Pastor Detweiler’s sermon from June 15, 2008:

“Giving our children hope that raises them up on eagles’ wings.”

Romans 6:1-8

In another place, the Lutheran camp sponsors a week-long confirmation camp each summer. Seventh- to ninth-graders from all over the synod attended. Each group had its own learning schedule, but the groups came together for meals and social activities. With groups ranging in size from 4 or 5 to 70, this produced some very interesting dynamics.

Each year there were two church groups with more than 50 kids: Bridgeport and Gales Ferry. They were wary of each other - their descriptions of the other group members sounded like the beginnings of gang warfare. The trick for the leaders (and the goal) was to get the kids to break down the barrier - to make peace with - the other group.

One of the first years we went to confirmation camp the Gales Ferry group had a tall, skinny kid who always was wearing backwards a Pepsi cap. One of the girls in our group dubbed him “the Pepsi-Cola kid.” He seemed to be always at the center of that group, seemingly surrounded and protected by them. Our guys made fun of him, but quietly. But a few of our kids - with encouragement - broke down the wall of fear and separation about midway through the week:

• One of our guys made a point at a meal of sitting at one of their tables and engaging them in idle conversation. That night a couple more of our kids hung out around them at the dance, and a couple of our girls even danced opposite the Pepsi kid.

• The next day their group challenged our group in softball - we lost - but that sealed the peace between the groups, a peace which was maintained for the remaining years we attended.

Is making peace, especially peace with God, the burning question in your life? Perhaps not, but it is a burning issue in our world and is interconnected with the search for hope.

It was a burning question for St. Paul and for Martin Luther. Verse 1 of today’s second lesson was a revelation for Luther. He was tormented by the desire and inability to make friends with God, but here Paul is saying our only hope is through Christ - that God makes peace - makes friends - with us through Christ.

We will be reading straight through Romans this summer. This is Paul’s most complete theological treatise. He has a complicated argument, but the point of it is why and how we Christians have hope when it seems we shouldn’t.

I may know only a few people who are concerned about peace with God, but hope is a crucial matter for all of us, and the most important eternal gift we can give to the children we know.

Paul says that our only lasting hope is through Christ in God. He has made peace with God for us and therefore we have the promise of eternal life. Hope is not something we create or manufacture, even by enduring suffering, but it is a gift from God. Our hope is in and from God, not ourselves.

This may seem like hair-splitting, but when Paul talks about hope he does not mean what people in our culture mean when they say “Well, you just have to keep hoping.” This distinction is captured in comparing the refrain of the hymn, “Eagles Wings,” with the refrain of a lovely song that our children’s high school choir sang every spring to the departing seniors.

First, the hymn: “I will raise you up on eagle’s wings, bear you on the breath of dawn, make you to shine like the sun, and hold you in the palm of my hand.” (This refrain comes from today’s first lesson.)

Now, the song: “Like an eagle I will fly up to the sky; I will spread my wings and soar among the clouds.” Notice the difference? In the hymn, God is the speaker: God will raise us up - God is the source of our hope. In the song, the singer is speaking, and we do it ourselves: soaring - hope - rests on us and on what we do.

This summarizes the difference between hope for Christians and for those who do not trust God. Our hope, Paul says, rests on God’s love shown in Jesus’ death for us. If our hope rests in us we will be disappointed, but if it is in God it is eternal.

So how do we give our children hope? First of all, fathers (and other men) can be more influential regarding religious practices than mothers and female family members.

Here is a suggestion from Pastor Michael Foss of four steps for fathers, grandfathers and, especially, uncles:

• First, pray with and for your children. They need to see what we believe and that we believe in God, and that it affects our relationship with them.

• Second, talk about what you believe. Tell them why you don’t do certain things and why you do others - how your belief in God shapes your life. In a national survey only one teen in eight could identify what their fathers believed in - 1 in 8! They need to know what you believe.

• Third, share your values. In a world where getting and keeping are the predominant values, your children and grandchildren need to know what motivates you. In a world where entertainment and pleasure are held in high esteem, they need to know that there are higher values, some things worth personal sacrifice, that some principles are their own reward.

• Fourth, live your faith. Let your faith be real - I’m not talking about perfection or pretense - but share the power of what you believe, in both failure and success. Live God’s grace by admitting failure and asking forgiveness.

These are important means to giving our children hope because they express the character that produces hope in those who look to the God of Jesus for hope.

We have hope because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. That happened in our baptism into Jesus death and resurrection and it is renewed in the meal of Holy Communion. We don’t manufacture this hope, just like we don’t make peace with God.

But rather, God gives us peace and hope through the death and resurrection of Jesus. It is the hope of sharing the glory of God that gives us hope now - hope, not from ourselves, but from God. It is this hope that we can give to our children. It is the source of this hope that raises us up on eagles’ wings.