What's a generation?
It is important to distinguish between familial and cultural generations. A familial generation is defined as the average time between a mother's first offspring and her daughter's first offspring. The generation length is about 25 years in the United States as of 2007 and 27 years in the United Kingdom as of 2004
A cultural generation refers to the cohort of people whose youth was shaped by a particular set of events and trends. According to wikipedia 20th-century cultural generations are shorter than familial generations.
I guess the lady in the song was singing about a cultural generation, and yes probably prophetically. I've heard a lot of these generations rising up songs over the years. I didn't mean to appear cynical I am optimistic that there is a new generation rising up to make a difference. Just a little worried when i read "maybe thats what you see in Ibiza" worried that the church doesn't see it in the UK. Occasionally I get unerved that we might all be singing about a generation rising up when in reality it's limited to our very narrow confines of church life. So I can imagine the goose pimples as the song is sang in a packed room with a load of christian young people, it would be awe inspiring but a little disconnected from reality.
Then I am torn; revolutions always start small, so maybe if one or two started thinking I am going to affect change, they could. It will be the geeks and the plodders who affect real change, the people who don't get into trouble and quietly and calmly infiltrate into world systems and change them from within.
Remember I also wrote my last post at 3.55am. I just keep thinking doesn't anyone else out there find it all a little overwhelming?????
2 comments:
I generally feel overwhelmed, and the church, in general does need to get a grip, yet there are those battling through for change. People need to start being uncomfortable, not get their back up about change and start taking risks.
John
I certainly see it all on my little tax haven island and i get very overwhelmed and also frustrated as to the lack of connection with the big church and God's messed up world. Maybe it's about vision: the way that we see things. I now seem to find God more in the broken people/world than the big meetings.
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