November 1, 2009 Des Moines

All Saints Day

Deuteronomy6:1-9

Teach Your Children

At a pre-conference for pastors this summer in advance of the Region's School for Congregational Learning, former General Minister and President Dick Hamm called attention to the fact that there are six generations active and sharing pews in our churches right now.  For his purposes, he defined a “generation” as a group of people shaped by the same early life experiences.  And so he could speak of “The Builders” generation – those born between 1915-1930 – who were shaped as young adults by the Depression and World War 2; the “Silent” generation – those born between 1930-1945 – who were similarly shaped by World War 2 as children and youth, but in slightly different ways; the “Baby Boomer” generation – those born between 1945-1965 – who were shaped by prosperity, optimism, and the Vietnam war; the “Baby Buster” generation – those born between 1965-1982 – who were shaped by shortages and lowered expectations; the “Millennial” generation – those born between 1982-2000 – who have been shaped by the post-modern world; and the still younger “Generation Z” whose primary shaping influences are still unfolding. 

          More than simply academically interesting, according to Hamm, understanding these differences and how they operate within and among those generations will go a long way in determining how congregations thrive, and the extent to which they will live to embrace still later generations.  Builders and Silents, for example, grew up generally trusting and respecting authority structures – an orientation drilled into many of them by the Military's Basic Training.  Once the war was over, that way of organizing and relating to the world was transferred into civilian life, in businesses and corporations that might have had different uniforms, but otherwise looked a lot like the Army – with a clear chain of command and authority structure.  Baby Boomers, however, watched the way those structures and authorities behaved in Vietnam and Watergate and came to view them through a very different and much more distrustful lens. 

          Builders tend to find meaning in organizations – Women's Clubs, Fraternal Organizations, Churches, while Boomers tend to be impatient with committees and agendas and by-laws and would rather just get on with doing whatever needs to be done.

          The comparisons and differentiations could go on and on, but the point of understanding them at all is not to baptize one or another of them as “more responsible” or “better” or even “more effective.”  The point is simply to recognize – all over again – that we are different; that we have been differently shaped by the different paths that life brought us down, generationally speaking, to get here. 

And now here we are...six generations all together...with more on the way – and we would be better off if we stopped criticizing each other, stopped trying to make the others feel the same things we feel and see things the way we see them, and came to value and respect the particular ways that each of us has been formed.  We would certainly be happier, but chances are we would be a lot more effective as well because we would have a better understanding of what makes us all tick.

          Happier, more effective, and ultimately more faithful.  Among the powerful things we ought to learn from scripture is the importance of paying attention to generations – letting sink in the fact that the world does not start and stop with us.  We are, when seen from a larger perspective, a single eddy in a moving stream that will ultimately flow on past us; and that fact should be more than merely interesting.  We would do well to look back, on occasion, and be mindful of and grateful for all those blessings and learnings that have washed down from up-river.  And we ought to give some thought to the myriad things that we are – intentionally or accidently – sending on down-stream. 

The Iroquois people had a useful way of thinking about that:  "In our every deliberation,” they insisted, “we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations." 

That, I submit, is true “downstream thinking.”  I can almost see Moses nodding his head in agreement.  In the passage we read a moment ago, Moses is preparing his extended family for life in that new and Promised Land they were approaching.  There were some organizational issues addressed, to be sure – how they were to divide up the region and how they were to solve problems, for example – but primarily Moses wanted to instill some framing principles and formative practices.  Woven throughout, but summarized succinctly in the portion we read, is a deep appreciation for the need to be stewards not only of the memories and legacies they had received, but stewards also of the generations yet to come, and the important things that they, in turn, would need to receive from us.  Life, in many ways, Moses understood – and faith especially – are handed on from one generation to another.  We don’t just keep making it all up, over and over again; we inherit an amazing body of wisdom and experience from all those generations that preceded us. 

Earlier in the service we read the names of fourteen people who have joined, this year, that “great cloud of witnesses” about which scripture speaks.  In calling out their names we weren’t simply remembering their lives and their faces and the sound of their voice; we were also calling attention to the part they played in the great “bucket brigade” of wisdom and faith, and giving thanks for all that they handed on to us.  Which hints that the larger idea is for us to receive the wisdom and experience of those on one side of us, add to them our own, and then pass it all along to those on the other side of us.  That’s the way of it that Moses was trying to teach:  that it's not enough to simply look after yourself and your own time on this earth.   Faithful disciples pay attention to their kids.

“This,” Moses told them, “is what the Lord your God charged me to teach you to observe in the land that you are about to cross into and occupy, 2so that you and your children and your children’s children, may fear the Lord your God all the days of your life...so that your days may be long...so that it may go well with you in this land flowing with milk and honey...”

So what was it that they were supposed to hear and observe and teach in this abundant life?  4Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. 5You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. 6Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. 7Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. 8

Know God, and love God.  That’s pretty much it.  Sure, sure, there are lots of other useful things we have picked up along the way that would be helpful to pass along – some understanding of the laws of physics, for example, and how things tend to work; good ways to start a fire, and a few other useful ways to put them out; there are some surgical procedures they might find helpful; and of course how to whistle; how to tie your shoe; and how to make a pretty good omelet.  There are probably a few other things to add, but those pretty well sum it up. 

But this notion of God – now that’s really something; first, that God is, and moreover, that this God who is is not something to fear or manipulate or placate or hunt; but rather simply love, with everything you have.  To love the God who is: now that would be wisdom to pass along; the essence of what to believe, and the basics of how to live. 

I recognize that it may not sound like much, but I would argue that it is everything that finally matters. 

Teach your children, Moses tells us – Moses along with our grandparents and parents and these 14 saints of the church – teach your children...

...to love...

...God, and whatever, whomever else God has in mind.