“Here’s my heart Lord, take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above.”
Every night before we put my daughter and son to bed we sing a song. Then we pray. Then I recite a specific blessing for each of them which I wrote before they were born. Recently my daughter has been picking up our routine and has started mumbling sounds faintly similar to the lyrics of our song. When we pray she usually bows her head and says “amen” when we’re done. And after her blessing she pulls out her pacifier, kisses me, and says “I you” (translation: I love you). Now … she’s not even two yet so I realize the details of my Christian faith woven through the song, prayer, and blessing are mostly over her head, let alone her three month old brother. But she’s obviously picking up on something.
“Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” was written by a pastor named Robert Robinson in 1757. Its lyrics are loosely based on the admittedly obscure passage found in 1 Samuel 7:12. It reads “then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen and called its name Ebenezer; for he said “Till now the Lord has helped us”. Aside from the obvious reference to Mr. Scrooge this passage whispers one of the meta themes of Scripture–God rescues people.
As far as I can tell in the ancient world an ebenezer stone quite literally meant “stone of help”. But within this context it obviously is commemorating a specific kind of help from a specific person; namely God. Most think this specific stone was meant to be a reminder of God’s help through a recent victorious battle over the Philistines. The stone was meant to remind the current and future generations of who God was and what he had done for his people. It was meant to foster belief in Samuel’s life and in the lives of those who came after him. Suffice to say, Samuel’s faith was about something that actually happened and he wanted everyone to know about it.
The faithfulness of God through this specific battle with the ancient Philistines is the very same faithfulness I consider and remember when we sing to my kids at bedtime. As God rescued his people from the brink of destruction, so God has rescued me and my wife. To be sure we haven’t set up a stone between San Francisco and San Jose (though I’ve been tempted to do so more than once), but we each have stories commemorating our own spiritual liberation. And we are happy and even compelled to share these stores with our children, if but through a song.
I’ve often wondered what future generations thought about Samuel’s stone. At best I imagine they saw this “stone of help” and were pointed to God’s faithfulness and transformational power; their faith deepened or awakened anew. Others I’m sure were less impressed. Maybe the sentiment of it all was understood, but the stone for them would mean little more than personal sentimentality. It would represent one person’s or one group’s thoughts of the divine … but that’s all. The story would be isolated for a particular person or people for a particular time. It would be up to this person to discover faith for themselves free from the contractions of their ancestors experiences and religious constitutions.
Today I think many westerners embody the latter disposition. When other parents–friends of ours–discover or consider the idea that my wife and I are raising our children to know the Bible, love Jesus, and pray to God we get mixed reviews. Since I’m a pastor we often get a sort of “it figures” look followed closely by a subject change. But sometimes, when I’ve had the opportunity to enter into a deeper conversation I’ve heard many say the same thing. With respect, they have shared with me their hesitation to teach their own children their specific faith (or faiths) because they want their kids to choose their own path. Essentially what I hear them saying is their ebenezer stone is their ebenezer stone. Their religious experience and beliefs are customized just for them. I think I understand a bit about where they’re coming from. We don’t want to manipulate our children. We don’t want to coerce them. We don’t want our kids to become a Christian, Mormon, Buddhist, Scientologist, and so on … just because we are.
Unwittingly (perhaps) this progressive concept of faith and spirituality has pulled the rug out from under religion as a whole. Our collective intention has been to give equal credence to every single faith, religion, and worldview. However by truncating faith and limiting its effects to the individual we have actually belittled all faith. By telling our children that all faiths are possible and powerful and personal we have also told them that no faith is really true. That means when we invite our kids to choose their own path we are assuming no path leads to reality. And if as a society we have decided that no spiritual disposition leads to reality then we have in fact enforced a spiritual disposition upon everyone, to believe just that … no faith is actually real or true or viable. When we just tell our children it’s up to them to decided, in actuality we’ve only left one option on the table.
But why don’t we feel the same way about letting our toddlers play in the street?
Why don’t we feel this way about our kids sharing their toys or eating their veggies?
Why don’t we let our kids choose when they go to bed or what traffic laws they follow when they turn sixteen?
In all of these areas and more we are happy to tell our children what we think and share what we’ve experienced and even instruct them to follower our path and voice.
The difference is our concept of reality. Most of the time we don’t think religion or faith speak to ultimate reality, only our own. Thus spirituality has been relegated to a customizable buffet line of sorts. It has become viewed as a practice or habit which is assumed to be so tailor-made for the individual that corporate training, teaching, and childrearing is deemed illogical if not cruel and manipulative.
God really saved Israel or he didn’t.
God really saved me or he didn’t.
God will really save my kids or he won’t.
And that’s why we sing. That’s why we pray. That’s why I bless my son and daughter. That’s why I tell them how Jesus rescued me. That’s why we tell them the story of Jesus in all we do and say and watch on Netflix. The only way my kids' faith in anything will ever be real is if I communicate that faith is a vision of reality, not mere sentiment.
Bedtime is one stone of help my wife and I want to leave for our children. It’s a time of peace and love we hope will point them to the ultimate peace and love of Jesus. But at the end of the day they will need an experience that is all their own. Because after all, Israel wasn’t going to win the next battle just because God helped them with the last one. Another stone would need to be laid down for each subsequent generation.
The Lord has helped us. And he will also need to help them. I hope that’s what my daughter is picking up on.
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