Miriam Thurlow writes:
From generation to Generation
I have always had a heart for passing on the Good News to the next generation, and I think this is because I was the recipient of this myself. My parents are passionate about it and since I was a child I have been involved in it.
But it’s not just my story, it’s an important part of what it means to be Church. The Church is called to ‘proclaim afresh in each generation’ the Good News of Jesus. It is the calling of the whole Church, not just those in leadership.
We see this call throughout the Bible. In Genesis, God establishes His covenant with Abraham throughout the generations (Gen17:7). Then God calls Moses to remember the covenant (Ex 3:15,12:26). Then God instructs His people to intentionally teach their children and their children’s children about the ways of God (Deuteronomy 6:7,11:19, 4:9-10). The Psalms recount God’s faithfulness and Proverbs tells us to train and equip our children (Ps145:4, Prov22:6). Then Mary having celebrated with Elizabeth declares God’s mercy will be known from generation to generation (Luke1). Psalm 78:1-8 helps us to consider this further. The Psalmist tells us God’s people have ‘heard’, ‘known’ and been ‘told’ about God’s goodness throughout their lives. They don’t just mean information; they are talking about experiencing and living out what they have been told. And what are they to teach their children: ‘The glorious deeds of the Lord’. They are to teach them how God is worthy of our adoration and how He can create a testimony in us as He did in Jacob (v5).
But knowing God doesn’t happen accidentally, we have to intentionally teach the next generations. Research done by the Bible Society in 2014 named the reality of the post-Christian world that we live in, and how many children and teenagers do not know the Nativity and other Bible stories. Yet there is a growing appetite among the younger generations to know about Jesus.
V7-8 of Psalm 78 tell us why we need to keep passing on our faith, so that the next generations might be marked by 4 things:
o That they might be those who set their hope in God
o That they might be those who remember and not forget
o That they might be those who keep God’s commandments
o That they might be those who are not stubborn + rebellious BUT are steadfast + faithful.
Our call is to help generations remember God’s faithfulness and goodness, and EVERYONE has a part to play in this. This is not just the job of a specific age group or those who are parents and grandparents, nor is it just the role of those who are on children’s teams - really, we’re all on the children’s team!
We want generational faithfulness, and we all have a part to play. I joked that all of us are on the children’s team, but we do all have a role in proclaiming the faith afresh in each generation. In being a part of creating a culture of faithfulness, asking ourselves what are we being marked by, what do people see in us? What are we passing on from generation to generation? Are we playing our part to create and pass on generational faithfulness?
Reverend Miriam Thurlow - Curate CCBN