Dying

Tis the season for dying.... No, not dyeing - as in eggs - but dying as in Christ. Dying as in death to self. I know, I know - it's spring; Spring means new life but in order to have new life something must die. Unfortunately as I sat in our community Maundy Thursday service tonight, I was saddened by the fact that too many good things are dying. Many of the very rituals our Christian faith was founded on are no longer known. The average age of church attendees is rapidly increasing and number of children who know the books of the Bible is greatly decreasing. Rare is it find an actual hymnal in the pews and even if they are there, seldom are they used. Now - I don't want to step on toes here; Choruses and Praise music are great - that's not my point. The point is, when bringing in the new, let's just be careful what we let die.

Yes our society is changing. Yes we have to adapt and learn to communicate with our world in a way they understand. But don't we also have an obligation to foster an appreciation for what brought us where we are today? Maybe we are losing the younger population because they are bored with the traditional ways of worship but perhaps there is a way to incorporate tradition with new.

Am I completely out of touch? Do we not still teach our children the fundamentals of art appreciation using classic artists as examples? Do our children not still read classic literature in school? History is a mandatory subject which incorporates not only what ideas for which our forefathers fought, but also encourages us to bring some of those ideas into our future. We don't let our children forget the past when it relates to the secular..... why is the past getting buried in our churches?

Ashamedly I admit that I don't know much about our religious history and that's something I intend to change. Apparently the apathy toward religion began about the time I was born, because it seems to be more prevalent with my generation and below. There seems to be many more adults of my parents' age and older that are still quite devout and value church and religion much more than my age bracket. What happened that changed this? Why are we losing our youth and why is it that liturgical observances have gone by the wayside? How can we possibly combine our rich religious heritage with the new contemporary ways of worship so that the generations can come together with common understanding and a willingness to learn from each other? Perhaps, I'm idealistic in this thought but I believe if we would all just keep an open mind, we could find a happy medium and common ground for us to worship as one.