Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying

Train children in the right way,
    and when old, they will not stray.

NRSV

Point your kids in the right direction—
    when they’re old they won’t be lost.

The Message

Proverbs 22:6

We sit with our two grandsons on Sunday mornings, which is a delight for us. They are usually fairly well behaved, given that they are three and five years old. Yesterday they were somewhat free-range with the time-honoured crawl under the pews. Son Isaac, our minister, has moved the Lord's Prayer or Prayer that Jesus Taught earlier in the service so that the children will learn it. I was surprised to hear the three-year-old speaking it loudly and with most of the words. Honestly, when I'm not saying it by rote with a bunch of people I can get tripped up, even though I've been reciting it for more than 60 years. And of course the RC's and Presbyhooligans have slightly different versions.

I wouldn't have thunk that a child so young would be able to learn a prayer like this. Yet both he and his brother attend a French school and they literally have a different word for everything. The five-year-old can speak French fluently and kindly corrects his grandparents pronunciation on a regular basis. Why would a prayer in English be an impediment? For all I know they might be able to recite it in French as well.


Through the years I've been bemused by parents who tell me that they won't "indoctrinate" their children with religion and let them decide for themselves later on.  Those words were usually spoken by parents who were justifying not living up to their baptismal promises. Meanwhile they are taking their kids to every kind of sport and pastime imaginable and perhaps adopting a veggie diet to boot. Most parents realize that their children will "test drive" a fair number of pursuits before settling on their passions. The same is true of religion -- there are no guarantees.

My prayer is that our grandchildren deepen into a Christian faith which shapes their relationship with God and the world around them. I am convinced that a faith community is where this happens, along with the example of family and friends. This isn't indoctrination from my perspective. It's sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Comments?

Lord, listen to Your children praying, Lord, send Your spirit in this place;
Lord, listen to Your children praying,
Send us love, send us pow'r, send us grace!

Ken Medema