I am sitting in a breakout session of high school students during our Parish's Whole Community Catechesis event. The story we are focusing on is Ruth and Naomi and the topic is commitment to discipleship. Our extremely skilled catechist poses the question "Can you think of people in today's world that are committed to building the Kingdom of God?"
A freshman girl raises her hand, "Justin Bieber" she responds.
"Can you explain?" the Catechist asks.
"Well he visits kids in the hospital a lot." She replies.
An older girl in the room is troubled by this exchange and shouts out, "Are you kidding me?! He does drugs, mistreats his fans, and was even caught with a prostitute last week. He is a jerk and not a good example to anyone." Many other kids erupt with their own "Bieber bashing" before the Catechist calls the room back to attention.
The conversation moves on-- with somewhat more worthy examples of Kingdom building being named by the participants.
A week later…
I didn't think much about these Bieber comments until I received a Facebook message from the girl who had originally brought up Justin Bieber… and she was ANGRY. The message (in summary) said this…
"I am really mad about what people said about Justin Bieber! I didn't mean to say that he was perfect, but he DOES do good things! But I am EVEN MORE UPSET AT YOU! How could you not say anything when people were being mean to him? He is only 19 years old!!! Isn't it your job to love teenagers and support them? None of us is perfect, every one of us has problems. If God has given up on Justin then He has given up on all of us! You should seriously consider sticking your neck out to support young people like Justin when they are being put down at your church!"
Let that sink in for a minute…
Now this girl wasn't just angry… she was RIGHTEOUSLY angry. And she had a really good point. If any "real" kid in my Church did the things that Justin Bieber has done in his life (and some of them have), I would NEVER have allowed anyone to speak that way about them!
Last week…
Now I am standing in a prayer circle with a group of teen girls who are unrelated to the story above from November. It comes time to share our own prayer intentions and one of the girls says "I want to pray for Justin Bieber, may God help him to sort out all of the confusing influences in his life, and give him the courage to face his addictions and accept love from the people who truly have his best interests in mind."
Let that sink in for a minute…
Teens who "get" the Gospel apply the Gospel to Justin Bieber-- how can I not call that the Spirit of God at work in the World?
I'll admit that Justin Bieber really annoys me. My first reaction to seeing his goofy smirking mug shot is to dislike him. But guess what! Many people's first reaction to seeing me is to not like me either-- and I take solace every day in the knowledge that I am Beloved of my Father in Heaven.
I don't like what Justin Bieber does. I disapprove of drugs, prostitutes, drag racing, and bad music. And I still say all of those things frequently. But when saying all of those things I now also say that Justin Beiber is Beloved of our Father in Heaven. Of THAT-- I am a belieber!
