Passing the Torch

We want everybody to grow in love. That's the whole reason we exist as a church, and we want you to be able to experience this in community. In a couple of weeks, we’ll have Graduation Sunday, and here's what you need to know. There are two kinds of people God loves. One of them is young people. God is irrationally crazy about young people. He mass produces them. He is currently cranking them out at record levels. Every time one comes out, it's God saying, I have not given up on the human race yet. It is an expression of hope.

We want everybody to grow in love. That's the whole reason we exist as a church, and we want you to be able to experience this in community. In a couple of weeks, we’ll have Graduation Sunday, and here's what you need to know. There are two kinds of people God loves. One of them is young people. God is irrationally crazy about young people. He mass produces them. He is currently cranking them out at record levels. Every time one comes out, it's God saying, I have not given up on the human race yet. It is an expression of hope.
Then, God made old people. He's crazy about them, too. In fact, he's one of us. God is the oldest person in the universe. Our world increasingly separates and isolates the old from the young in music, entertainment, leisure activities, and retirement areas. Our world operates on a strategy of separation, but God's plan was just the opposite.
The single most important text to the people of Israel and so sacred that they would repeat it twice everyday was, (Deuteronomy Chapter 6) "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
In other words, God's plan has always been for the generations young and old to be with, care for, learn from, and invest in each other, so you need to figure out whatever category you're in and then be intentional about hanging out with and loving people in the other category.
 If you are young, you need to be around some older people. You need their wisdom. You need their experience. You need them to teach you how to live in the faith. You need the steadiness of purpose that comes from being with people who have weathered the storms of life. If you're old, you need to be around younger people. You need their energy. You need their enthusiasm. You need them to teach you how to use technology. You need the vitality and flexibility and learning that comes from being around people who are filled with possibility and have not yet learned what cannot be done. If you're not sure whether you're young or old, you're old.
Life is getting tougher for young people. The next question is...Is seeking to pass faith in God on to the next generation optional or non-optional? What do you think? The answer, of course, is it is non-optional. God has commanded this. The only way any of us have faith is because it was passed on to us by a faithful, sacrificing generation one after another that came before us.
Now, that means for those of us who are older, we have to say, "My first priority when I come to worship will not be me, will not be my preferences, my style, my taste, my decibel level, and my comfort. "I would rather pay the price needed to be part of a church that passes on faith in Christ to the next generation than be part of a church that caters to my taste and dies. What do you think? When you come to church, I'm asking everybody to be looking for people of a different age to connect with. Greet them. Ask them questions. Tell them you're glad to see them. Make them happy they came.
To students and to young people and those of you just starting out in life, I know...I know...this is a world that is both wonderful and promising and really hard and really confusing and really frightening, and I want you to know God loves you so much, and this church loves you so much, and your life matters more than you have any idea .We believe in you, and we celebrate you, and we are honored and privileged to pass the torch of faith on to you as best we can so that it will burn more brightly in your hands than it has in ours so that you, in turn, can pass it on to the generation that is yet to come.
 
The Word became flesh, so let’s get some skin in the game!
Timmy B.