First Sunday in Advent, 2013

We worshiped on the first Sunday in Advent at the First Presbyterian Church of New Orleans, where I grew up. In the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) it is common practice to have communion on the first Sunday of the month. What an appropriate way to begin Advent, with the Lord's Supper.

At FPCNO, things are done much more simply now in a post-Katrina world, and communion is by intinction rather than with trays and little cups. Both wine and grape juice are offered. We were sitting fairly close to the front, so we were near the beginning of the line when we came up to receive the elements.

After we sat down again, I watched the people coming forward. I saw a father come up holding his young daughter's hand. I knew this man when he was in high school in the youth group and I was on the session -- thirty years ago. Now he is a church leader and bringing his own daughter to worship as his parents had brought him and his brother years ago. (His brother is a leader in a church across the lake.)

And I was reminded of coming to worship in that sanctuary with my own father, so many years ago, when I was this young daughter's age. Whenever I come to worship there, I think of him. Whenever I open the front door of the church, in my mind's eye I see him standing there greeting people before worship.

Faith comes down through the generations. It is passed from parents to children and grandchildren. I give thanks for my father, who brought me to church and showed me by his example what it means to follow Jesus Christ and to serve him through his church.

There are other ways people come to faith, of course. Some are invited by friends. Some have unexpected and powerful experiences of faith -- Damascus road experiences. Each person who came forward to receive the sacrament that morning has a different faith story to tell. And each person's faith experience is equally valid.

But it was powerful for me to see that father and daughter yesterday. Thanks be to God for parents who teach faith to their children by their own example.