Deuteronomy 26:1-11

This text is used for the Lectionary Year C on February 14, 2016.

In 2008, America’s Olympic dreams were dashed when both the men’s and women’s relay teams dropped their batons. Everyone in the world expected—no, everyone in the world knew both the men’s and women’s relay teams would win. They were winning—and then, they dropped the batons. In the same way, the nation of Israel was coming into the Promised Land. God was keeping His promises to His people to bring them to a home of their own. What a journey it had been! Their very identity had been defined in the trials and triumphs of that journey. Now, how does the nation pass on this faith to a generation that wasn’t part of the journey? How do you pass along the faith to a generation that wasn’t part of the very events that informed and confirmed that faith?

What does one generation have to do to be sure the baton is passed to the next generation?

This was the challenge of the Israelites as they arrived in the Promised Land. Surrounded by rival gods and tribes, the nation was always in danger of losing their relationship with God. How would they maintain the vitality of the relationship that defined them as a people?

The challenge of every generation is how to effectively pass their faith onto the next generation. This is especially true if the first generation experienced the defining moments of their faith—such as the parting of the Red Sea, the falling walls of Jericho, or seeing Jesus after the resurrection. How do you put such a moment into words? How do you express something that can’t be expressed in words?

The first assumption would be that God would leave a long list of prescribed behaviors to make sure the faith is securely transferred. Something this important simply can’t be left to chance, can it? Well, yes and no. While there’s not a detailed description of how the faith is passed on, there is, in fact, an outlined process about how to pass on the faith. The process is deceptively simple. The entire life of the Israelite was to be consumed in their relationship to God. Everything they did—their family life, work, art, friendships—all of it was to celebrate and make known the presence of the living God. The Israelites were to live such a God-focused life that people, including their children, would ask questions. The questions would provide the best opportunity to pass on the faith.

How is this done? First, every family should establish rituals. Rituals are those repeated acts that instill meaning into the moments of our lives. We would be familiar with rituals such as baptism and the Lord’s Supper. The Israelites, hearing the words of Deuteronomy, would have thought of the Passover. These are moments when actions bring meaning to our lives beyond the actions themselves.

This is becoming more important in our postmodern church. In the first century, having a new believer show up in the church having been shunned by their family wasn’t that unusual. The early church would give the new believer a family. Now, fractured families have left many feeling as if they have no family. It is vital for the church to provide young believers a family in the faith. Everyone needs a community where stories can be told and character formed.

These family rituals need not be overly formal or fancy. Rituals just have to be repeated to convey their meaning. Evening dinner as a family could be a ritual. In my own family, my father studied his Sunday School lessons on Saturday night. Every Saturday night was the same. My father would be in his chair, open Bible across his lap, his Sunday School quarterly in his left hand and his pen in his right. It was the same every Saturday night. It was a ritual. This was a moment that defined my father’s life. It was also a moment that caused me to ask questions and once more, the faith was passed on.

Rituals open the door for casual, but meaningful, conversations between parents and their children, between an older believer and a new believer. When a child watches you participate in a ritual, such as taking the bread and cup of the Lord’s Supper, they will ask the question every child asks, “Why?” And when they ask, you explain it to them. Simply, carefully, and repeatedly—tell them the story of how the ritual began and how the ritual is defined to recreate the moment that gave the ritual its meaning.

The new believer, like any child, will ask again and again, but each time they will ask at a different point of their lives. The ritual will have a deeper and stronger meaning as they grow. As the new believer deepens into maturity, the levels of meaning will deepen as well.

These conversations are to be the content of daily life together. As you drive to school, as you go shopping, watch TV together, and do chores around the house—the story of God and His love for us is to be the topic of our conversations with each other. What is being learned when reading the Bible and what God has taught about the kingdom—these are the contents of our everyday conversations. Experiences with God are to be routine. Their discussion is to be natural and unforced.

In telling these stories, we will learn who we are. Stories define who we are. In telling the story of how God called Abraham to leave his family and go to a land he’d never seen, we learn that we are the children of a people who take great risks of faith. We, like them, are called to great adventures by our God.

And in telling and retelling these stories, we will be able to focus the attention of those who follow behind us on the God Who goes before us. Telling these stories is critical to our survival as a people of faith. After all, we, like the Israelites, are surrounded by people who are telling a completely different story.

Dr. Mike Glenn
Senior Pastor
Brentwood Baptist Church, Brentwood, TN
mglenn@brentwoodbaptist.com

 

 

Tags: generations, family, rituals, faith, lifestyle