In her insightful article examining the rise of the “alt-right” in America, Angela Nagle made the following piercing observation:
“Together, [conservative] right and [liberal] left created a world in which a young person could invent his own identity and curate his own personal brand on line, but also had dimmed hopes for enjoying what used to be considered the most basic elements of a decent life—marriage, a job, a house, a community. . . . Amid this desert of meaning into which Millennials were born, the new far right expertly pinpointed the existential questions, particularly for those who couldn’t be permitted a collective identity, namely straight white men: Who are we? What is our story? What is our future?” (Angela Nagle, “Brotherhood of Losers,” The Atlantic, December 2017, p71.)
Ms. Nagle’s article focuses on one segment of American society whose characteristics and expression have, especially in the last eighteen months, burned brightly in the flash-pan of media coverage.
But the dimming of hopes by the hand of American individualism has been progressing for decades, if not centuries. “This desert of meaning” claims people from all groups and walks of life with its mirages that fail to answer those existential questions. They are, after all, the questions that all of us—as individuals and communities—face.
Who are we? What is our story? What is our future? These questions call for an answer in the hearts of every new generation: Boomer, X, Millennial, and future. Even when we evade them and do not answer them, our silence provides a de facto answer that shapes us and the world.
Sonlight does not stake territory for right or left. All of this territory—terrestrial and human—belongs to God, who declines to accept every human label. In an attempt to follow Jesus, Sonlight assumes that if our feet are planted in God’s soil, God is somehow watering our lives and beckoning us toward the life-giving brilliance of the Son. So to every youth, parent, and guest that we welcome, we do not ask, Are you in the right camp?
We assume people are in the right camp. We ask instead, At this moment, how is God speaking to you? What is the great Gardener growing in you? Immanuel is with us, as he promised to be always. So what trail is he leading us down together?
We don’t have all the answers, but we can at least point to a collective identity that keeps us rooted, regardless of our color, gender, tax bracket or history.
Who are we? We are children of God redeemed in Jesus Christ.
What is our story? It is the winding extension of the Hebrews and Jesus’ disciples.
What is our future? Glory, of course! But until then, who knows? Let’s walk the trail together for a while and find out.
~ emrys tyler