My New Job

My name is Sarah Fossati, I'm ordained and I have the coolest job in the world. My title is Missioner to Young Adults and while this works for the diocese that hired me, I don't really like it. There's nothing inherently wrong with the title, its just that when I hear churchy words combined with words like "young" I think of church basements filled with pizza and movies while pastors/leaders try to keep pace with the "young". In short, I think of youth group--for teenagers. I'm not the only one either; many have come up to me (very kindly, with a desire to help) with the understanding that I'm going to be working among kids. But noooooo!

I'm actually going to be working with adults--that's right, people who can vote. And we're not going to be in church basements (or in churches really), we're going to be in homes, bars, cafes and nice little meeting places on campuses where everyday life happens because, really, when was the last time that you saw "everyday life" happen in the church? The closest I've seen recently is when a baby threw up on a friend of mine who was baptizing the baby--otherwise, church is pretty clean and life-free.

If you're reading this and thinking, 'Hey! I like church and plenty of life stuff happens there' then you probably hate me. That's ok, but let me finish. I'm not saying that profound and wonderful life moments don't happen in church, I'm saying that most of life has been separated from the church and most profoundly with our use of space. YOu know why the altar rail is there? Because back in the day, the priests need to keep ANIMALS away from the altar. What in the name of God were animals doing there!? Well, people kept them like people always have. Church was happening where people's lives were also happening. This isn't the case anymore. The worship area has become particular, sacred, sterile and devoid of animals, life activiies such as cooking, cleaning and even meals, which is the supreme irony because we come to church (in my church) to share at the Lord's Table.

I love church, and I get a lot out of traditional services, but I am also excited to be working with young adults to create churches that arise out of the everyday, profane realm of common life in order to bring Christianity into the everyday of someone's life and not just Sundays, or even not at all. This is my job: to be a kind of church planter among 18-30 year olds. What does a church like this look like? I'm not sure, but I can't wait to find out.