“Where are you going to study next year? Do you have a job lined up yet? What do you want to be when you grow up?” These questions, asked by countless pastors, teachers, youth leaders, and other adults, have plagued graduating seniors since there have been graduating seniors. It is not the mere repetition of these questions that should cause us to reconsider asking them; these questions themselves betray the Christian vision of the Good Life that many of us have tried to instill in the very people of whom we ask them. Can we train ourselves to ask better questions, and in so doing, develop a liturgy of small talk? Yes, but it will involve coming to grips with the reality that the words we use when we talk about nothing actually matter.
Jon Jordan
Jon R. Jordan is a Theology teacher and Dean of Students at Coram Deo Academy, a classical Christian school in the Dallas area. He holds an MA in Religion from Reformed Theological Seminary, and is on the Path to Holy Orders in the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas.
