How does a child in our culture make the difficult transition to adulthood? What rituals are available to assist young persons as they reach the important milestones in this evolution? What ways have we developed to initiate our youth into the overarching system of values and beliefs that guide our pathways in productive and wholesome ways? Key events in the lives of our teenagers include such moments as the debutante ball, the 18^th birthday party, obtaining their drivers' licence, voting for the first time, moving into a flat, successfully negotiating VCE and attending schoolies week. What part do the 'elders of the tribe' play in these events? When is adult wisdom imparted to our youth? How are the profound myths and stories that give our lives meaning passed on to our youth? In our western culture, the adults have largely reneged on their responsibility. We have largely left our teenagers to devise 'do-it-yourself' initiations into adulthood.

The bar mitzvah remains an effective rite within the Jewish community. For Baptists the rite of *baptism* has in the past provided a passage for teenagers to consider their own response to God and to the story of salvation. */Potentially, this remains a powerful rite/*. Baptism represents a person's resolution to follow in Jesus' way. Baptism reflects the choice of a young person to embrace for themselves the faith that has been passed on to them by their community. It may indicate a step from childhood to adulthood. *Baptism* is a response to the call of God. This is a call beyond oneself, it is an acknowledgment that I do not simply exist for myself. It is an acknowledgment that I am /in relationship/ with other human beings, with the earth and with the Creator. It is a step towards responsibility. It is a statement of willingness to be a servant, as Jesus was a servant of humanity, of the earth and of the Creator. The image of being 'buried' in the waters of baptism is one that also invites the idea of 'rising again' as a new person, with old things having passed away, with a new sense of connection to the rest of humanity, to the earth and to the creator. To me it is more meaningful for baptism to occur in the presence of the person's faith community and /in the outdoors /- in a river or in the ocean. For many people, the sense of spirituality, the sense of 'otherness' and of God is somehow intensified when in the outdoors.

Many of us who are now in our 30s, 40s and 50s have enjoyed certain rites of passage when we were teenagers. We responded to passionate appeals by preachers to 'come forward to the front and give your lives to God'. We were baptised. We 'gave our testimonies'. Some of us have looked back in horror at these experiences. We have seen how manipulative were our elders. We were emotionally abused. We were deceived by false promises. We have had to escape prisons of guilt and control. Over the course of our lives we have slowly and painfully realised that faith is something liberating and not controlling. Our picture of God, our experience of following God and our notion of the Christian life has changed. The rites of passage as we knew them are now in ruins. And so, we have left our teenagers to pick their way through the ruins as best they can. This is not good enough. It is not enough to rebuild the spirituality of /our/ present. We need to reshape the spirituality we wish to pass on to our children. We must give new definition to old rites of passage -- or devise new rites of passage altogether. And there is not much time. Our children are growing up before our eyes.

To conclude, here is an evocative story: When a woman in a certain African tribe knows she is pregnant, she goes out into the wilderness with a few friends and together they pray and meditate until they hear the song of the child. They recognize that every soul has its own vibration that expresses its unique flavour and purpose. When the women attune to the song, they sing it out loud. Then they return to the tribe and teach it to everyone else.

When the child is born, the community gathers and sings the child's song to him or her. Later, when the child enters education, the village gathers and chants the child's song. When the child passes through the initiation to adulthood, the people again come together and sing. At the time of marriage, the person hears his or her song.

Finally, when the soul is about to pass from this world, the family and friends gather at the person's bed, just as they did at their birth, and they sing the person to the next life.

There is something inside each of us that knows we have a song, and we wish those we love would recognize it and support us to sing it. In the African tribe there is one other occasion upon which the villagers sing to the child. If at any time during his or her life, the person commits a crime or aberrant social act, the individual is called to the centre of the village and the people in the community form a circle around them. Then they sing their song to them.

Digby Hannah