On Being a Christian by a Teenager

“Oh... so you’re a Jesus freak? How do you have any fun?” has not been an entirely uncommon phrase for me to hear throughout high school. My freshman year in high school, I was elected to become a member of the Diocesan Youth Council (DYC) of the Episcopal Church of Massachusetts. This was, and still is, a significant event in my life, because it meant I would be the representative of the youth in my area for the entire state of Massachusetts in the church. It also meant that I was on a committee of people who plan and facilitate retreats for youth all over the diocese. In short, it meant I spent a lot of weekends telling my new high school friends “Sorry, I can’t hang out, I have a church thing”.

The standard of my community, Andover, Massachusetts is that religion is unimportant, ambiguous, and generally not discussed by the youth. While there are plenty of devout and faithful worshippers, the overwhelming majority of people use their house of worship as a location for their social gatherings, and do not consider the spirituality of other people to be an important characteristic. Plenty of Andover residents do not attend any form of worship regularly, and prefer to exist in a secular society.

It is not a community where religious people are discriminated against, but they are certainly not asked to elaborate on any of their ideals or beliefs. I am a very religious person, and I hold myself to a very high standard when it comes to issues of morality and faith. However, I am also a very outgoing and social person, which is a combination commonly deemed “not possible” by many high school students. The common assumption is that all people who have a specific faith focus on nothing but their beliefs, and the only way to be social is to remove yourself from issues of ethics and religion, and simply to be known as “cool”.

However, when a person is as involved in their religion as I am, it is impossible to develop a relationship with said person without discussing the religion at times. Since freshman year, when I was afraid to explain to my friends exactly what I did on the weekends, I have developed into a more confident and open individual. My faith is a critical aspect of my life, and I that now have overcome my uneasiness around the idea of discussing it, I feel I have broken out of the mold that the under-eighteen community of Andover has set for the citizens. I have established my own freedom of speech in this society, where religion is a moot point for many.

While many of my peers ignore religion altogether, I love discussing ideas and concepts from various faiths, not simply my own. A common saying is that there are only two things one should never discuss in a social setting: religion and politics. However, some of the best conversations I have had with those around me involve religion, and I treasure these conversations. The way I explain my idea of openness about faith is with the quote “and life was a light that shined in the darkness, and the darkness could not overcome it” from Saint John’s gospel.

There is no point in having a hidden light, because it will shine through the darkness regardless of your actions. Society could be substantially more understanding of the average religious person if people were willing to discuss their beliefs, but I have faith in the believers to overcome the oppression, and educate the world about the various forms of grace in their lives. As I have developed into an adult, I have been able to overcome the tension felt in Andover from having a religious viewpoint due to my own perspective on sharing information.

This was written by my granddaughter Mary Charlotte Buck, 18 years old.