Don’t Cry Over Spilled Milk (or Cheerios)
One of the regular conversations here seems to be “why don’t we have Millennials in our congregations?” So as a Millennial, who is here, I think it may be helpful to share my struggles. I was at Walmart this morning, shopping with my wife and two-year-old. He has the most helping spirit and wants to put everything in the cart (he doesn’t get eggs or glass jars) and putting things on the checkout belt. He was putting the milk on the belt today and we were interrupted by the cashier (who was helping another customer) to be told “don’t do that, he will drop it and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to clean up milk”.
Needless to say, as parents, we weren’t thrilled. There was more but I do not at this time feel like we treat families with children rudely, but I do think it is good reminder for us that sometimes we can forget and become the grocery store cashier who wants to avoid any extra work like mopping up a mess because “lo and behold” there are going to be children partaking in worship.
By Pr. Corey Lange [Pastor at St Peter's Lutheran and St. John's Lutheran Church, posted to a clergy’s Facebook page]
It pays for us to be intentional about welcoming not only our member families, but also visiting families (who might come at Easter to “test” us out or later this summer, on family vacation). "Children, Families and Youth are not the future of the church life, they are the church life now." Let us embrace them while they habituate our sanctuaries and classrooms, before they are out of arm’s length.
Everything else I do in my pastoral and ministerial role here, can hinge on this phenomenon of inclusiveness. Not only of individuals and groups, but also of possibilities and opportunities.
May yours be a blessed Lenten journey where God will make a change(s) in your life.
~Pastor Kent