An Interview with Chelsea Kingston Erickson, Editor of Longing for Christmas

 

An Interview with Chelsea Kingston Erickson, Editor of Longing for Christmas

An Interview with Chelsea Kingston Erickson, Editor of Longing for Christmas   Do you remember what it felt like to be a little kid at Christmastime? There’s nothing quite like the anticipation of Christmas morning. But the holiday can lose its wonder as we wake up to the many hard things going on in our lives and in the world. We’ve certainly experienced this at some point as adults but think back to the first you felt that loss—the first time Christmas didn’t seem as special. You were probably a teenager.    Longing for Christmas: 25 Promises Fulfilled in Jesus​ is an Advent devotional from Rooted Ministry that helps teenagers recapture the joy and wonder of Christmas by unwrapping God’s promises throughout Scripture. This twenty-five-day devotional looks at promises God made and fulfilled in the coming of Jesus. As readers explore the way God has kept his promises, they will be encouraged that ALL of the longing we feel—for a better world and for things to be made right—will be fully met in Jesus.   Q: Growing up, what did you anticipate most about Christmas? At what age did Christmas start to lose its wonder for you? Was there any particular reason why?   We were all about Christmas at my house growing up, and my parents and grandparents always made it feel so special—both the spiritual celebration and the more secular elements of the holiday. I remember the year (in middle school) when my childhood innocence started to melt away a bit. I felt very melancholy as my parents and little sister took out the Christmas decorations over Thanksgiving weekend. Instead of joining in with them, I quietly went up to my room and started packing away my American Girl Dolls—artifacts of the many happy Christmases of my childhood. Christmas felt different to me that year as I grappled with growing up. I knew I should be joyful thinking about Jesus’ coming, but I couldn’t get there in my mind and heart.   I think what I needed in that moment was a deeper appreciation of the Incarnation and the promise of Jesus’ return. I didn’t grow up in a liturgical church, so we didn’t do much with Advent. In hindsight, I think I would have appreciated reading the daily Advent Scriptures or a devotional like this one and anticipating Christmas in a more grown-up way.   Q: In your experience of working in youth ministry and with Rooted, why do teens need their own Christmas devotional?   One of the questions the Rooted team receives regularly from parents, grandparents, and youth ministers is What devotional can I give to my daughter/son/student? We are excited to work with publishers like New Growth Press to provide more answers to this question!   Christmas represents an important moment for families, both spiritually and in cultural terms. As church leaders, we often see families we haven’t interacted with much all year suddenly turn up for corporate worship in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Just as we might try to pull these families in close by having them do a reading or participate in a special program, a Christmas devotional can speak into a brief moment when we have teenagers’ attention. We believe this book will be something that’s easy to hand to a teenager, regardless of where they may be spiritually. We pray the reflections will capture their interest and their hearts, leading them to trust in Jesus!   Q: Each devotion is based on a different longing. What are some of things that teens are longing for? What is the ultimate thing we are all longing for?   Teenagers today are saturated with demands on their time and attention. Many of them feel a deep longing to measure up in some way—whether academically, athletically, artistically, or even relationally. They are looking for identity and belonging, just as adults are. Because this generation lives in the information age, they’re also far more in touch with the troubling realities of our world than many adults were at their age. They worry about school shootings, the plight of refugees, international policy, their own future incomes, and more. At the root of all these concerns is a longing for security and hope, which of course we know God provides in sending his Son to redeem our sin-torn world. The gospel meets our deepest longings by reminding us that we can neither rescue ourselves nor solve the world’s problems in our own strength—but there is One who can, and he invites us to rest in him.   Q: Why do teenagers need to study the Old Testament at Christmas of all times?   The Old Testament can feel intimidating for newer readers of the Bible to tackle on their own, and even for parents and youth ministers to teach. But without it, we’ll always struggle to understand and apply the New Testament. The Bible makes more sense to adults and to teenagers when we read it as a single story with Jesus at the center. That’s what we hope to do with this devotional—to take some tricky passages of the Old Testament (namely, the messianic prophecies) and to show how God fulfills all he promises in Christ.   As much as the Old Testament—and the prophets in particular—can feel intimidating, I have also experienced that it can be deeply attractive to teenagers. It’s earthy and real; it doesn’t mince words about the world’s brokenness on account of human sin. Ironically, Christmastime tends to highlight some of the sad and broken things in all of our lives (grief, loss, difficult family relationships, etc.). So we hope that teenagers will feel especially open to hearing how the lives and struggles of God’s people in ancient Israel overlap with their own struggles against sin today. Just as they waited for a Savior then, we long for him to return to our world today.

Q: How does this devotional help teenagers and adults make sense of the storyline of Scripture?   With each passage, we’ve tried to offer some teaching that explains how the passage would have sounded to its original hearers, and then to make the turn toward reading with the lens of knowing Christ. We also offer historical details that help readers to put each passage in its context. For example, who was king at the time of each of the prophets, and what else was happening in Israel-Judah?    We pray these different elements will build toward biblical literacy. We want teenagers to begin to understand the progression from God’s promise of a rescuer in the Garden of Eden all the way through the prophets following Israel’s exile.   Q: What are the elements of each day’s reading that connect the Old Testament promises to the teens’ lives and their experiences?   Each reading opens with a Scripture verse or two, and then a narrative or illustration that will help teenagers connect to the day’s passage, and even to the author of each entry. The authors are all youth ministers and parents who are skilled at teaching the Bible to teenagers. Our goal is to take readers seriously, but also to write colloquially. We want teenagers to feel they’re chatting with a youth leader over coffee or pizza.   In addition to teaching the passage itself, we’ve included an explanation and application of the gospel in each day’s reading. We want there to be no mistake that God has fulfilled his promises in Christ, and that Jesus will return to fully inaugurate God’s kingdom. We close each day with a prayer and three questions for reflection. These would be great for families or small groups to discuss together.   Q: The Christmas season is known as a hectic time of year, and teenagers are involved with lots of activities in and out of school. How long will it take them to read each day’s devotional?   The entries are designed to take about five minutes to read. And the illustrations are vivid and relatable, which we hope will incentivize teenagers to pick up the book throughout the month of December!   Q: Do you have any suggestions for encouraging teens to be intentional about reading the devotional each day?   Teenagers can absolutely read this book on their own, but I’d encourage them to read it “with” a friend, or  their family or small group. Each person could read on his or her own time, and then have a  conversation (at the dinner table) or even a text check-in each day. This kind of group effort provides accountability. Even more than that, we know that teenagers learn best when they engage in active forms of learning, like discussion, journaling, or even teaching others.   A youth minister could also choose some entries and have students read one aloud together each time the group meets in December.   Q: What are a few of the biggest issues and struggles that teenagers in 2024 face that may or may not be unique to the time we live?   While it’s true that spiritually speaking, there is nothing new under the sun, we know that our modern world is rapidly changing, bringing with it a whole host of complex issues for teenagers. Young people today are facing an epidemic of loneliness and record highs of anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation. Generation Z is the first fully digitally native generation, and they have borne the harmful effects of the social media experiment (as will Generation Alpha if we don’t course-correct soon). Teenagers not only live much of their lives online for all to see, but they also witness so many news events from around the world in real time.   Recent census data indicates that the number of single-parent homes is also at an all-time high. And teenagers face a lot of income insecurity (as Jean Twenge coined the term in her book iGen) about how they will afford things like college tuition or housing in their adult lives.   The gospel gives us incredible hope to share with the young people in our lives and in the world. I believe this generation is hungry for meaningful relationships and for the truth of God’s Word—two things the Church can offer aplenty if we step into the fray with Christlike love.   Q: Who are some of the contributors to Longing for Christmas?   The contributors are all writers for the Rooted blog, and all are gifted at communicating with teenagers. Cameron Cole, Anna Meade Harris, Kevin Yi, Liz Edrington, and Ashley Kim are just a few of the writers you’ll get to know throughout the book.   Q: Please walk us through one of your two submissions to the book.   In Day 12 on Isaiah 9:6-7, I write about the sense I had as a teenager that I was carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders. I was very burdened by trying to prove my worth to others. I think today’s teenagers relate to this struggle immensely, for all the reasons discussed above.   The prophet Isaiah speaks to God’s people at a time when they were weighed down by their sin and trying to fix themselves. Through Isaiah, God gives the people a twofold message—exile is coming (chapters 7 and 8), but take heart, because so is God’s promised Messiah! For teenagers today, this message reminds us that Jesus is the rescuer we need, “and the government will be on his shoulders” (Isaiah 9:6). The weight of the world—all our sin, the sin of others, and the troubles that confront us—rests on Jesus’ shoulders. If we belong to God through Christ, we no longer have to prove or save ourselves because Jesus has done all that is needed on our behalf.   Q: Longing for Christmas is not the only new book Rooted Ministry is releasing this fall. Can you tell us a little bit about the other new resource that is available?   We are thrilled to be releasing The Jesus I Wish I Knew in High School: Asian American Edition (NGP, 2024), edited by Kevin Yi and with a foreword by Cameron Cole. This book follows the format of Rooted’s earlier title The Jesus I Wish I Knew in High School—but it is the first of its kind in terms of representing the unique challenges and opportunities for Asian American teenagers to trust in the work of Christ. Twelve adults from various backgrounds share tenderly from their experiences growing up as Asian Americans—and how knowing Jesus then as they do now would have made all the difference.   As a former youth minister myself, I wish I’d been able to learn from a book like this when I was caring for teenagers. We pray this resource will richly bless Asian American teenagers and adults—and the youth minister or parent who cares for at least one Asian American teenager.   Q: Could you tell us a little more about Rooted’s mission and vision? What are some of the ways parents and youth ministers can access Rooted’s resources?    The work of Rooted to advance gospel-centered youth ministry began in 2010 as a grassroots effort to address the lack of theological content in youth ministry that researchers like Christian Smith had observed. Rooted’s mission is to equip and empower churches and parents to faithfully disciple students toward life-long faith in Jesus Christ. Our vision is to transform youth ministry so that every student receives grace-filled, gospel-centered and Bible-saturated discipleship in the church and at home.   We equip the adults who love teenagers—their parents and youth ministers—through our articles, family of podcasts, annual conference, mentorship program, curriculum, family ministry courses, webinars, books, and more. All of these resources are accessible on the Rooted Ministry website. By God’s grace, we want the normative experience of every teenager to be one of hearing the gospel faithfully articulated in their churches and homes. To that end, we are deeply grateful to partner with New Growth Press on resources like this one.