Explain and Learn

I'd like to preface this one by saying that I live in a predominately black neighborhood. There are actually people who won't come to my house anymore because they don't feel safe. My neighbors had a Gospel meeting at their house last week and a community fish fry this week. I'd like to know how many "safe" white neighborhoods are gathering their neighbors, worshiping together, praying together, and sharing food together. Ok, now that I've got that off my chest...

My neighbor Gwen invited me last week to a "Gospel Meeting" at her house. She said it was her sister's idea, but that she ended up doing all the preparation. She cut out huge blue letters and attached them to her chainlink fence: THE WORD 7 pm. She told me twice to invite anyone who might want to come. Her sister bought some tiki torches and citronella to try to deter the mosquitos from showing up in droves.

"Sister Can't-Remember-Her-Name" came with a keyboard, microphone, and speakers. She preached stuff I hadn't heard in a long time--stuff that is foreign to me now but that was once familiar (in summary, get your act together or God's gonna getcha). I'll probably write more about that later.

What I'm thinking of now from that night is that after the second or third song, Judah turned around and said, "I worshiped God." He had been sitting in the seat in front of me banging a tamborine on his leg. I shared with one of Gwen's sisters what he said. She responded, "I hope these other kids know what they were doing. They probably don't."

Later I thought, Judah only knows what I tell him, show him, read to him...he learns through observation. He asks a lot of questions. We worship and pray at home. He constantly asks me what I'm doing, and I tell him. I explain everything. I don't expect him to figure it out on his own. I believe it's fully my responsiblity to "train him in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." He tells me he is a worshiper. And when we finally made it on time to Grace Center on Sunday, I was able to say, "You know how we dance around and worship God at home? That's what all these people are doing. You can do that, too. We can all worship God together."

I was raised in a home that expected the local church and public school to disciple and train their children. I'm raising my child in a home that takes full responsibility for his discipleship, training, and education. Anything we get at Grace Center, in a classroom setting, or in our neighborhood is a bonus.