Christian authors and speakers have a lot to say about the topic of identity: a quick search of christianbook.com turned up 315 different resources on the theme of identity in Christ. While I've heard plenty of sermons about my identity in Christ, most of them are variations of "Whatever your sinful flesh tells you to do, just do the opposite." Excluded from the office lunch gang? The old you might have some flashback emotions to that time when your so-called friends didn't invite you to sit with them during 5th period lunch. A new creation in Christ will count it all joy, and eat her tuna sandwich alone at her desk, humming "Just A Closer Walk With Thee."
There may be a measure of truth embedded in this approach, but it is not a full portrait of redemption if it divides us from our own humanity rather than redeeming it. Instead of trying to hum our way through a lifetime replaying high school, Psalm 86:11 reminds us that we don't need to endeavor to ignore the mess of growth: "Teach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name." The fruit of reverent dependence on God is our wholeness – a wholeness that embraces our adolescent growing pains as formational to our identity, rather than asking us to pretend they never happened and don't exist.
In the church, leaders, mentors, and peers would do everyone a service by avoiding talking only in terms of "new Creation in Christ" triumphal metamorphosis. We would do well to acknowledge in sermon and conversation that we are in process, and this process has a lot to do with recognizing there's an awkward teenager in the cocoon. When church politics rears its ugly head in a congregation, part of the conversation might well include a look at the adolescent insecurities and triggers each one of us carries.
One of the best movies ever made about high school, The Breakfast Club, ends by noting that each one of us has an identity far more complex than the labels we give to ourselves and each other. Each of us is "a brain, and an athlete, and a basket case. A princess, and a criminal." The One who made us knows this about us far better than we could ever know it ourselves, and loves us as we are, where we are… even at the high school smoking area.
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audrey ruth
As long as one man (or woman) loves to lord it over another one (as Christ Jesus expressly forbade His disciples to do), there will be cliques, there will be bullies, there will be those who exclude others from their "inner circle". I actually attended a church where the pastor and his wife freely acknowledged the fact that they had an inner circle, and that those who were "without" should work hard to work their way in. WOW. Sadly, I don't know that anyone (especially the elders of the church) ever challenged them on this flagrant contradiction of God's Word. If they had, I suppose they would then have been excluded from that inner circle. God help us.
Deb Tomsky
Loved Breakfast Club when it first came out ~ and so did my kids when they were teens (they're mostly in their 20's now) ~ so it still rings true! I noticed the popular teen/tween show "Victorious" recently did a homage to BC ~ so this next generation is also be blessed with the comfort of knowing that everyone else is really just as insecure as they are :)
Yohanna Puric
Great article! High school was the happiest stage in my life though - carefree, innocent, idealistic, full of adventures, and lots of fun. I was part of a group of five girls interested in reading Mills and Boon, Barbara Cartland, etc. adored Jacky Chan, Muhammad Ali, the Bee Gees, ABBA, country music, Charlie's Angels, Starsky and Hutch, The Six Million Dollar Man, Little House on the Prairie, etc. but also interested in country hikes, the Citizens' Army Training and it seems to me now in anything and everything that we were studying. We explored the city we lived in, talked about meeting that 'tall, dark, compelling man'. We wanted to be private detectives, astronauts, in the army. We were mad about basketball and hated school socials. We loved and feared some teachers and sneered at others. I sometimes wish I could have stayed in high school much much longer. Unfortunately, one has to go to college and be an adult.
John pierce
Several years back, there was a TV series called BIRDS OF PREY, in which one line of dialogue from one episode has always stood out in my memory: "Remember, high school is the closest thing our society has to institutionalized torture." I've spent nearly 47 years in high school -- four as a student, 38 as a public school teacher, and now almost five as a Christian school substitute teacher (not to mention a few weeks teaching a home-school class). I can agree with the line of dialogue. But I should also state that I think that high school can be one of the most exciting places to be, in spite of all the dangers and problems. I hope that, over the course of my career, I've helped at least a few people navigate their way through those sometimes-treacherous waters. None of this, of course, addresses the article's main topic, which was good, but I wanted to share this, anyway.
Doug Knox
Well said, Michelle. You struck a live nerve and revealed a deep truth. A few months ago, for example, my wife tried to introduce me to the Seinfeld series, but I finally had to ask her to excuse me from the DVD’s. Why? Because they dredged up memories of my high school angst...more than forty years ago. Watching them was more painful than funny. Your conclusion, “[I]t is not a full portrait of redemption if it divides us from our own humanity rather than redeeming it,” is spot on. Would that more Christian ministers recognized the truth that the proof of redemption lies in progress in real time rather than isolation in our dualistic corner while we eat our tuna sandwiches.
Tim Fall
"A new creation in Christ will count it all joy, and eat her tuna sandwich alone at her desk, humming 'Just A Closer Walk With Thee.'" My word, but that was funny Michelle. You had me chuckling at my desk. Good thing I wasn't eating my tuna sandwich or I might have choked! On church cliques, we've seen the effect they can have on our own family. For one group, we observed from the outside how the group's dynamics weren't all that healthy. In speaking with a member about it (someone who asked why we weren't joining in with them for things), she listened but said didn't see it the same way. Then a couple years later she no longer hung out as much with the same people. That's when she told us that she started seeing the same thing we'd observed. Yep, a lot like those HS dynamics. Cheers, Tim ( timfall.wordpress.com ) P.S. I saw The Breakfast Club in the theatre when it first came out. Loved it!
Gina Dalfonzo
This is so true! Well said, Michelle!
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