STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS by Joyce Johnson Rouse

Climbing up into the third floor youth room, now called the "Upper Room," of the Parish Hall is always an adventure. You never know what you will find - old electronics, old furniture, pictures from past pilgrimages, and on and on.

Bill Ford and Lillian Hohmann have been transforming it into a room worthy of the youth who enter and those who have passed through the doors.

The pictures above are from an old sky light area (or who knows what it really was). I look at those pictures and think of the many youth who have claimed that space of Grace. It occurs to me that some of those past youth members may just be some of our older adults who are here now.

I walk the space and wonder what they would have to say to us about who Grace was and who Grace is now. I wonder what their world was like and what challenges and joys they were experiencing in the world around them. I wonder what words they might offer to us and our youth. I also wonder how our current youth would answer those questions. Do the feel valued by us? What are their hopes and dreams for themselves and for this place and for the world?

Have a moment? Go see the space. Have a moment? Chat with our youth. They are not the future. They are the NOW. And some day, someone will be standing on their shoulders.

-Shawn