0:17

Hey everybody , what is up ? My name is Ryan

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and I am here in

0:21

the laboratory and we are on episode

0:23

. What episode is this , mike ? This is episode 33

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. Episode number 33 . So , hey , thanks

0:28

for coming along . If you enjoy these too , by the way , I'd love for

0:30

you to share them with a friend or a family member or anybody

0:33

that might enjoy them as well . But , hey

0:35

, I wanted . This morning , a buddy

0:37

of mine , his name's Jeremy , sent me this message

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of a tweet by Jonathan Haidt

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, and if you don't know who Jonathan Haidt is , I would encourage

0:45

you to check him out . He's got some great books out

0:47

. Haidt is H-A-I-D-T . He

0:54

wrote the Coddling of the American Mind , he wrote a book called the Righteous Mind and just came

0:56

out with a brand new book called the Anxious Generation

0:59

, and these are all wonderful . I

1:10

have not read the newest one yet , but his tweet is about his newest book and in the book he's really exploring the subtitles is how the great

1:13

rewiring of childhood is causing an epidemic of mental illness , and basically

1:15

he's a social psychologist exploring , in this case , the effects

1:17

of sort of the culture on

1:19

youth and young people right now , and

1:22

there's this extreme spike

1:24

in mental health . You

1:26

know issues and conversations

1:28

and he just sort of explores why . And anyway

1:30

, in his tweet that my buddy , jeremy sent to me , he

1:33

writes this he said kids and

1:35

religious families have fared better

1:37

in the smartphone era , with

1:40

smaller rises in mental health . Him

1:42

and this guy , zach Roush , who wrote the book with him , zach

1:44

Roush , who wrote the book with him , zach Roush , and I believe it's primarily

1:47

due to being anchored in real world communities

1:49

and rituals and obligations and

1:52

low enemy . Enemy

2:02

is this idea of sort of it's like a lack of usual social or ethical standards in an

2:04

individual or group , so kind of this unmooring of like regular social standards or ethical

2:06

directions and these kinds of things . And

2:08

so he says I believe it's primarily because kids in

2:11

religious communities or church communities are

2:13

anchored in real life , real world

2:15

, human flesh and blood , communities

2:18

with rituals and obligations , and

2:20

they're tethered to this thing that's

2:22

greater than themselves . And

2:24

it reminds me I love the word religion . Religion

2:27

gets a bad rap in our

2:29

culture today because religion can no doubt

2:31

have a , you know , a

2:33

sort of a false self . It can be this disastrous

2:36

, oppressive thing when used

2:38

to , I don't know , to oppress

2:41

or manipulate or control people and

2:43

of course that's not a good thing . But the word religion

2:46

if you look at the etymology , religion comes from this Latin

2:48

word religere , which means to

2:50

bind or to be tethered to something

2:52

. And I love this idea

2:54

because in my mind I picture a boat that's

2:57

actually moored , or like tethered to

2:59

a post in the deepest

3:01

part of the ocean . Let's say , for example , it's

3:09

not , you know , there's waves coming and crashing all around it , but that

3:11

boat isn't going anywhere . And

3:14

otherwise , if you're unmoored from something

3:16

, from anything , then I imagine just a boat at sea drifting mercilessly

3:18

at the will of the ocean . And so religion

3:21

in my mind , in its purest I think most

3:23

, I don't the best form

3:25

is being tethered to something bigger

3:27

than ourselves or greater than ourselves

3:30

, of course , in our narrative . I'm

3:32

a part of a Christian church , a Lutheran church , and so for

3:34

me it's the Jesus stories . The Jesus stories ground

3:37

me , and of all the things in my life

3:39

that come and go and the changes

3:41

I've made or the ways I've grown

3:43

, hopefully matured , over the years , the one

3:45

mainstay in my life has been the

3:47

Jesus narrative and I want

3:49

to always be tethered to something deep and

3:52

profound and ancient like that . That's

3:54

why I find it so compelling and

3:56

I just love the stories , of course , and I don't mean I love

3:58

them like a good movie , I mean they

4:00

deeply resonate with me . And so

4:02

it's interesting because and Jonathan

4:04

hates work he's talking about how , like look kids that

4:07

don't have this tie

4:09

to a religious community or a Christian faith or

4:11

a church community , they're disconnected

4:13

relationally , they don't have that community with

4:15

people that surround them . And

4:18

I even say it's just the small things like saying

4:20

, hey , how are you High-fiving ? Let me pray

4:22

for you . Here's a cup of coffee . Which

4:24

I think is one of the greatest gifts of the church

4:26

is that we can have this authentic Well

4:29

, I hope it's authentic some version of authentic

4:32

kind of community where you're actually engaging

4:34

with other people . And in today's culture

4:36

, where we're so disconnected , disassociated

4:39

, we have our food delivered , we watch Netflix

4:41

in our living rooms , we don't get out a whole lot . Those

4:44

third spaces are kind of disappearing , you

4:46

know , like the coffee shops or the movie theaters

4:48

. Even the shopping mall is kind of becoming

4:50

antiquated . But the church

4:53

can be that , it can be like a place where we gather

4:55

and we talk about things and we

4:57

, you know , argue about things . We drink coffee

4:59

together , which seems like nothing , but it's

5:01

not nothing . It's important to be anchored in that real

5:03

world community . And then also , he talks

5:05

about rituals and rituals to me . I love

5:07

rituals . I'm deeply convinced

5:10

that these are what shape us , our liturgies

5:12

, as Jamie Smith calls them , the things that

5:14

we do are habits or rhythms that point

5:16

to a divine , some

5:19

sort of divine being or source , right

5:21

Like rituals in and of themselves are not magic

5:23

. I'm not like conjuring up the presence of God . Rituals

5:26

rather open my eyes and open my

5:28

heart and my ears to the things

5:30

of God that are already there , but they do

5:32

it because they're like a concrete expression

5:35

of an ideal . And so I love

5:37

rituals because they actually like open up practices

5:40

. These kinds of things . They open me up to

5:42

experiencing God , the God who's already

5:44

present in there in the ritual . But

5:46

I just it helps me kind of on my end , but

5:49

they do . These things shape us . And so having

5:51

a kid kind of come to church every Sunday

5:53

, or whatever your religious rhythm

5:55

is , these are important . Praying , taking

6:03

communion , being baptized , sharing in these kinds of gathering-type rituals are vitally important

6:05

. It seems like speaking of social psychology anyway

6:07

. And then again this

6:09

low enemy , this idea of like

6:11

, hey , we are tethered to something . We

6:14

have a direction . Our ethics are based on

6:16

this thing , the cross , I would say our

6:18

worldview , our paradigms , and

6:21

in the Christian tradition

6:23

it's this idea of the God

6:25

who self-sacrificially gives of

6:27

himself for the whole world . So

6:29

if that's my aim and my direction , my ethical

6:32

standard , then that's the story

6:34

I'm going to live by . I want to and I don't always

6:36

do it , but I want to give up my life

6:38

for the sake of the world . May my life

6:41

, my vocation , my days

6:43

be a breaking and a pouring out

6:45

for the healing of the world . That's

6:47

what I want to be a part of . And so , anyway , I was

6:49

fascinated by this and

6:51

I'm not surprised at all that kids who

6:53

grow up in these kinds of circles and

6:55

communities just seem to do better

6:57

with all the pressure of social media , the

7:00

addictions of cell phone and all of the

7:02

, just the disconnection that we experience

7:04

in our culture . So I say , if you're

7:06

a parent out there , there's no shame

7:08

in bringing your kids to church . When I was younger

7:10

and we would bring our kids to church , I didn't like ask their

7:13

permission . I would just bring them and I wasn't going

7:15

to force them to believe in God and these kinds of things

7:17

. But I would say , hey , this is what we do

7:19

as a family . We go to church and we and

7:21

I try to make it as not weird as possible . Sometimes

7:23

it can get weird , but , and I explored with

7:25

them the things that I found life-giving

7:27

and I would just pray that those

7:30

things would take root . So don't be ashamed of bringing

7:32

your kids to church , or bringing them to your house church

7:34

or your journey group or to different things

7:36

that are , you know , exploring faith

7:39

, and these are important things . And

7:42

so I think , at the end too , this gives me hope that

7:44

many people I talk to today are like Ryan , what do

7:46

I do ? Because the world seems

7:49

to be on fire and nobody's helping put

7:51

it out . Everything's to be in chaos

7:53

. It's getting worse and worse , I hear which

7:55

, by the way , if you look back on history , it's always

7:57

been getting worse and better at the same time , for

7:59

centuries , you know . But I

8:01

would say this this is our hope If

8:03

we can tether ourselves to the cross , to

8:06

the story of a God who self-sacrificially

8:08

gives of himself , who lowers

8:10

himself to the point of death on a cross , and

8:12

invites us to do the same , that

8:18

can be , I think , the hope of the world that Jesus can truly and really

8:20

save us . So today , may you have hope . All

8:23

right , love you guys . Peace . Hey

8:27

, if you enjoy this show , I'd love to have you share it with some friends

8:29

. And don't forget , you are always welcome to

8:31

join us in person at Central

8:33

in Elk River at 830 , which is our

8:35

liturgical gathering , or at 10 o'clock , our modern

8:37

gathering , or you can check us out online

8:40

at clcelkriverorg

8:42

. Peace .