Today's readings are Joshua 4.1-24 and Acts 9.23-43.
When God brought the children of Israel across the Jordan He had them set up a monument, one stone for each tribe of Israel, gathered from the middle of the Jordan, set up as a monument where the priests stopped as the people crossed the river. Our Lord uses memorials as ways to teach subsequent generations what happened in the lives of their ancestors.
Unfortunately recent generations in the West have taken on a view that an "enlightened" person will simply let his children decide what to value, what to believe. This has contributed to the fact that in Europe museums have to put up signs explaining the basic Christian symbolism in historic artwork. I remember several times teaching a vocabulary class at a local college and having to go to great lengths to explain how the "cross" and "crucial" were related. We have raised up a generation of people who don't know what that monument their ancestors understood could possibly be for. Nobody has ever pointed it out to them.
Joshua 4.21 assumes that the monuments will be kept before the children. May we also point to the important symbols of God's deliverance of His people through the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. May the Nativity scene be something other than a cute and touching family gathering. May the solemn celebration of Lent be more than just a time when some people choose to give up a few of their pleasures to show they can. May we recapture the "good" in Good Friday. May we see that Easter is the time of resurrection, not merely the chance to eat chocolate for breakfast and dress little girls up in fancy dresses. May we walk through the Christian year seeing it as a constant reminder of how our Lord has revealed Himself.
Does this mean we have to do some homework? Does it mean we would do well to look around a traditional church building and look up or ask what some of the symbols mean? That can only enrich our worship and nurture our chldren in the faith. There's nothing bad about that.
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Dave Spotts
blogging at http://capnsaltyslongvoyage.blogspot.com
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