The Journey 88: Transformation in my family life

Read: 1 Samuel 1

 

Key Bible Verse: “These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them upon your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk on the road, when you lie down and when you get up”.                  [ Exodus 6:6-8]

Inter Generational Faith Transmission: Every parent would want to give the best to their children and hence in most of the families of  Indian origin, the parents still consider that it is their duty to struggle so that they can give the best to their kids, and have a dream that they should be able to leave behind for their children something precious. What are the most important things that a parent normally would want to pass on to their children. A house, financial assets, property are the things that may come on the top the list. But has the family ever thought that in the quest for all these material things can we pass on rich legacy of faith to the next generations?. Faith is always an inter generational journey. But today with growing number of non denominational church's, coming to the scene, each one having their own understanding of faith, worship patterns and interpretation of the scripture, what has happened is that faith journey has become very individualized and non generational. I respect an individual’s faith orientation but what has happened at least in some cases is the outright condemnation of the rich biblical faith traditions of their parents by the children. In the Old Testament history we find children affirming that they believe and affirm the faith of their father, their forefathers and hence the phrase "our God of Abraham, Jacob and Isaac we praise you”.  One of the most moving and powerful faith expression in our church is found in the sacrament of baptism, where the parents and the godparents make a solemn faith affirmation before the Lord, that the child whom the Lord is receiving into His Body- The Church through His grace, will be trained and nurtured in Christian faith,  in such a way that the child one day will be able proclaim and affirm his commitment to Jesus Christ. It is a commitment on the part of the parent to take ones faith journey seriously and also make a conscious effort to pass on the legacy of faith to the next generation. An effort to make faith not only personal but also inter generational.

              This week we are meditating on the theme" Transformation in our family life" based on the family life of Elkanah and Hannah which is recorded in 1 Samuel 1. We understand from this family that both the spouse grew closer with each other through crisis and also Hannah had her own emotional profile, of expressing her anguish through tears. One of the things that Hannah does as she reveals her emotional profile is her act of dedication of her child to the service of the Lord, in the course of her expression of her emotions and also as a part of her silent conversations with the Lord. Here is a mother who seems to be selfish, but on the contrary she is committing herself to an intergenerational faith transmission. She is solemnly committing before the Lord that she will take concrete steps so that her child will affirm the faith patterns of her family. It is this model of Hannah that needs to be transmitted in today’ family. What is needed today are families who will deliberately make effort and time to see to it that they will transmit to the next generation rich biblical faith traditions, so that through those transmission every child in the family is able to affirm his/her commitment to the Lord as he grows up in life.
Is your faith and your faith practices in the family intergenerational?

 

Let us Pray: O Lord you have given us the gift of faith and this is something that we have been able to understand through your grace and also through the nurturing that we had from our parents. Help us also to be transmitting our faith to the next generations. Amen