One of my responsibilities at Bethany Christian Schools is to run a middle school devotional group. This is a group of 10-12 6th-8th graders that meets once a week for 30 minutes with a teacher or staff person. This is my fourth year leading a group and in all honesty it is one of the most difficult things I do. I find myself struggling with the middle school age group. They tend to be highly negative, pessimistic, and critical towards each other and adults.
Earlier this year I noticed that the phrase "that is so gay" is used a lot by middle school students. This phrase is used to say things are dumb or stupid. In one of my recent devotional groups one student said the phrase multiple times, even after I told him not to. After the third time I stopped what we were doing and we had a conversation about what the phrase was implying and the undertones involved. The conversation turned into one of the best meetings we had all year. The students finally seemed to understand what they were saying and implying and we agreed, even if they thought homosexuality was wrong, that we wouldn't use the phrase anymore. Especially at a Christian school, our first calling is to show God's love to other people. I told them to use their words. To say what you mean, and mean what you say.
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