Parents of the Future

"A wise man must remember that while he is a descendant of the past, he is a parent of the future."
Herbert Spencer


These words by Herbert Spencer capture the essence of the Christian community's responsibilities beautifully.  The Christian community is the keeper of the heritage or story of God's action in the world throughout history.  The scripture is, among other things, a history book about a very important aspect of the human race's existence.  It records how God has acted and how human beings have perceived his actions all the way back to Adam and Eve.  This is important because it informs us about how we might perceive God's action and intervention in the world during our lifetime.  Additionally it gives us the hope that if God did great things in the past he will still do great things during our time.

But more than this, we are challenged with passing this history on to the next generation - of making sure that the history of God's action in the world does not end in our generation.  In particular, the gospel of Jesus Christ is a timeless message that each new generation needs to hear.  This is certainly a challenge for us in an age where churches are in decline and falling out of favour with society as a whole.  Those circumstances, however, do not relieve us of the responsibility of being the keepers of this great history and of challenging each new generation to enter into that history of relationship with the living God.  We warned, however - we need to be careful not to mix up our own traditions and pre-conceived ideas of how God works with the relationship he offers that is new every morning.

"I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter hidden things, things from of old - what we have heard and known, what our fathers have told us.  We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done."  (Psalm 78:2-4)

Are you doing your part to tell the next generation?