I recently took a group of 10 to the ELCA National Youth Gathering in New Orleans. We spent the week with about 16,000 other teenagers and their chaperoning adults, to worship, serve, play, learn about N’awlins, and just do life together.

As I was walking into the stadium by myself one night, I overheard a teenager from another church say:

“I know my mom loves me, but she doesn’t like me.”

This broke my heart. As someone who has else dealt with some of the heartache of family not quite being what it looks like on sitcoms, my body ached for this kid. He already knows at a young age that his own parent doesn’t like him.

If you have worked with young people, you know that they tend to say their thoughts clearly and directly without worrying if it will offend you. They speak the truth. Because they know the truth.

Over the last few days, my church, Christ Lutheran Church, along with our friends at Soldotna United Methodist Church, have hosted our yearly Vacation Bible School (VBS). Every year, it feels a wee bit chaotic as we put a group of random kids together to attempt to worship, serve, play, and do life together, even just in the mornings.

On the first day of VBS, when we weren’t sure how many kids were going to show up or if the crafts would work or if the games would make sense or all of the other “What ifs” ran through our brains, I told the story of the teen who said he was loved, but not liked. I reminded our crew of volunteers who were anxious about details and planning that at the end of the day, we need kids to know that they are loved and liked by our God AND that they are loved and liked by our community.

I’ve been thinking about being sure to show love and like to people around me. Part of being a community, whether Christian or not, whether faith-oriented or not, is that we want others to feel valued in that community — to feel valued in our world.

How might you show your kids, parents, family that they are loved and liked?

How might you show your neighbors, coworkers, and friends that they are loved and liked?

How might you show that person whose viewpoints are different than yours that they are loved and liked, despite disagreeing with them?

And if you just scrunched your face up and said “Ew gross,” then take it back a step, eat a snack, take a nap, and remember that we all need to feel loved and liked. So what’s stopping you?

Peace,

The Rev. Meredith Harber pastors at Christ Lutheran Church, 128 N. Soldotna Ave. Worship is at 10 a.m. on Facebook and in person (Sundays).