” it’s that we are mutually creating new moments of significance. 

 

Perhaps my grandchildren will one day consider our recently invented family traditions to be quaint and irrelevant.  But the commitment to things that ultimately matter can endure from generation to generation. In like manner, our faith communities will do well to develop new idioms for cherished, timeless meaning.

 

Dr. Jeff Mallinson is a member and occasional speaker at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, and Academic Dean of Trinity Lutheran College. 

He earned his undergraduate degree in religion from Concordia University, Irvine, and his doctorate from the University of Oxford. He is the author of numerous books, articles, professional papers, and book reviews.

He, his wife Stacie, and two sons, Augustin and Aidan, enjoy living in the Pacific Northwest with all the opportunities for fishing, hiking and foraging.”