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My life group started doing this thing where we integrate spiritual practices into our lives and discuss it. The first one we started with was solitude which I love. However, introvert that I am, even I find it hard to carve out the time for solitude, and even I struggle to focus on that time I get alone with God. I started adding a five minute timer to the start of my day where I sit and look at the trees out my window and drink my coffee. I love it.

In the term planning, I’d lined up this past Friday to be a junior/senior split night where I led the juniors in the practice of solitude. This was separate from my life group events. Leading up to this past Friday, I was getting increasingly excited about what might happen. Especially after that mini Big Top night the week before. Especially after a three day block course filled with rich discussions about ministry to youth and young adults. Peeps, I love my job. This is so cool that I get to be a part of a community of people actively seeking how to follow Jesus and watching young people get it. Like, I mean get it.

Let me explain how this past Friday went down. I had the year 9-10 youth, so we’re talking about 13-14 year olds. What would you expect a group of 13-14 year olds to do when you told them you were going to make the put away their phones and sit in silence by themselves for two minutes? You’d be wrong about my teenagers. I knew God would show up, but I underestimated how awesome this was actually going to be.

Twenty-seven young people and a handful of leaders scattered around the room after I explained to them that we were going to invite more of God’s presence into this space and sit in absolute silence for two whole minutes. I prefaced it by saying that while some of them might get a word or a picture or feel like they heard something from God, most of them might just spend the time in silence just in God’s presence, and that was the point, so it was enough to just be quiet and not have any revelations.

We gathered back after the timer went off, and I asked the group to raise their hand if they felt awkward. One kid stuck his hand up. One. He’s a great kid, and I love him. He’s not a Christian kid, but he’s fully involved in our youth group, and to his credit, he’d gone along with the whole thing, so fair enough that he found it awkward. I actually expected several more to find it an uncomfortable experience. When he was the only one who said he found it awkward, I asked the group how many of them felt just kinda bored – none. None of them were bored. Here’s where I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I asked the group to raise their hand if they actually really liked the chance to just sit in the presence of God for two minutes and found it a really valuable exercise. Every other person raised their hand.

I ventured a little further and asked if anyone felt like they had heard something from God, and a handful of kids shared words or images of encouragement with the group. It was beautiful. BEAUTIFUL.

Afterwards, my friend Hannah gave a talk, and she invited all the youth to take their shoes off as we carried on through this holy moment, and then she led them in an exercise where they opened up and read the Bible in small groups before sharing how God gave us the Bible to give us boundaries and help us to live full, rich lives. I really love the Bible. I really love the Bible because of how it comes alive as it teaches us to foster loving relationships with God and other people.

I loved watching as some of my friends and youth put on a dramatic production of the Gospel of Mark this weekend because they made the Bible come alive in a different way. I am so pumped to be a part of a community that prioritises sharing the story of Jesus with the community in creative and purposeful ways. Several people who don’t know Jesus showed up at this event to learn the story and leave with the Gospel of Mark to read at home. This production is done in the round rather than on a stage, and the cast wanders through the audience as they tell the story. Several times the disciples were shouting around the room looking for Jesus who had wandered off alone to pray.

There’s something quality in that solitude practice. My year nine boys got it – their small group leader told me one of them had reported that after Friday’s experience, he chose to spend half an hour in a tree in the presence of God yesterday. Half an hour is a high bar for most people, so start where you are, but, man, aim for the model this 13 year old has because he so craved the presence of God he left all distractions behind and just sat in it.