A sermon given last Fall to fifth graders and their families at a special worship service for their first communion.
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Once a person gets to a certain age they start saying things like, “What is the matter with the kids nowadays? Why can’t they be hard-working, respectful, and decent like I was when I was kid?” My dad said it to me, and I said it to my kids, and I hear the same sort of thing now. When I was a kid, if I smarted off to my dad, he would tell me that he never talked to his dad that way. I always felt like saying, “Well ya dad, but I never tipped over any outhouses like you guys did.” That didn’t exactly make me a saint, since there weren’t any outhouses around anymore when I was a kid. It is something different in every generation. “What’s the matter with kids nowadays?” people say, “All they know how to do is look at their phones.”
But I do wonder, are kids worse nowadays than they used to be? Sometimes I think so. Sometimes I see an incredible lack of respect for parents, teachers, and others in authority that would never have been tolerated when I was a kid. When I was young, even the worst kids knew how to respect their elders. So I think, yes, kids are worse.
But then again, sometimes I’m not so sure. I’m not an expert on today’s youth, but in my work at the church I see a lot of really good kids. Many of them are kinder and more polite than any of the kids I grew up with, myself included.
Another thing that I think kids are better about now days is nicknames. When I tell my own children, not to mention my grandchildren, about some of the nicknames kids had when I was in school, they are appalled. I am too, now when I think about it. Nicknames were often designed to draw attention to a feature in that person’s appearance or personality that was most embarrassing, and they would most want to hide. And once a kid had a good (or I should say bad) nickname, it stuck, and that was all they were known by. I could rattle off a couple dozen of those wicked names right now, but I’d be ashamed.
So maybe kids are better now days than back in the good old days. I think at least there is more of an awareness of how such meanness can hurt and discourage other children, and so I don’t hear as many mean nicknames. And, I hear more talk about teaching kids not to be bullies, and that’s a good thing.
But then again, whatever lessons are learned on the playground, seem to be forgotten when it comes to social media. I am no expert social media, and I am not a part of that world, but I hear that can get pretty nasty.
But really, the problem isn’t social media, or nicknames, or outhouses. The problem is something we talk about a lot in church; and that is SIN. Ministers are sometimes criticized for being negative and judgmental because we are always talking about sin. But it is sin that we live with every day of our lives, and it is sin that can make us so miserable. The meanness, disrespect, bullying, and put-downs; and the troubles in homes between parents and kids, and between brothers and sisters—all of that is the result of sin—as other people sin against you, and you sin against them.
Now, of course, that isn’t the whole picture. We are here today for the fifth graders. It’s great to be a kid. Your whole future is ahead of you, you live in a great part of the world with all kinds of blessings and opportunities, you go to good schools, and you have family and friends. It’s great to be a kid.
It is also tough to be a kid, isn’t it?
We are here today for your very first Communion. Listen close to the words that Jesus said as he gave the disciples Holy Communion for the very first time ever. And when was that? It was on the night he was betrayed. And the next day he was crucified, put to death in a most horrible way. And in those next hours Jesus would be betrayed by one of his own disciples and friends. Maybe you know already what it is like to have one of your friends let you down. And then Jesus’ very closest disciple, Peter, denied even knowing Jesus. Maybe you know what it is like to be ditched by your good friend. Then all of Jesus disciples abandoned him and he was left all alone. Maybe you know what it is like to be all alone.
And it was on the night before all of that, when Jesus took the cup, offered it to his disciples, and said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for the forgiveness of you sins. Sins. There is that word again. Do you have any sins that need to be forgiven? I know I do. (continued…)
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