Sunday was my final visit with Reverend Mack and the folks at Trinity Church. Kim and I got to witness the baptism of two new members of the church and partake in the observance of the Lord’s supper. For those unfamiliar with this Christian ceremony the Lord’s Supper is a sharing of bread and grape juice (in place of wine) among all the congregation as a public renewal of faith derived from the example of the last supper of Christ and His disciples before His crucifixion. These baptisms deeply moved me and took me back to my roots in Cherokee Park Baptist Church and the wonderful Brother Coyle, the preacher from my childhood.
Mack based his talk about home as a spiritual center on Deuteronomy 6:4-9
4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.[a] 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 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. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
He focused on the importance of helping kids experience their Christian faith is to belong to a Christian community, teach the basics and make your faith relevant. This discussion put me in mind of the 2005 book Soul Searching by Christian Smith and Melinda Denton. These researchers questioned a large number of adolescents from diverse faith traditions. There is a lot it provides about adolescent faith beliefs. One of the findings that flies in the face of popular, alarmist media discussions of faith is that teens are as religious as their grandparents (when their grandparents were teenagers). Another particularly important finding is that the vast majority of teens they interviewed knew almost nothing about the basic tenets of their faith and that, for most, the questions by the researchers were the first time any adult had asked. So what does that mean for parents?
As Mack highlighted, is the importance of belonging. This means be religious and be involved in a faith community; REALLY involved. Not just Sunday service. In addition, make sure you talk in terms of your faith. Discuss the basic tenets. Dig deep into the implications (and complicated sometimes contradictory aspects) of your faith. And don’t forget the power of stories from your faith tradition as a powerful means of clarifying what living your faith beliefs looks like. Finally, kids need help seeing how their faith beliefs are relevant in everyday life. Take time to identify the application of fundamental faith beliefs to the mortal existence.
That was quite a lot given everything else that was happening during this service. Kim and I really enjoyed our time with this wonderful church family.
If you are looking for more information on promoting faith and spirituality in teens, there is a section in my new book Raising Teens in the 21st Century. Check in on my website to find out when it will be available for order.
