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For Your Benefit...

• The April calendars are now available. The new duty rosters should be available this week.
• If you have not had your picture taken, please see Chuck Barnett following today’s service. He is preparing a photo directory and would like your picture to be included.
• There are “Thank You” cards on the bulletin board from Sherry Durbin and Sarah Price (Debbie Norris’ mother).

Calendar

• April 1-6 — Caneyville.
• April 8-13 — Eastview (Salem, IN).

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In this changing world it is hard to keep up with the phrases that identify segments of our culture. How many over 50 know what Generation X is? While most of us haven’t absorbed the meaning of this term, we are told that Generation Y is upon us. By the time we learn what Y is it will probably have been replaced by another, possibly Generation Z, if the alphabetical sequence continues. As for me, I am looking for Generation CGB, which I will explain a little later.

In case you have shared my ignorance about GEN X, I will give you the benefit of my very limited research on the subject. It is a broad term used by sociologists, historians, psychologists and others, who don’t agree as to the parameters of dates which encompasses the X-ers. It is also a not-so-clearly defined set of characteristics, which describes this segment of our culture. Here is a broad set of dates and traits which are generally associated with X-ers. People born between 1963 and 1978, or anyone in their 20s in the 1990s. See what I mean by the not so clear time period? Jane Deverson, an English person, conducted a series of interviews among British youths and discovered these common denominators: they sleep together before marriage, don’t believe in God, dislike the Queen, and don’t respect parents. That’s a pretty sad commentary on the young people of Great Britain.

In the United States Generation X-ers are marked by their lack of optimism for the future, nihilism (life is senseless and useless and there are no moral absolutes), cynicism, and lack of belief in traditional beliefs and values. In the 1990s the media portrayed X-ers as a group of flannel wearing, alienated, overeducated under achievers, who drink franchise-store coffee, and had to work at McJobs. This is describing the younger generation of Americans who will inherit the country in the not too far distant future. “Oh horrors!” as we used to say in junior high school.

These views of British and American youth are not too flattering. Could it get any worse among the teens and young adults in our society? According to some the answer is, Most Certainly. Make way for Generation Y.

An article in the May 18th CJ by San Diego State University professor Jean Twenge gives her assessment of the current status of young people. She describes them as narcissistic which she says presents a national problem. They are under-socialized, fated to depression, self-destruction, violence, and civil decay as they grow older. Another study involving students at the University of Southern California, who when interviewed overwhelmingly agreed with statements like, “I am a special person” and “I can live my life anyway I want to.” Sounds like this should be Generation M for “it’s all about Me.”

This is a quite depressing picture of what lies in store for us. Is this analysis right or is there a ribbon of hope in all this? Some experts disagree with this doom and gloom prognosis. They cite these statistics as arguing against these conclusions: Crime is an obvious index of self-centered behavior and since 1994 serious crimes of violence has fallen over 60% in the under-age 25 bracket. Pregnancy and abortion for girls 18 and under have decreased by 1/3 since the mid 1990s. Alcohol and cigarette consumption in grades 8, 10, and 12 are at the lowest levels since 1975. Much lower in fact than the parents of these kids. Record numbers of young now say they share their parents values and 76% of arriving students at Southern California put “raising a family” high on their list of priorities. So maybe things are not as bleak as they might appear.

But my hope lies with Generation CGB of which there are many in any era of time. Who are the CGB-ers? Look around you this morning during our worship service and you well see a number of them right here at Eastland. They are teenagers and young adults who are Committed God Believers. They have no doubt about what values are real and worth committing their lives to. They know that those principles that have been revealed by God are true and in following them lead to rich, rewarding, sacrificial lives. They have no problem respecting their parents and grandparents, or any older people for that matter because God said it is the right thing to do. Those that are married know that loving their spouses and teaching their children about God is a primary responsibility for those who are committed believers in God. They gladly accept all those duties, and everything God requires of them, because they know that satisfaction and ultimate reward attend such a life. If all young people were like them there would be no generation X or Y that bodes ill for the future. The future could be anticipated with optimism for we know the torch that passes to them will be in good hands.

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Were the whole world good as you — not an atom better —
Would this world be better?

If the whole world followed you — followed to the letter —
Would the world be better?

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