Teaching Our Children to Love
October 23, 2011 | Anita Retzlaff | Psalm 1, Matthew 22: 34-40

In our present society it requires a lot less effort to teach our children to hate than it does to teach them to love. Imagine the scenes of violence children would encounter if no one was monitoring what they watch or interpreting for them what they see – and that is just television. How would our children navigate the media or interpret the social hierarchy of the playground without supervision and the constant call to play fairly or refrain from bullying. Imagine how children might mimic adult behavior in the sports stands if there was no one to help them learn that some kinds of behavior are not acceptable – even for adults. What would our children learn about the world in which we live if they were not being taught all the way along that so much of what they see and hear are not good choices for living well? Thankfully most children have some guidance in their growing up years but the truth of our world is that we are inundated with messages that convey suspicion, greed and hate. Watch any news cast or note the tone of recent election campaigns or the negativity of our current one for that matter. Is this really how we want our children to see the world?

Most of us are indeed attuned to the increasing levels of violent images and discourse around us; coming at us in steady streams through video clips, photographs and internet sites. And so we shudder at the consequences of leaving a child unprotected from this steady barrage of violence. Thus we have playground supervision, devices that censor the nature of programming that children watch. We have X-rated movies that young eyes should not view and all kinds of protections against influences that would negatively impact the development of our little ones. If left untended our children would grow up with more negative messages than positive and more inclination to suspicion and hatred than to love.

There is nothing new under the sun. A part of the world has always been bent on violence and inclined toward hate. And therefore the God of Israel, Yahweh the Compassionate One, gives to the faithful people the Ten Commandments: rules for living well and living at peace with each other. And so too Jesus teaches from the Mount, that sermon so familiar to us, that there is manifest in the gospel another way to live in this world. Teaching love instead of self-interest, compassion instead of hatred of difference, this is the way to survive our human propensity to sin in violent and hate-filled ways. Our culture tends to condone a great deal of negativity so to teach love is a counter-cultural commitment; it counters the culture of violence in which we find ourselves and have found ourselves for millennia.

And so today as we look tenderly upon the lives of these little ones brought to God this day and presented to the community for nurture and support the call to love and to teach the ways of love are paramount. In the ancient story of God’s people we hear the words of the Shema, the teaching of Moses that goes like this: “Hear O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise.” (Deuteronomy 6: 4-7)

The age-old instruction to teach our children about the vastness of the love of God for all people remains to this day the most important calling that we have as people of faith. To live well together with love is the only solution to the deepest yearnings of our hearts. Love is the only gift that will fill those places of void in our lives. And so today remember the call to love and the charge we have of teaching our children to love. For in the faces of these little ones - Lauren Helena Nissen Toews, Lucas Xintan Peachey Breen and Ethan David Unrau – in these little faces shines the love of God. We can do no other but to return that love by teaching it and living it and doing it.

Prayer – LORD, God of our ancestors hear these prayers for our children. May we teach them your ways, may we bask in your love so that through us the world will know that our deepest human need is met in you. Jesus Christ through the wind of your Spirit help us become messengers of peace, always. AMEN