“Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ?”

At one point during last month’s Diocesan Convention, I found myself in a circle of youth and young adults from all over Western Washington. Our bishops had given us a question to discuss: “Who is God, and what is the Gospel?”

To spark conversation, I rephrased the second question: “‘Gospel’ means ‘good news.’ What is the good news? If Christians proclaim the good news, do we know what news we are proclaiming?”

I was met with blank stares, and this frustrated me. I wondered, “Haven’t these young people ever wondered about the content of their faith? Or do they identify themselves as Christians only because their parents do?”

It occurred to me that the latter was very likely the case. And I reminded myself that my job is to challenge young people to question and grow. So I asked the question again and waited for an answer.

One young adult did answer, finally: “The good news is that it’s a journey.” OK - now we were getting somewhere! And it’s not the answer I would have given, but it’s true. God doesn’t expect perfection. Life is a journey, and growing closer to God on the journey is more important than our futile attempts to “get it right.” That’s good news!

Then, when nobody else came up with answers of their own, I offered mine: “The good news is that all death leads to resurrection.” The floodgates finally opened, with people either agreeing or disagreeing with my statement. One young person insisted that some people “waste their lives,” and that no resurrection can come from that. Another pointed out that God’s grace often brings good results out of tragedy, even if the people involved are never aware of it.

It became clear that each of us could come up with a different definition of the good news. You can even define the good news differently at different times of the year. At Christmastime, we hear the good news that God has become a human being and lived among us. But when Jesus was born, death was part of the agenda. We may disagree on whether Jesus’ death was planned a certain way, but he was going to die one way or another ... just as we all will. If he had never died, he would not have been fully human.