{"id":1644,"date":"2010-03-03T06:13:05","date_gmt":"2010-03-03T12:13:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/?p=1644"},"modified":"2015-03-13T17:03:16","modified_gmt":"2015-03-13T22:03:16","slug":"andrew-root-is-in-despair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/2010\/03\/03\/andrew-root-is-in-despair\/","title":{"rendered":"Andrew Root Is in Despair"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Andrew Root<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

My good friend and theological colleague, Andrew Root<\/strong><\/a>, has a new book out.\u00a0 I was happy to serve as the general editor on this, his latest project, The Promise of Despair: The Way of the Cross as the Way of the Church<\/a><\/em>.\u00a0 It really is a great book, and I\u2019m not just saying that.\u00a0 In it, Andy finds an intersection between Luther\u2019s theologia crucis<\/a><\/em> and the many pockets of despair in our modern existence.<\/p>\n

This week, I\u2019m participating in FirstThird, a gathering that is built around a theological conversation between Andy and Kenda Dean.\u00a0 We\u2019re talking about youth ministry, and I think we\u2019re all finding compelling how Andy continues to pound home this idea that God enters where there is brokenness \u2014 and he\u2019s not talking about Haiti or Chile.\u00a0 He\u2019s talking about the 14-year-old who is cutting herself, or the 16-year-old who just got dumped by his girlfriend.<\/p>\n

One of the phrases that Andy uses repeatedly is \u201cplace-sharing,\u201d indicating that the primary role of the the youth pastor is to be there, in an adolescent\u2019s presence, when that kid is suffering and in despair.\u00a0 It reminds me of a powerful passage in Nicholas Wolterstorff\u2019s powerful little book, Lament for a Son<\/a><\/em>,<\/p>\n

What do you say to someone who is suffering?\u2026<\/p>\n

But please: Don\u2019t say it\u2019s really not so bad. Because it is. Death is awful, demonic. If you think your task as comforter is to tell me that really, all things considered, it\u2019s not so bad, you do not sit with me in my grief but place yourself off in the distance away from me. Over there, you are of no help. What I need to hear from you is that you recognize how painful it is. I need to hear from you that you are with me in my desperation. To comfort me, you have to come close. Come sit beside me on my mourning bench<\/strong>. (pp. 33-34)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Kenda, for her part, put her finger on why youth ministry may be just the spot for such place-sharing.\u00a0 \u201cAdolescents,\u201d she said, \u201care acute human beings.\u201d\u00a0 In other words, she went on, they don\u2019t have all of their defenses built up; \u201cThey haven\u2019t had their sharp edges blunted.<\/p>\n

The question that nagged the whole group yesterday, however, was how (or if) a youth worker (or anyone, for that matter) puts the name \u201cJesus\u201d on the comfort that is being offered amidst the despair.\u00a0 That is, does the motivation for the place-sharing need to be articulated in order for the ministry to be truly redemptive, in a Christian sense?<\/p>\n

(For a longer taste, you can read an entire chapter<\/a> of The Promise of Despair<\/em> at Abingdon\u2019s site.)<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My good friend and theological colleague, Andrew Root, has a new book out.\u00a0 I was happy to serve as the general editor on this, his latest project, The Promise of Despair: The Way of the Cross as the Way of the Church.\u00a0 It really is a great book, and I\u2019m not just saying that.\u00a0 In […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,39,41],"tags":[58],"class_list":["post-1644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-theology","category-youth-ministry","tag-andrew-root"],"yoast_head":"\nAndrew Root Is in Despair<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"My good friend and theological colleague, Andrew Root, has a new book out.\u00a0 I was happy to serve as the general editor on this, his latest project, The\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, 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