Psalm 145: Your generation

Major Kerry and Lieut-Colonel Nick Coke call us to pass the baton of faith between generations.

Key texts

• Psalm 145:4

It’s 29 October 1965, and a young man in his final year of university reaches across to the record player and slips on the brand new record he bought earlier in the day. Before he can settle back into his seat, the guitar, drums and bass kick in. The sound is raw, powerful and rebellious – it takes him by surprise. Then the vocalist joins the fray. The voice emerging from the speakers is urgent – angry, even. He clocks the lyrics of the first verse through the snarling, stuttering vocals:

‘People try to put us d-down/ Just because we get around/ Things they do look awful c-cold/ I hope I die before I get old./ This is my generation/ This is my generation, baby.’

For 3 minutes and 18 seconds, his attention never wanes. He’s captured by the moment. For the first time, it’s as though his ears have been exposed to the sound of his generation. Not his parents’ generation. Not his grandparents’ generation, but his generation.

That young man was Nick’s father, 60 years ago, and that record – My Generation by the Who – now sits neatly in his record collection. Hearing the song that day, Nick’s father said, was the moment he knew that the world had pivoted on its axis. For him and his friends, the old had passed and the new had come – this was now their time!

Generational thinking can often become a contest. Older generations can be tempted to think the world is going to hell in a handbasket because of the attitudes of younger people. Younger generations can sometimes conclude that the ‘old fogeys’ are simply out of touch. It has ever been thus.

The Bible is not oblivious to this. In Psalm 78:5–8 we read: ‘He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the Law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach their children, so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands. They would not be like their ancestors – a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose hearts were not loyal to God, whose spirits were not faithful to him.’

Pause and reflect

• How do you think about generational differences?
• When have you found yourself wondering about the attitudes and behaviours of older or younger generations?
• How do you manage any tensions?

Throughout the Old Testament, the necessity of ensuring that the next generation is rooted in God’s Law is of paramount importance. Time after time, the writers press this point home (see Psalm 145:4 and Deuteronomy 4:9). God’s commandments are not simply for the present generation but for their descendants and their descendants’ descendants. This is a long-term project with older generations required to take responsibility for passing on the faith.

Given the tendency of generations to rub up against each other, it is perhaps with some comfort that we also read that God does not stand aloof but plays an active role. The paradigmatic Scripture in this regard can be found in the establishment of God’s covenant with Abraham: ‘I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you’ (Genesis 17:7).

In covenant, God takes the initiative, establishing a relationship with people that will last for generations. The profound implication of this covenant is that it binds the people of God together even in – especially in – difficult times.

Pause and reflect

• How seriously do you take the responsibility to nurture the faith of those coming after you?
• Where have you seen God at work through intergenerational activity?

The Bible also provides practical advice on how to pass on the baton of faith.

Deuteronomy 6:4–7 identifies that ordinary actions are more important than grand gestures: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.’

We may endlessly agonise or deliberate over how best to influence the next generation but living by example and talking about our love for God in the ordinariness of life is surely the best place to start. It is without doubt that younger generations will absorb notions of what it looks like to live God’s way simply through observation. St David summed this up rather beautifully with: ‘Do the little things.’

Pause and reflect

• What does it look like to do the little things in a way that models Christian life to younger people?
• How does your corps fellowship live by example?

In 2 Timothy, there’s a rather poignant line that’s easily missed: ‘I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also’ (1:5).

Timothy, then, is a product of the influence of two generations: the sincere faith of Lois and Eunice provided and nurtured a path for him to find faith in Jesus. No doubt many little things – a helpful prayer, Scripture, instruction – were passed down to Timothy over the years.

May we, like those who have gone before, take responsibility to pass on the good news of Jesus from generation to generation.