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High Energy and Wide Diversity Mark National Episcopal Youth Event

Episcopal News Service. August 22, 1996 [96-1539]

Jerry Hames, Editor of Episcopal Life

(ENS) The calm summer days at Terre Haute's Indiana State University were shattered July 30 when 1,400 exuberant young Episcopalians descended upon the campus for the triennial Episcopal Youth Event (EYE).

For the next five days, young people from 95 of the 99 domestic dioceses, augmented by others from dioceses in Central and South America, sang, prayed, talked, danced, laughed and cried together in a moving display of the church's strength among this generation.

Teens from as far as Alaska and Panama, Hawaii and Florida, Ecuador and Minnesota joined hands in a spiritual party, the memories of which will last them for years.

"So much energy"

"What I will always carry with me is the clapping and singing, so much excitement and so much energy," said Mary Catherine Enockson of White Bear Lake, Minnesota, one of about 30 teenagers and adult supervisors from the Diocese of Minnesota. She was describing the daily morning gatherings, led by a 12-person ensemble of singers and musicians, with meditations by Presiding Bishop Edmond Browning and teen speakers, that set the theme for each day.

Enockson said that many more young people were involved in presentations to youth than at the last EYE she attended in 1993.

"I liked how open people were," said Jessie King, 17, of Cape Elizabeth, Maine. "It was amazing how I could talk about myself [in ways] that I couldn't normally do. We got close to God, and where God is, trust develops much faster."

Each morning's assembly also had an impact, he said. "There we were, people as happy as clams at 8 a.m., smiling, dancing, jumping around and praising God."

The frenetic energy each morning was fueled by the musical ensemble, which repeatedly brought the crowd to its feet with spiritual music and song from the African-American and Latino tradition. For the first time at an EYE the musicians were all youth and young adults.

Delegations of young people from northern California to Long Island shared the stage with the presiding bishop to show a video from their diocese, dramatize a parable from the Bible, or talk in moving testimonials about their own ministry.

Making a difference

At one assembly six young men and women spoke with conviction about the importance of "making a difference" in the lives of others. Arnold Basingat of El Monte, California, described his witness against the pervasive drug and gang culture in his neighborhood; Ashley Parks, a 15-year-old from Fort Smith, Arkansas, described her care-giving ministry to four men who have since died with AIDS-related illnesses; Michael Lawyer of Arden Mills, Minnesota, told how his one-to-one listening ministry can make a difference in a person's life.

"Take the time to listen," he urged his peers. "It may mean sitting up through the night. You can change one life, and that person, in turn, can change one more."

The license plates on cars and vans in university parking lots revealed the distance some youth had traveled. Others had arrived by air or by rail; one young man from West Palm Beach, Fla., rode a bus for 28 hours. The Maine delegation, participating in its first EYE, traveled by van, staying overnight in parish halls along the way.

Many of the teens, Enockson and King among them, found it difficult to believe their church's broad diversity reflected in the youth gathered, a diversity that had been a goal of the EYE planning team. African-Americans, Hispanics, native Americans, Asians and Anglo-Europeans created a diversity described by one teenager as "a humongous experience."

Reflecting the church's diversity

In fact, one third of the 1,400 youth at the conference were young people of color. "From recruitment at the very beginning to the [events in the] daily program, cultural diversity was built into the model," said the Rev. Dr. Sheryl Kujawa, coordinator for youth ministry at the Episcopal Church Center.

"It was the culmination of a natural progression," she said. "We've been speaking about cultural diversity and offering anti-racism training for the past three youth events."

"The most remarkable thing about EYE was how friendly everyone was," said Johanna Thrall, 15, of South Orange, New Jersey, who attended with the Connecticut contingent. "It was the biggest display of peace and unity in diversity that I've seen. The friends that I made at EYE, from all over the country, I know I will keep in touch with for a long time."

A constant trade in barter items -- pencils, pens, sunglasses, pamphlets and pins among them -- brought by each diocesan group helped fuel the interaction between teens from widely different regions and backgrounds.

Worship a focus

The youth found worship services equally as diverse. These included provincial Eucharists, free-form prayer and praise, a service for healing and one based on the Taize tradition of the ecumenical community in France.

At an outdoor carnival around a gigantic fountain one evening, each delegation displayed something from their culture. Navajos made fried bread, Montanans offered samples of buffalo meat, Iowans distributed popcorn, and the Vermont table gave miniature bottles of maple syrup. Visitors to the Tennessee table received a handful of raw cotton and an Elvis trading card. Others displayed handicrafts, or provided games, dancing, music, or activities that included a fish pond, water slide, a horse race, and a native American drum ensemble.

The Diocese of Olympia gave away string and multi-colored beads for teens to start a "Time Ball," a tradition begun by women in Washington's Yakama Indian Nation to document their lives' precious or monumental events on strings woven from hemp.

The church of today

The presiding bishop, who addressed the young people in a meditation each morning, said that he saw in their faces the diversity of cultures that fulfilled his vision for the Episcopal church.

He told them to carry back to their home dioceses the message that they are the church of today. "There are young people involved on the committee to elect the next presiding bishop. There are growing numbers of young people now at diocesan conventions and on committees. If you are not experiencing that where you come from, go back and fight for it," he said.

Browning, in stories about his family, told the teens that he had five children -- "one of each kind." It was a message not lost on his audience. "It helped us remember we are all different," said Melinda Lederer of Pittsburgh.

Neither was the total EYE experience lost on the adults who accompanied each delegation. "These youth have shown me new ways of seeing Christ," said one. "I return home with greater hope for the church in years to come."