We are young . . . and hopeless.

Throughout this past year, there has been a song that resonated on the radio, TV, iPods, and YouTube. Some even suggested that this song become the official anthem of the young people gathered to compete at the 2012 London Olympics. The chorus fits the mood of such an international event:

Tonight

We are young

So let’s set the world on fire

We can burn brighter than the sun

I was already familiar with the uplifting chorus when I finally heard the entire song while on a road trip with my son. Fun.’s We are Young, rather than motivating a generation toward anything inspiring, describes an apathetic combination of hedonism and hopelessness. The song begins with drug use in a bathroom and concludes with being so intoxicated that someone has to be carried home. Such a theme is hardly unusual in popular music. The question I pondered is whether this theme of emptiness is reflecting or driving culture. I am convinced it is both. Scottish politician Andrew Fletcher once noted, “If a man were permitted to write the ballads of a nation, he need not care who writes its laws.”

Fun. continues to explore hopelessness in another anthem-like ballad, Some Nights. Even when gazing at the face of an infant, their hopelessness cannot be shaken.

My heart is breaking for my sister and the con that she called "love"

When I look into my nephew's eyes...

Man, you wouldn't believe the most amazing things that can come from...

Some terrible lie . . .

When I look into eyes of the young people I have been called to serve in Christian education, I see hope. Hope because I see the image of our Creator stamped on each student. Equipped with the Truth of the Gospel, Christian education is preparing young people to engage the growing culture of hopelessness. The education that we provide must be infused with a Biblical worldview in every discipline from science to art, praying that these students will write the next “ballad of a nation.”

“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.” I Timothy 4:12

Check out the resources at AXIS: Apathy to Action. Axis creatively educates hearts by questioning assumptions, interpreting media, and equipping communities to move from apathy to compassionate action.