2007 Devotional Guide
for ELCA Congregation Councils and Committees

Jesus in his Youth — Learning Faith
October 2007 by Margaret Payne

Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it . . . After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions . . . [Jesus] said to [his parents], “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” —Luke 2:41–43, 46, 49

Curiosity is a sign of eagerness to learn that is a valuable part of our life together in the church. The less helpful cousins of curiosity—nosiness and gossip—may be impossible to keep away from the family gathering, but inquiring minds and spirits are a precious gift in the community.

One of the contributions of youth in the church is their insatiable desire to know more. If we see Luke’s account of Jesus staying behind in the temple through the eyes of frantic parents, it is a story of disobedience. But if we think of curiosity as a gift that compels us to learn more about God, then we can understand the honest puzzlement of a holy child who is surprised that his parents do not know that learning about God is the most important thing in his life.

As leaders in the church we can learn a lot from the curiosity of our youth, even when it drives us crazy. Young people have important work in the community: they question, venture outside existing boundaries, and risk punishment for the sake of new knowledge. Youth are not the future of the church; they embody the power we have now to discover the way to lead the church into the transformed future that God has planned for it.

Leaders never stop taking lessons in curiosity from young people and never stop learning about faith. Our journey in faith is a lifelong journey of listening, learning, and spiritual growth that is grounded in the sacramental life of the church and the shared wisdom of the community. Together the children, young people, midlife members, and wise elders form a witness that informs our leadership and keeps us connected to one another and to an ongoing hunger to know more about God.

Prayer
God of wonder, help us to stay open to the learning and growing in faith that we need to equip us for our work. Teach us to take as much time to learn as to lead. Amen.

For Reflection or Discussion
How can we use the curiosity of our youth in the ministry of the congregation?

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