Hard Of Hearing

Young adults face many daily challenges that can be met with guidance from the Old Testament.  However, that guidance doesn’t come easy because for our young, the Old Testament tends to be silent.   It doesn’t speak to them.

Here’s a set of quotes from Therese Brown, the assistant director for operations and project management in USCCB Publishing.    Having worked for over 20 years with young people as a teacher, catechist, and youth minister, she says the Old Testament will speak to them “...as long as they [young people] are familiar with both the content and context of Old Testament readings. In a rapidly changing world, anything that is old is just old, and therefore potentially irrelevant.

The Old Testament doesn’t have to be either.  It’s possible to highlight themes and experiences in the Old Testament that are a part of today’s teens’ lives – with parents, friends, conflict, facing the future – and how key figures dealt with them.

The National Study of Youth and Religion revealed that only one in four (26 percent) young people reads the Sacred Scripture of their religious tradition weekly or more often. Catholic young people typify this statistic.   To change that pattern, young people have to be taught new habits for interacting with Scripture, especially the Old Testament…”

Of course, teens are not the only ones hearing no more than a whisper from the Old Testament.   We adults tend to be hard-of-hearing as well.   Time for hearing aids; otherwise, we miss the relevance of Old Testament Scripture often coming to life through artists' imaginations.

By the way, who is that woman under and holding God's left arm and why is she there?   Young people, discuss.

Deacon David Pierce