Day 44 – Godly Wisdom – Proverbs 1:1-4:27
Today we move into Proverbs. The first reading is about half of what is set up as teachings from a parent to a child. How often do we take this responsibility serious, as a parent or even as a congregation member? Children and youth do look to us for advice. Even more so, they look at how we act in accordance with that advice.
The passage over and over reminds us that a right relationship with God is the foundation of a right relationship with everyone else and everything else. What do you think about this statement?
In Christ,
Randy
I love Proverbs. It shows us when we obey and are faithful the gifts God gives us. Wisdom and discernment are valueable gifts, these are provided by the Holy Spirit & they help align our life to God's desire for our life. He has all the good gifts and we can only know & understand His ways & His gifts though His Love and our obedience to Him.
ReplyDeleteYour words are so convicting, Randy. It's so true that kids do watch to see if our walk matches our talk.
ReplyDeleteVery true. Makes me think of the vows we take when a child is baptized or our youth are confirmed. We say "We do" as a congregation when asked during baptisms, but how often do we actually follow through with this? I know I could definitely improve my efforts.
ReplyDeleteAudrey, thanks for the thought. The talk versus walk issue was brought home to me this year as I watched so many deal with a first year of college. There are no guarentees, but I observed some parents dealing with kids who went wild with the taste of freedom. In many of these cases the parents are still acting like they are 21 themselves. Anyway - sounds judgemental and as I said no guarentee, but there seemed to be a trend with this.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous,
ReplyDeleteGreat pick up on the baptismal vow issue. How often do we think about the parents a year later, two years later, etc. after a baptism. If they are still living local is the family participating in the life of this congragation or some comngregation? If they do not live in the area, are they really active in hte life of a church near them?
The vows we make are kind of the "godparent" concept done on a communal scale.
The other tough issue is baptism for children whose parents are not of the congregation or any congregation. We are not being faithful if we let baptisms take place for those who do not participate in a faith community. There is nothing magical about baptism. When we do this we are pushing the limits of our covenantal understanding of child baptism to a real stretch/break point. In addition, I really recommend that if parents are in a congregation far away, they have the child baptized where they are living rather come "home".
Sorry, I took off on this, but some baptismal practices have sprung up over the years which I question.
But the overall issue is that we as congregation members need to nurture all kids and young people growing up in the faith community, and support the parents as well.
On the congregation "vows" during baptism, how many members do anything more than prayer? Prayer is a great thing and very much needed. That being said, what members teach Sunday school, work with the youth, teach sacrament training? How many of the confirmation kids just introduced at 11:00 do you know personally?
ReplyDeleteTO ANONYMOUS...
ReplyDeleteI don't think teaching sunday school,working with the youth or what ever you do for the church makes you or anybody else more important than the next person out in the streets doing gods will. he gives us are calling and leads us in where we should go and the people he puts in our lives.I personally work with all walks of life and standing up for christ with some of these people is very challenging, but very rewarding.I pray one day i'll be called to do more for my church but for now I do what i can.