A GOOD FRIEND OF MINE

I set myself up for it. We were in the middle of our confirmation class many years ago talking about the Old Testament. We were about to talk about the prophets, but first I wanted to see if they knew anything about the prophets -- including names. As I said, I set myself up; walked right into it.

           

I looked at Erin and asked, "Who was Jeremiah?" "A bullfrog," she said nonplussed. The others all laughed, most of whom got it. I did too -- both laughed and got it. "Okay, smarty," I said. "By whom?" "Three Dog Night," she replied. (For those who don't get it: "Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog" is a song by the Australian group Three Dog Night. They recorded the song ten years before anyone of those young people in the class was born.)

After we had our laugh, I wanted to cry. They knew more about Jeremiah the Bullfrog than they did about Jeremiah the Prophet. Whitney knew who Jeremiah the Prophet was, but she attended the Christian School. I would have been surprised if she did not. I did not want to ask her what she knew about the rest of the prophets because she might have told us and then embarrassed the rest of the class.

But, then, I am not sure they would have been embarrassed. They would probably argue that the words to the music they listen to speak to them much more deeply than do the words of some ancient prophet.

I knew all of that. I knew that Salvation History, as we called it back in the days when I was studying scripture (it is still called that today), was not the kind of history Erin or Whitney and their peers in the confirmation class were interested in. They were more interested in Michael Jackson's "HiStory."

Whose fault was it? Parents, myself included? Church? Children themselves? One and all. As parents we do not take enough responsibility for our children's religious education. We insist that they attend school during the week. They have no choice. But they seem to have a choice about school on Sunday. As church, we talk a lot about how important Christian Education is. But we are mostly talk. Our children only follow our lead. They talk their way out of participating.

I am generalizing, of course. There are many parents and many children who do take their faith and the responsibility of learning about their faith seriously. But there are not enough of them. Learning is life-long no matter what our age.

Jeremiah, like all the prophets, like all those who speak for God, all remind us that we will all suffer from our ignorance and our laziness. They remind us that we are responsible for learning about God and the ways of God.