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POSITIVE PARENTING
By Dr. Dick Hardel
Metro Lutheran
Michael Sherer, Editor

They Gave the FaithChest™

One Sunday morning while worshipping at a Lutheran church near Buffalo, New York, I was surprised that the proclamation of the Word was done using a variety of generational leadership.

The pastor and worship leaders had intentionally built the entire worship service around the family milestone of the baptism of a baby named Grace. The songs of faith connected the generations. Some of the hymns we sang were familiar to people like me who have grown up in the Church. Other songs of faith connected the older generations with the younger generations by singing new songs written for young people in the confirmation milestone.

A Sunday school class proclaimed the grace of God using puppets. They had rehearsed diligently to prepare for the puppet show. Everything in the worship centered on the gift of grace and the milestone of baptism.

For me the gift of grace was sitting behind a family with two children. It was obvious that the parents had brought the children with them regularly to worship. The children knew the flow of liturgy even in a more contemporary worship style. Parents and children knew the words by heart to old hymns, new songs, prayers, and liturgical responses. The mom played the flute with some of the songs of faith. The children led worship for me.

Throughout the worship service the children kept checking with their dad as to when the baptism would take place and the father gracefully smiled and told them after the pastor’s sermon. I noticed that there was a FaithChest™ placed next to the children on the pew on which they were sitting. Throughout the service the children moved the FaithChest™ closer to the end of the pew by the center aisle.

I had figured out that the pastor had asked the two children to present the FaithChest™ from the congregation to the baby, Grace. I was surprised to learn that the entire family had made the FaithChest™ for the baby. The dad told me that they had all worked at building it and that even though the two young children were not always excited about working at every stage of the building of the FaithChest™, they were excited now to give this family piece of art to the baby, Grace and her family.

This FaithChest™ was made only for baby Grace. They made certain the a cross was seen in the center because the cross of Jesus Christ is the center of grace and faith. They had beautifully lettered the baby’s name and date of the baptism on the FaithChest™ and added some extra symbols of God’s grace. The beauty of God’s grace was most visible in the eyes and smile of these two children as they carried the FaithChest to he baptismal fount and gave it to Grace’s parents. That same grace-filled expression was on the faces of their mom and dad.

They made and gave the FaithChest™ to Grace. That was the sermon.

FAMILY ACTIVITIES

• With your family check the web site: www.youthandfamilyinstitute.org and learn about giving a FaithChest™. Discuss how your family might give such a gift to another family.
• From the web site download the plans for a FaithChest™ and discuss how your family might make one. If no one in your family would have the skills, whom could you ask to help you build one?
• Make a family list of items and resource that you would put in your FaithChest™, if you were given one.
• Make drawings of how you might decorate a FaithChest™.
• Think of a variety of family milestones when the giving of a FaithChest™ would be an excellent gift.