From the Pastor's Pen . . .
SOAKING UP THE SPIRIT . . .Back in college we used to joke about sleeping with our text books under our heads so that some of that knowledge would soak into us by osmosis while we slept. I think it was an old and well-worn joke by the time I heard it, but I secretly hoped it was true.
However, if I think back to what made me into a Christian, I would say that I did learn by osmosis; I didn’t sleep with the Bible under my pillow, but I did “learn faith” by being in Christian worship as a child. I can remember clearly the sanctuary I worshipped in as a little girl. It was in a church building that was also a school. We had our worship services in a multi-purpose room; we sat on folding chairs. I can remember snacking on Cheerios in a little sandwich bag during the sermon and coloring in all the blank spaces on the worship bulletin. I can also remember standing when everyone else did, watching the cup and the bread during communion, staring at the big cross that hung up in front, and breathing in the silence and shadows of the Good Friday service (followed by the joyous Easter celebration a few days later). Then as I grew older I remember singing the doxology, saying the Lord’s Prayer with the community of faith, eventually reciting the Apostles’ Creed (and, yes, even the Nicene Creed) by heart. My point in writing all this is not to be sentimental about my own childhood experience, or to claim that my experience was much different from that of anyone else. Rather it is to explain that I know I learned faith before I understood it. I got my start because it “soaked in” ...by osmosis... through my experiences in worship and my relationships within my larger church family ... and I think most of us who grow up in the church cut our teeth on faith by letting it soak into us.
We are blessed here at Second Church that we are inclusive of our younger members (children and youth) in many ways. At the 8:30 service all the baptized share in the bread and the cup, no matter what their age; our little group of 4-6 year old “Worship Explorers” stays in worship on the first Sundays of the month, when we serve communion at the 11:00 service. In both these practices, we are communicating what we know is true: that the table of Jesus Christ is for all of us and leaves no one out. Along this line, there are some other things that are particularly exciting to me. For instance, some of the adults who have been meeting for lunch on the first Thursdays in the month made a suggestion. They suggested we match up the children’s church school classes with some interested adults as “church grandparents” to help strengthen the networks of relationship between generations here. These "adopted grandparents" have been working with Church School teachers to help nurture our children and youth. One more church story before I go...There’s the story about a frazzled mother with a wild child in the pews and a lonely older woman who found themselves sitting together on Sunday mornings. They formed a new kind of “Sunday morning family unit”...reminding all who sat nearby that in the church we are blood relatives, bound by the blood of the One who gave his own life on our behalf. In the bonds of Christ, |
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