(excerpted from free indeed: devotions for Lent 2017, Augsburg Fortress, Minneapolis)
The Fourth Commandment:
Honour your father and your mother.
What is this? or What does this mean?
We are to fear and love God, so that we neither despise nor anger our parents and others in authority, but instead honour, serve, obey, love and respect them.
To Ponder:
Stony the road we trod, bitter the chast'ning rod,
felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
yet with a steady beat, have not our weary feet
come to the place for which our parents sighed?
- James Weldon Johnson, "Lift Every Voice and Sing"
Listen:
On Twitter, a beautiful sight:
"You might be Lutheran if ... you serve champurrado and pozole at your posada."
Yes! This is a way many Lutherans honour the traditions of father and mother, grandmother and grandfather. I can appreciate this and honour my father and mother - one who has fond memories of Christmas Eve midnight mass in Latin, and one who grew up eating lutefisk for Thanksgiving dinner. If all of our parents sat around a huge table and shared childhood stories ... it would take a long time.
But, we would listen, both to honour our elders and to be amazed by the diversity at the table and the unexpected ways God weaves our family stories together.
Listen! Lutheran voices are singing, "Lift Every Voice and Sing." It honours the experiences of their African American parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. I want to listen to that song. By listening well, I can honour my father and mother, and your father and mother too.
Prayer:
God our parent, teach us to be good listeners. As you lovingly listen to us, may we listen to each other. Bless us with wise elders, leaders, and mentors in faith. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
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