While I was straightening up in the sanctuary on Monday I found two pieces of saltwater taffy next to my water glass in the pulpit. What a sweet surprise. It put a smile in my heart for the rest of the day.
I know how they got there. We had held a festival on Sunday in which the children got to break open a barrel of candy in a scaled down version of the Scandinavian Fastelavn, which takes place on the Sunday before Lent. There was candy everywhere! An abundance of sweetness had showered down on the kids.
Once all the candy was picked up and bags were near bursting, I saw a mother and father down on the floor at eye level with their children talking about sharing some of the abundance. Soon some of the adults at coffee time felt little hands putting colorful taffy into their hands.
And then on Monday I found the sweet gifts that they shared with me. What a nice way to start the week, knowing how parents are teaching and nurturing their children to be wonderful people. It is indeed a holy vocation.
A great teacher of the church, Elizabeth Achtemeier wrote about a repeated childhood experience that shaped her life. The experience was sitting beside her mother in Sunday worship services. She said, “I did not know at the time that all those experiences were sinking into my bones—that I was learning the language of prayer and hymnody, of doctrine, scripture and liturgy. But I was. I was slowly but surely being taught the language and worldview of the Christian faith which has nourished me all my life long.”
From my vantage point in church I see this happening each week and it is so encouraging and beautiful. I see the little ones sitting with parents, snuggled into a father’s arms, leaning into a mother’s embrace, sitting in the security of a grandparent’s lap. They are hearing and feeling the faith and resolve of the adults in their life. There with their family they get a chance to absorb the values of peace, compassion, forgiveness, and fellowship.
I also get to hear these little ones when they start to sing before they can even form a word. When parents respond in a song of praise we hear the babies vocalize their own first praise. A little incoherent I admit, often not quite in tune, but who am I to criticize such a joyful noise? Sometimes parents are embarrassed believing this is a disturbance, but the rest of us know better, we don’t mind, for we understand that their child is imitating and learning from their first teachers–their mothers and their fathers. And my hat is off to all of you who are nurturing the little ones in faith and goodness.
Marjorie Thompson, another great teacher of the church who has mentored me through her writings, says, “Because families are by nature, intensive laboratories of human relationship, families within the church are by vocation key players in the drama of transformation that marks the hope and promise of Christian faith.”
I have been witness to countless demonstrations of families performing their vocations, joyfully bringing their children to worship. A parent’s sense of joy and dedication in practicing their faith is easily picked up by children. That translates into children who run into worship, hurry into Sunday school, and pull their parents into the time of fellowship.
It is you families who show your children that God’s house is also their house, that God’s values of love and forgiveness are also their values. We your friends in the village of faith want to thank you and encourage you. We will do our best to be the safe, supportive and joyful community of faith you expect.
God bless you in your vocation, and may we all discover sweet gifts of grace.
Each month a member of the Cook County Ministerium will offer Spiritual Reflections. This month our contributor is Reverend Mark Ditmanson of Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Grand Marais.
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