In a prayer of thanksgiving for the birth of a baby in our
congregation yesterday, I remembered a story I had run across shortly after the
birth of my own granddaughter.
“When Israel stood to receive the Torah, the
Holy One said to them: "I am prepared to give you My Torah. Present to Me
good guarantors that you will observe and study the Torah, and I shall give it
to you." The people responded: "Our ancestors are our
guarantors."
The Holy One said: "Your ancestors are not sufficient
guarantors. Bring Me good guarantors, and I shall give you the
Torah." To which the people responded: "Our prophets are our
guarantors."
The Holy
One said: "The prophets are not sufficient guarantors. Bring Me Good
guarantors and I shall give you the Torah." Finally the people
replied: "Indeed, our children will be our guarantors." The
Lord said, "Your children are good guarantors. For their sake I give the
Torah to you."
The world is not going to teach
our children about The Lord and His eternal Word. In fact it can be said
that our failure to teach our children, our refusal to bring our children to
Sunday school so they may learn about The Lord and His Body the Church, and
teach them how and why to participate in worship is nothing more than to create
a void left open and unprotected. It means that for everything we do not
teach our children, there is more the world will gladly teach them.
We need only to look around and
see what this spiritual void has created: a drug- and alcohol-induced spiritual
stupor, an empty space into which instant gratification is demanded, a
generation walking away from the Church because the Church does not cater to
their whims, children giving birth to children, and infanticide (abortion) with
its false promises of a new start into a better life. There is a
generation completely lost because parents AND the Church have failed to
recognize the importance of children in the life of the Church; that they are
truly the “guarantors” of the Holy Word, the Word which is entrusted to us for their
sakes.
We lament that these children
need to grow up, but the truth is we adults have an awful lot of growing up to
do before we can begin to teach them what they need to know. As it is
written, “Do not forsake the assembling of ourselves together” in worship and
in discipleship development studies (Sunday school and other small groups) and
prayer groups. If we neglect this task, so will our children; and we will
be held accountable in the Day of the Lord. Our children cannot be taught
to love something they know nothing about.
It is long past time to “grow
up”. It is past time to stop giving our children the excuses they demand
to “forsake the assembly”, and it is long past time that we stop raising our
children in a spiritual void. We neglect our children’s spiritual
development and Christian educational needs at great risk. Especially at
this time of year, it is too easy to see that our children know more about
Santa Claus than they do about Jesus Christ – assuming they know Jesus at
all. Shame on us.
It is never too late to turn
back to The Lord, and it is never too late to teach our children about The
Lord. Do not, however, make the mistake of believing any one of us can do
it alone. It is a task too big to be taken for granted, and it is too
spiritually shallow to believe it will just “happen” in such a great
void. It won’t.
“Allow the children to come to
Me, and do not hinder them; for the Kingdom belongs to such as these.”
Blessings,
Michael
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