Monday, April 18, 2005
Monday, Monday ...
The song includes a line, "can't stand that day." I am actually not doing to bad for this being a Monday. I guess it must have been an alright weekend.
There is not a lot to say about the retreat, it went mostly well. Some of the discussion did not get to the place I wanted it to but part of that has to do with the difference between one person thinking and a group working through the process. One of the important points I made about this whole vision process is that as a leadership group, and even as a church, the process that we are working through is just as important as the final product. I could go off for a while, a couple days or a week and come back with a vision for the church, but this would not get us to where we need to go. By talking and working through this, and coming at the process as a community, we do not have to be convinced when we reach our final product. Instead even those who disagree with the final product will be along for the ride because of our working through the process, because of their respecdt for the rest of the group.
I find myself in an interesting pickle. This has nothing to do with vision, but rather with the Sunday School class I have taken on. I started this last fall teaching a group of pre-teens, following the "seed-line". Now I am moving to the next logical phase which is a study of baptism. I also know that last year the mom of two boys told them that they were too young to be baptized last year. The class is designed to teach them the different aspects of baptism and what the commitment means, but will there be a problem if they express interest again and their mom still feels that they are too young? The other problem is that I have no idea where the mom of the other two boys stands on this. These boys range in age from 10 to 13. I think that they can understand the basics and make the choice, but I am thinking about how to talk to the mothers about the class and the likely questions that will follow. The one boy is already asking about baptism, but I know that he does not understand much yet, that said how much do we need to understand? At what point should we make that commitment public? My own son (8) is already asking questions (mostly during communion because he wants to eat some of the emblems). I was only a year older when I decided to become a Christian (maybe two, I was baptized at age 9, but it was in April and my birthday is also in April, so I may have been almost 10). At what age do we as parents allow our children to make these kinds of commitments?
I guess the fear is that they will commit young, but as they get older they will walk away from that commitment. Some do and some don't. The difference is not the readiness to make the commitment, or the willingness to follow through. I wonder if the difference could be traced to the ability, the opportunity to continue to ask questions, the freedom to doubt even some of the most precious parts of your commitment. While this may be a part of it, I suspect that there is a mystery of what takes place inside a person as they mature that sends different people in different directions. Sometimes I feel that parenting is a form of gambling, and they make it addicting by starting you out with such cute, and innocent little babies. I ought to head off to parenting anonymous soon, perhaps then I can overcome this awful addiction.
There is not a lot to say about the retreat, it went mostly well. Some of the discussion did not get to the place I wanted it to but part of that has to do with the difference between one person thinking and a group working through the process. One of the important points I made about this whole vision process is that as a leadership group, and even as a church, the process that we are working through is just as important as the final product. I could go off for a while, a couple days or a week and come back with a vision for the church, but this would not get us to where we need to go. By talking and working through this, and coming at the process as a community, we do not have to be convinced when we reach our final product. Instead even those who disagree with the final product will be along for the ride because of our working through the process, because of their respecdt for the rest of the group.
I find myself in an interesting pickle. This has nothing to do with vision, but rather with the Sunday School class I have taken on. I started this last fall teaching a group of pre-teens, following the "seed-line". Now I am moving to the next logical phase which is a study of baptism. I also know that last year the mom of two boys told them that they were too young to be baptized last year. The class is designed to teach them the different aspects of baptism and what the commitment means, but will there be a problem if they express interest again and their mom still feels that they are too young? The other problem is that I have no idea where the mom of the other two boys stands on this. These boys range in age from 10 to 13. I think that they can understand the basics and make the choice, but I am thinking about how to talk to the mothers about the class and the likely questions that will follow. The one boy is already asking about baptism, but I know that he does not understand much yet, that said how much do we need to understand? At what point should we make that commitment public? My own son (8) is already asking questions (mostly during communion because he wants to eat some of the emblems). I was only a year older when I decided to become a Christian (maybe two, I was baptized at age 9, but it was in April and my birthday is also in April, so I may have been almost 10). At what age do we as parents allow our children to make these kinds of commitments?
I guess the fear is that they will commit young, but as they get older they will walk away from that commitment. Some do and some don't. The difference is not the readiness to make the commitment, or the willingness to follow through. I wonder if the difference could be traced to the ability, the opportunity to continue to ask questions, the freedom to doubt even some of the most precious parts of your commitment. While this may be a part of it, I suspect that there is a mystery of what takes place inside a person as they mature that sends different people in different directions. Sometimes I feel that parenting is a form of gambling, and they make it addicting by starting you out with such cute, and innocent little babies. I ought to head off to parenting anonymous soon, perhaps then I can overcome this awful addiction.
// posted by Eric @ 9:17 AM 
