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            Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Christian martyred by the Nazis, once said that the most important question facing the Christian Church, in all we do and in any time and place is this: how are we preparing for the next generation? The church is always just one generation from extinction. The late Rabbi Edwin Friedman, pastor and family therapist, wrote a now classic religious education book titled: Generation to Generation.

            The scripture lesson this morning is a wonderful story about how the mantle of power and authority is passed from one generation of Hebrew prophets to the next. It has a kind of stylized, almost ritualized, feel to it – with old Elijah testing young Elisha - all this in full view of the community of prophets. Nearly every Sunday in worship we experience some reminder of generational significance: infant baptism, welcoming new members, rites of leave-taking, welcoming new staff, saying good-bye to departing staff, celebrating fifty-year members. This morning we celebrate and affirm our charter relationship with Cub Scout Pack 275.

            At any time, the church is made up of many generations – infants and children, young adults (married and single), wage-earners and professionals managing households and perhaps families, people in mid-life, the divorced and widowed, and older adults. The boundaries separating these groups are, of course, not hard and fast. There can be, for example, a big difference between people in their sixties just entering retirement and those in their nineties facing end of life issues. A church must intentionally nurture a generational movement from infancy to youth to adulthood to elder status.

            It seems to me that in every generation in a congregation, there are two issues that a church should address. Each generation has needs that must be met. And each generation has responsibilities that must be accepted. The role of the church is to help meet those needs, and clarify those responsibilities. First needs. Each generation, from children to older adults, needs to be recognized and cared for. Yes, recognized in the sense of being honored and appreciated. But most importantly, just plain recognized – noticed. Our modern western culture is truly impoverished to the degree that we simply don’t notice one another as human beings. We pass like ships in the night without connecting, armored against one another in cars on the beltway. When I lived and worked in Africa in the Peace Corps, I was amazed at how long the ritual of personal greeting took. The Ethiopians were genuinely appalled by our American quick handshake and now let’s get down to business. Noticing and connecting take time and attention. An infant baptism, for example, is about noticing, paying attention to a young child, and recognizing a couple, or single person, as parent.

            In our efforts to explore and develop our ministry to and with older adults, it is critically important to realize that a major aspect of that ministry is simply noticing, recognizing our older adults. Older adults, more than any other group, are more likely to be overlooked, and too often isolated and forgotten. To notice, to recognize is, in a powerful sense, to care for. Just to not be forgotten is, in and of itself, very important.

       Secondly, I believe that each generation has certain responsibilities. In the simplest sense, it is the expectation laid upon each of us as Christians – and that is to serve. Jesus is our model, in that he emptied himself and took on the role of a servant. To Peter’s amazement, he washed his disciples’ feet. How this expectation of self-emptying love and service is experienced in each generation is different. The expectation of an infant is simply to receive love, unconditionally. The expectation of a parent is to give love, unconditionally. I think the major expectation of our youth is that they learn; more specifically, that they learn to learn. That they learn that there is a lot to know if they are going to make it in the world – and make it in the right way. We equip our youth to become the next generation. In celebrating Cub Pack 275 – its boys and its leaders and parents, we are affirming that there are values and skills that young boys need to acquire – practical life skills, relationship and community skills, spiritual sensitivities, and American and world citizenship skills. Over the years, in the three parishes I have served, I have seen, over and over, young lives uplifted and transformed by scouting – and adults drawing upon their best values and abilities. As you know, in recent years, we have been working with and engaging in conversation with the parents and leaders of scouting regarding this congregation’s “Open and Affirming” identity. It has been a good and fruitful conversation and it continues. Our common commitment is that these youth learn what they need to know as boys, members of their community, and as spiritual beings - that they be prepared in the fullest sense to become the next generation.

            To leap ahead in life, what of the responsibilities of our older adults? What is the nature of service and self-emptying love for our elders? I am continually amazed that at CCC the newly retired (those we sometimes call the October people) are a fount of caring activity – we see them helping with Referral and Service at CCC, serving at Shepherd’s Table, driving for the Senior Connection, and caring for their elders – those we call the December people. Women and men of this congregation, in the generation of their sixties and seventies, seem to have boundless energy as well as time to volunteer – in church and community. These early retirement years can be a golden age of engagement. November people start slowing down and December people are our frail elderly. These, in particular, are the folks that we cannot afford to overlook. But how is it that this group can serve? What can we rightfully ask of our elders? I believe that the one major expectation is simply this: that they bestow wisdom and blessing. Share your wisdom. Give your blessing. Our elders possess in the marrow of their bones a lifetime of experience. When I chat with Wilma Woodard, I believe our eldest member, I always learn something new. What I learn is not some fact or philosophical idea – it is instead a life experience bestowed almost unconsciously. Same with a Bob Perry or Esther Hoover. When I sat at my mother’s bedside, holding her hand as she drew her last breath, even though Alzheimer’s disease and already taken most of her away, there was still something she gave me, something bestowed on me - a spiritual gift, an unspoken, non-rational, sacred communication. As if she was saying, “Receive my blessing, Jim. You are now the next generation.” And she was gone.

            Recognition. Responsibility. St. Paul said, “The old has passed away. Behold the new has come.” God is still speaking and let us all, in every generation, gather at those places and moments when new light and truth are breaking forth from God’s holy word. AMEN.

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