Dear class of 2016 (to those graduating from the EU whether you wanted to or not),

I see hope.

My hope comes not from the events and attitudes expressed over the last few days – that would be odd.

I see hope because I see God in and at work in the 18-25s. This generation coming through fill me with hope, I am really proud of them and they haven’t even done anything yet. For 75% of them the EU vote didn’t go their way and life feels uncertain.

Please don’t kid yourself that somehow your future is defined by a vote. You have power in your hands to make radical choices every day. It is often the small ones that are the most powerful. What is more, out of all the generations of voters you have the most choices left to make (60-70 more years) – collectively a potential billion-trillion decisions for good.

‘Don’t be misled – you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant’ (Gal. 6:7)

“Sow a thought, reap an action; Sow an action, reap a habit;

Sow a habit, reap a character; Sow a character, reap a destiny”

Most of us lead the lifestyles we live now because by and large what we have now is the sum total of the choices both big and small that WE have made over the last 5, 10, 15, 25 years.

What choices do we need to make now so that in 5, 10, 20, 40 years time we are reaping a destiny?

Who you are going to be tomorrow, you are becoming today. We can’t control what Europe becomes, we can control who we become and that collective contribution will shape our environments and the world we live in. It was said of Charles Wesley and his ‘holy club’ when he was a student that ‘they were out of tune with contemporary cynicism and indifference’. 

‘so let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up’ (Gal. 6:9)

All this rhetoric of stability encourages us to put our hope in a system we can’t control and is full of false promises. If you are feeling uncertain you are blessed. It is the posture of faith and trust and we put our faith and trust in God. We dance to a different rhythm out of tune with fear and hatred.

So class of 2016, thanks for caring and praying and being prepared to get your hands dirty. God is hiring you and charging you to proclaim the Kingdom with everything you have. 

“Since Jesus’ time numberless bands of Christian youth have ‘turned the world upside down’ and thus led humanity forward in its struggle for freedom and greater religious experience. The universities have always been the breeding places for such groups” (Clarence Seed)