Double~take | words

R

ecently a youth event was hosted at my corps for about 450 teenagers. There were inflatable slides and a car to graffiti outside; and lawn bowls, computer games, a live band and free fairy floss inside. Yes, of course someone managed to smash part of a glass door with the lawn bowls, but other than that, it was a great night Towards the end, they had organized a speaker to present a message, and from what I heard afterwards, the response was pretty good.

I was listening to some of the leaders discussing things a bit later, and part of their conversation struck me. Apparently there had been another event earlier in the year – great band, high energy moshing – the youth really got into it. They also had a speaker talk to the youth, but apparently he just couldn’t get the attention or the response of the crowd. He had a good reputation as a speaker, but the youth were just too pumped to want to suddenly sit down and listen to a guy talk.

Their conversation brought to my mind an instance from several years back. I was a teenager on camp with about 500 other young people – big marquee, bands and loud singing. It was during Easter, and after the music two guys came up to perform a mime. One guy stood in the middle trying to attract the attention of a second, who was playing with balloons, and finding members of the crowd to read out the word written on each. “JOY!” “FAITH!” etc. The last balloon was huge and white, with the word “LOVE” on it. The second guy danced around completely ignoring the first, playing with this huge balloon.

In a loud pop, the balloon suddenly burst; and in that same instant, the first guy had his head bowed and his arms stretched wide to form a cross. The guy who had popped the balloon, was instantly the epitome of remorse and slowly, quietly, left.

And 500 teens sat dumbstruck. In the deafening silence, some part of me groped blindly for SOME kind of smart-alec remark to make – I did have an image to maintain - but the encompassing silence won out hands down.

No words required.

It’s the usual struggle between relevance, creativity and available resources. I don’t underestimate the power of words, but times like these remind me of the alternatives.

Double~take appears every Saturday on theRubicon. Find past Double~take posts and a bio of Stephanie Hung here.

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