Graduation and Tee Ball
Graduation.
Softball and baseball.
I have been thinking about both of them a lot lately.
There are few things more fun to watch than 4 and 5 year olds playing tee ball.
But those young children grow up before our very eyes. I see this most clearly when I think about our
upcoming milestone of high school graduation, remember that those young adults
were once young children, enjoying sports and dance recitals and school
ceremonies. Our student ministry at FBC Philly is a ministry of milestones. We celebrate the
growth of a child from their Parent/Child Dedication (when we commit to support
the parents as they spiritually guide their growing child) to Baptism (when
they commit to following Christ) to Youth Group rites of initiation (when they
become a young man / young woman) to True Love Waits ceremonies (when they
commit to purely follow a pure God) to Graduate Recognition (when we celebrate
their passage to adulthood). At each milestone, we pause and remember. For our
entire church body (not merely parents), we remember the spiritual growth of
the graduate, and we are reminded that we will ALWAYS have a responsibility to
the next generation. Grandparents, aunts and uncles, teachers, volunteers: ALL
adults are to be involved in the spiritual growth of our students. This is not
my idea. Allow me to paraphrase and apply Deuteronomy 6:4-7, which are God’s
words through Moses to the nation of Israel just before his death and their
entrance to the promised land.
Listen,
church: The LORD, our God, is the One LORD. You must love the LORD with
your ALL of your heart and soul and strength. What I am instructing you today,
you should put in your heart. You should teach this faithfully to your church’s
children – talk about it around the dinner table, talk about it when you are
driving, talk about it at bedtime, talk about it in the morning.
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