May
Posted May 6th, 2008 by mhaney
Dear Friends,
May, 2008 is a milestone time for my family. We will be celebrating two graduations. Our daughter, Erin Racine, will graduate from the Divinity School at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN on May 9. Our son, Joel, will graduate from Albion College on May 10. Erin will be appointed to serve on the staff of Brentwood United Methodist Church in Tennessee on July 1. After summer work, Joel hopes to begin a year of volunteer service at a place not yet determined.
In reflecting on my children’s upbringing I think of a variation on the African proverb: It take a congregation to raise a child. In the case of my children, double preacher’s kids (double PKs), more than one congregation helped raise them. Gunnisonville United Methodist Church where I served was the place of Erin’s baptism and East Lansing University Church, where Tom served, hosted a baby shower. White Cloud UMC was the site of Joel’s baptism; Tom and I were co-pastoring the church. Sandy and Terry Mast sat with infant Joel in worship each Sunday and over the miles and years still care for us all. At South UMC in Kentwood, Sunday school teachers and youth leaders made a deep impact on our children’s growing faith. Central UMC in Traverse City was the place where Joel got involved in youth group and where Erin spent two summers in internships learning about ministry.
Programs directed at children and youth are vital: Sunday school, youth ministry, camping, confirmation, scholarships, internships, mission projects. But in the end, what matters to my children were people—Christians who took time to care, to teach, to lead, to be-with, to mentor, and to pray for them. Erin and Joel have been formed in faith by the love of so many faith-full Christians and I am thankful.
In this season of confirmation and graduations, I invite you to give thanks for those who helped form your children in the Christian faith. I invite you to think about and, if you can, say thank you to those who formed you in Christian faith.
Pray about this: how is God calling you to help raise a child in the Christian Community? Respond to God’s prompting and invitations to serve when it comes to children and you. And above all, pray; children and youth need our prayers.
By God’s grace, may we be those who have helped form the faith of generations to come.
Grateful for God’s grace lived out in so many,
May, 2008 is a milestone time for my family. We will be celebrating two graduations. Our daughter, Erin Racine, will graduate from the Divinity School at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN on May 9. Our son, Joel, will graduate from Albion College on May 10. Erin will be appointed to serve on the staff of Brentwood United Methodist Church in Tennessee on July 1. After summer work, Joel hopes to begin a year of volunteer service at a place not yet determined.
In reflecting on my children’s upbringing I think of a variation on the African proverb: It take a congregation to raise a child. In the case of my children, double preacher’s kids (double PKs), more than one congregation helped raise them. Gunnisonville United Methodist Church where I served was the place of Erin’s baptism and East Lansing University Church, where Tom served, hosted a baby shower. White Cloud UMC was the site of Joel’s baptism; Tom and I were co-pastoring the church. Sandy and Terry Mast sat with infant Joel in worship each Sunday and over the miles and years still care for us all. At South UMC in Kentwood, Sunday school teachers and youth leaders made a deep impact on our children’s growing faith. Central UMC in Traverse City was the place where Joel got involved in youth group and where Erin spent two summers in internships learning about ministry.
Programs directed at children and youth are vital: Sunday school, youth ministry, camping, confirmation, scholarships, internships, mission projects. But in the end, what matters to my children were people—Christians who took time to care, to teach, to lead, to be-with, to mentor, and to pray for them. Erin and Joel have been formed in faith by the love of so many faith-full Christians and I am thankful.
In this season of confirmation and graduations, I invite you to give thanks for those who helped form your children in the Christian faith. I invite you to think about and, if you can, say thank you to those who formed you in Christian faith.
Pray about this: how is God calling you to help raise a child in the Christian Community? Respond to God’s prompting and invitations to serve when it comes to children and you. And above all, pray; children and youth need our prayers.
By God’s grace, may we be those who have helped form the faith of generations to come.
Grateful for God’s grace lived out in so many,