What of the NEXT Generation?

“One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts.” Psalm 145:4 NIV

I was told this week how Psalm 145 was the most beautiful psalm in the Bible and while I have not decided this for myself, the statement did bring to mind a reality of my faith growing stronger and stronger each day. This psalm tells of one generation passing on their faith to the next generation and my mind could only consider whether I have used my life to pass on my faith. For the majority of my life, I stand convicted of using it to pass on my culture/tradition and not my faith. My focus has previously been to make sure the young child knew the proper things to say and do when Christians gathered together instead of, as the passage says above, tell of the mighty acts of God.

If we were to consider how the church has developed in many parts of the world (even our own community), it should be easy to see how our lives, yes, our own personal selfishness dictates for every congregation the “correct” method. It took me many years to realize there is not a perfect way of doing things and yet I fail to see why it was so difficult to realize what we do on Sunday morning, Sunday night and “mid-week” service does not have a pattern of activity required for our salvation. I do not have the capacity to know how many times I spoke and told someone what we do is for God and what we desire (need) is not important. Selfishness is difficult to see in my own life and I feel if we all examine our lives we will find it difficult in all of our lives. As I write, I believe the biggest problem we may face in the church of our Lord today is the struggle of selfishness on one side with the selfishness of another. I like the way I have always done Sunday morning and I selfishly desire no change. Oddly, at my age, I should be ready and mature enough to make sure GOD is passed on to my children and their friends so the next generation will have Him in their lives and yes, I believe how we do this is left absolutely up to us and does not require a church service with ANY resemblance to the ones I have known in the past. A little different or completely different, it simply does not matter!

I want to pass my faith on to the next generation and I am reminded of the importance of family in my own life. Many families today have eliminated the concept of family reunions from their vocabulary and my family is making a valiant effort to revive (I think we have success for now) this practice and yet, much like my discussion of what I see needing to happen in the church, it is much different now than when it began. You see, it began (at least for me) as a Fourth of July party just outside Albuquerque, New Mexico hosted by my uncle. My family, wanting to visit Grandma each summer, began planning our vacation around the Sante Fe Wine Festival and then was enticed by the family to remain through the fourth of July for this party. One of these celebrations was even more important to my cousin because he was married on the anniversary of this national celebration. At dinner, following the wedding, we discussed the importance of family and how important it was for us to stay close. We soon committed ourselves to making sure we continued following the eminent passing of my Grandma.

A year later (I think), my uncle sells his home and becomes a full time traveler in his RV. He made a visit to Texas for some shrimp and when discussing the changes, we decided the weekend of Memorial Day would become our family day. God has positioned my brother and his wife as a blessing to all of us and for the past few years, we have been able to continue our love of family. We still have many attributes of the party on the Fourth of July and many of us still have some great activity associated with the Fourth but like my current view of the Church and our faith, the importance of family is not confined by a specific day, time or activity. We are choosing to pass the importance of family to the next generation regardless of the number of changes needing to be addressed. In the Church, I was not willing to make changes others wanted because the importance of “doing church,” on the right day, at the right time, without instruments, with communion offered (at the right time), with notes to the music, with an offering, with a sermon, with a prayer, with an invitation to “THOSE” sinners, and any number of other things “necessary” to my salvation, was more important than making sure the Gospel message of Jesus, my faith, was more important. The tradition of my heritage was more important than passing on God to the next generation.

I am fully convinced of my need for additional growth and I can only hope God continues to be more important in my life than my own selfishness. I was once told by a man I respected dearly how my ignorance was so severe I did not even know how little I knew. I believe my faith has now grown enough to realize how truly ignorant I am of all God has to offer in my life. Realizing my own selfishness was only a step in the beginning of my current desire to pass on God to the next generation.