Breaking News: Faith formation in children is a combination of how the family lives, being taught in a religious institution, and being loved and nurtured! More to follow! This is from (okay, I paraphrased it) a report on Fox News. This is from an interview with a pastor in the state of Washington. Yesterday. He also told the reporter that parents shouldn’t rely on the world to teach religious values. Huh! Who would have thunk it? It is astounding that this is news, but there it is, live on the internet. As if, for the first time, someone has figured this out and now we finally have the answer. (Sorry about the snark, but I just couldn’t help myself).
This is an age-old story, and in a world that is losing connection to religious communities, it is a good reminder. My doctoral thesis advisor (the first one), the Rev. Dr. Samuel Proctor, wrote about this in his beautiful book about faith development, “My Moral Odyssey.” The church in the late 1st/early 2nd centuries created a manual called the Didache, which gave guidelines to churches and families about how to live as people of faith. The Didache is also the first place the Lord’s Prayer (as we know it) was produced and where opposition to abortion (for Christians) was laid out. Just some fun facts. As long as there have been faith communities, people of faith have been telling parents the same thing: children learn more by what they see, not what we say. You can’t just drop your kids off and come back after it’s all done. You can’t just say you are a person of faith but not live it. Faith without works is dead.
The pastor’s comment about not expecting the world to teach religious values is also an old story and an important reminder. As we watch states in America force-feed faith down children’s throats – as equal rights, a central tenet of the teachings of Jesus, are slowly being chipped away – we need to be reminded that faith begins in the home and is nurtured in the faith community, not in the public schools or the courthouse or in Congress. We expect our leaders to have a modicum of morality and ethics, but we don’t elect the, to be the nation’s preacher/pastor. We cannot expect the nanny state to nurture our children’s spiritual lives; that is the job of the parents and faith communities. And we can’t force faith on those who don’t want it – that is as far from faithfulness as anything I can imagine.
The sins of the parents are visited upon the children, Deuteronomy 24 tells us. I interpret this to mean that the behavior of one generation impacts the next – and those that follow. We can’t fix everything, and we can’t make up for the past, but we can do better. We can help children’s spirits by giving them the tools to do the right thing. If we don’t do it at home, and we don’t do it in a religious community, and we don’t work together, where will our children find faith? They won’t’ but I think we know that, don’t we?
Prayer – Holy God, You have given us the tools to raise each generation to know Your love and generosity. Keep us focused on making the world a better place, one person at a time. Amen.
Today’s art is by James Tissot (Nantes, France, 1836–1902, Chenecey–Buillon, France). Address to Saint Philip (Allocution à Saint Philippe), 1886–1894.