Wisdom Passed Down

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 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. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
-Deut. 6:4-9

Sharing our faith with our children can be as simple as the artwork around our homes.  I have a collection of crosses in my office from around the world.  Many of them were given to me by friends, others I purchased when on a vacation or a mission trip.  Because I have so many, some of the crosses are also in our home.  They remind us of our faith.  Those reminders help us with how we treat each other, what we say, and what we watch on tv.

Moses wanted the people of Israel to keep the reminders of who God is and what God has done for them always at the front of their minds.  Put these words on your forehead and the doorframes of your house.  When you come and go, you remember that God goes with you.  What you do with your hands, the words you speak, and what you think about, should all be connected to your faith.  This was the admonition to bind the words on your heads and hands.

How is God calling us to remind one another of God’s presence and share our faith in meaningful ways?  How does God want you to pass down the wisdom gained through your years of life and faith in God?

This fall, we will practice sharing our stories of faith.  Occasionally we will hear from the Elders and Deacons in worship.  We might even practice sharing a “God sighting” with our neighbors in church.  God has given you a wonderful story to tell!  Please join us in worship this fall as we share our own inspiring stories of faith.

God, we know your commandments, we read your story, we can recite the Golden Rule.  Yet every day we ignore you, every day we forget, every day we need your forgiveness.  We confess that we are not as perfect as we would like to think. We confess that we often act in ways contrary to your will. It is only through our savior Jesus Christ that we can live the way you call us to.  Help us again to listen, to follow, to live. Amen.