From the Pastor

No matter your age, you’re still one of the kids! “The Fourth Ah Hah!”

The Fourth Commandment: “Honor thy Father and Mother”

Pastor Dave I got a retirement announcement in the mail the other day from one of my cousins. He is not 10 years my senior, but he has taken an early ‘buyout’ from his company. I stared at the professionally printed card for a moment and then said (possibly out loud), “Wait a second, we’re supposed to be the kids!”

There are old pictures of this cousin and me standing before the cedar tree in our grandmother’s yard. Two handsome boys dressed in their Sunday-best, him the taller and oldest, me the younger, smaller one. The years took us down different paths in life, and we saw little of each other and spoke sparingly when we did. Somehow we both gained weight, lost most of our hair, created families, financed mortgages, and inherited bodies that gave us problems now and then. Our fathers both died young and our mothers have grown tinier with time. But we still saw ourselves as the kids.

This could be denial of age, I suppose, but I choose to see something more valuable: the sacred responsibility of being “the kid.” Being the kid means we get to see the joy in the day even when there is little to warrant it. Being the kid means we believe there is more to our future than our past. Being the kid means we retain the right to cry over unfairness, the right to get angry over injustice, and the right to give away half of our lunch money to the kid who had had his stolen. It means believing in being good as its own reward.

Being one of the kids also has its responsibilities. It means we never put more on our plate than we’re prepared to eat. It means we clean our own room (or neighborhood, or town, or planet). And most important of all, it means we respect our elders, not just because they are older, but because they were once kids, too.

The secret mission to remaining one of ‘the kids,’ is that we see in each other someone who sees wonder in the day and friendship in the newest face on the block. What it means to be ‘the kid’ is that, while we may be naïve of danger, we are driven by the stronger urge to love; while we are wounded by our failures, we are healed by God’s promise. In the end, we honor our fathers and mothers by never losing sight of being the kids for whom they sacrificed for, prodded along, and loved.

So, honor your parents. No matter your age. You are still one of the kids whose actions, amid the neighborhood, are still observed. You are still one of the kids whose repute still shines on those who came before you. You are still one of the kids capable of something wonderful.

—Pastor Dave

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