The following is an article I wrote for our church newsletter...thought I would put it here.
But take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children’s children - Deuteronomy 4: 9 - 10
In the summer of 1984, I recall going to my first ever Twins game. To be honest, I don’t really remember much about the game itself. The only part of the actual game itself I recall, is watching a very short and pudgy Kirby Puckett get caught stealing. The things I remember most were asking my dad about a dozen times whether or not he remembered the tickets as we were getting in our car to leave, the awe of walking into the gigantic metrodome with what seemed like millions of people cramming their way in, and just the pure excitement of being at a professional baseball game. Thus began my love of baseball.
It was not an accident that I now love baseball. My dad (I would say parents, but I really don’t believe my mom is a huge baseball fan) spent time with us boys, talking about baseball, playing catch outside, sitting in our car in the garage at night during the summer so we could listen to the Twins play on WCCO 830 with Herb Carnieal and teaching us how to keep score during a game. This was something that was important to my dad and he passed this on to me.
A few years ago, I remember the joy and excitement I had when I took Luke to his first ball game. He didn’t really care about the game. He was more excited about the giant bear running around and the huge bag of cotton candy that I bought him during the game. This past summer, we were able to attend a few baseball games together, and I love the fact that he now has a love of baseball (and now believe any time we go to a game he gets a bag of cotton candy). He likes playing catch. He loves the Twins! Why? It was something that I felt passionate about and have now passed it on to him.
I’m sure all of us have stories of things we have either have passed down to us and have or want to pass down to our children. Our faith is passed down the same way. If it is important to you..if you not only talk about it on Sunday mornings, but live it out on a daily basis, your kids will see it, and will be more inclined to want to know more. As great and wonderful as I am (kidding!), you as parents and grandparents are much more influential in the lives of your sons and daughters. So when you choose to bring your kids to worship, when you choose to pray at meal times, and when you choose to pray with your children at night, it goes far beyond anything that we at First Lutheran are able to do.
You have all received the discerning our Future Together document in the mail. I am personally excited about this. I am excited about looking at how we can do a better job engaging families and youth in worship, outreach, and evangelism. While faith formation starts at home, we need to be proactive in reaching out and bringing people into First Lutheran to help them on their journey. This may include looking at ways we need to change to help meet the needs of the people in our community. As we continue this conversation, I pray that we, as a community of faith, can find ways to work together to help bring healing and hope to a world in need.
