Teach Your Children Well...
Pastor’s Ponderings
Another school year has started here in Absarokee; the school yard is again filled with children running and playing before the start of school. After the bell rings, I’m sure they gather in their classrooms and diligently begin the serious task of learning.
So how do we as a congregation help the younger members, as well as ourselves, learn? Martin Luther was very emphatic that youngsters be taught, not just reading and writing, but also The Lord’s Prayer, the creeds, the sacraments, the scripture and the Good News of Jesus Christ. Since Luther’s time, Lutherans have continually emphasized the role of education in the formation of faith for both young people as well as adults. Luther developed the Small Catechism for parents so they could teach their children. Luther is onto something here. Parents instruct their children in many and subtle ways, more so then they could ever imagine. Children begin to learn from their parents as soon as they are born. Parents set the patterns of life for their children, they set the boundaries, they help develop discipline and habits their children take with them as they enter into adulthood.
If children are to develop in the Christian faith, do they see examples of adults living their faith, whether they be their parents or members of the congregation. The parents are the prime educators and developers of faith in their children, the congregation also teaches by example as well. Do we as parents or as members of the congregation - do we faithfully provide examples, role models of living a life of faith? As a family, do we pray together, worship together, read and study scripture together. If we as parents do not take our faith life seriously, how do we expect our children to develop their faith?
What I am suggesting is not new; read the charge to parents in our baptismal liturgy (page 228 in the ELW). These are promises we made before the congregation, but they are promises we make to God. God who blesses us with children and places them in our care. We as a congregation are called to work with parents and families to help them in handing on the faith to another generation. We can accomplish more working together than we can accomplish alone. As a congregation, we can support parents in their efforts of passing on the faith to their children. Faith is caught not taught. How do we measure up? Are we willing and able to provide help in Christian Education by being a Sunday School teacher, by being a mentor to the youth of our congregation, by participating in activities with our youth?
For parents and the congregation, this is a daunting task. But with God, all things are possible. We are engaged in living and learning about our faith so we can grow in our relationship to God and live as God calls us to live with each other. We care for each other, we look out for each other, and we support each other in bringing children to church and involving them in the development of their faith life. It is not easy in this world that we live. The devil is in the details and distractions of life. Only together can we resist the devil and all his empty promises and temptations. Only together can we provide a strong faith foundation to serve children well throughout their lives. Only together can we strengthen each other on our faith journey through this temporal life.
Another school year has started here in Absarokee; the school yard is again filled with children running and playing before the start of school. After the bell rings, I’m sure they gather in their classrooms and diligently begin the serious task of learning.
So how do we as a congregation help the younger members, as well as ourselves, learn? Martin Luther was very emphatic that youngsters be taught, not just reading and writing, but also The Lord’s Prayer, the creeds, the sacraments, the scripture and the Good News of Jesus Christ. Since Luther’s time, Lutherans have continually emphasized the role of education in the formation of faith for both young people as well as adults. Luther developed the Small Catechism for parents so they could teach their children. Luther is onto something here. Parents instruct their children in many and subtle ways, more so then they could ever imagine. Children begin to learn from their parents as soon as they are born. Parents set the patterns of life for their children, they set the boundaries, they help develop discipline and habits their children take with them as they enter into adulthood.
If children are to develop in the Christian faith, do they see examples of adults living their faith, whether they be their parents or members of the congregation. The parents are the prime educators and developers of faith in their children, the congregation also teaches by example as well. Do we as parents or as members of the congregation - do we faithfully provide examples, role models of living a life of faith? As a family, do we pray together, worship together, read and study scripture together. If we as parents do not take our faith life seriously, how do we expect our children to develop their faith?
What I am suggesting is not new; read the charge to parents in our baptismal liturgy (page 228 in the ELW). These are promises we made before the congregation, but they are promises we make to God. God who blesses us with children and places them in our care. We as a congregation are called to work with parents and families to help them in handing on the faith to another generation. We can accomplish more working together than we can accomplish alone. As a congregation, we can support parents in their efforts of passing on the faith to their children. Faith is caught not taught. How do we measure up? Are we willing and able to provide help in Christian Education by being a Sunday School teacher, by being a mentor to the youth of our congregation, by participating in activities with our youth?
For parents and the congregation, this is a daunting task. But with God, all things are possible. We are engaged in living and learning about our faith so we can grow in our relationship to God and live as God calls us to live with each other. We care for each other, we look out for each other, and we support each other in bringing children to church and involving them in the development of their faith life. It is not easy in this world that we live. The devil is in the details and distractions of life. Only together can we resist the devil and all his empty promises and temptations. Only together can we provide a strong faith foundation to serve children well throughout their lives. Only together can we strengthen each other on our faith journey through this temporal life.
posted by RevLev at 9:14 PM
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