The Gentle Nudger

If grace is free, undeserved mercy and love from God, I love this example.  Tonight is Confirmation Memory Work Night here at church.  Tonight, the recitations happen.  Who likes memory work, really?  I talk about it from my teenage confirmation years as if it's a battle that I won, a conquest.  I'm pretty proud of having memorized all of Luther's Small Catechism (some of which is still there!), as well as I Corinthians 13, my pastor's choice for at least one key portion of Scripture to know.  But, of course, getting kids to memorize anything is like pulling teeth.  Maybe worse.  In fact, I had one kid call today to tell me he'd scheduled a root canal after he found out when Memory Work Night was.  Just kidding.  I am looking forward to sharing this time with 50 confirmation kids whom I dearly care about and enjoy.

Last Sunday, a parent of one of the kids told me that her child was not going to be ready to recite her memory work.  Reason?  She refused to do it.  She is a great kid, great student, one who is in church every Sunday.  But for some reason, she wasn't going to memorize a chapter of the Bible.  This parent told me to prepare me for this.  I indicated I'd take a shot at a last-ditch encouragement effort with the student.  However, even before I could do that (which would have carried only minimal weight anyway; as the pastor I "have to" bear this message), one of the parent's friends gently started to work on this student.  Her way was masterful:  a happy shepherd, a joyful encourager, a gentle nudger.  Wisdom came wrapped in this package between a teenager and someone 35 years her senior.  It came in love-  undeserved, free, joyful, encouraging, nudging-  reminding that child how good God is and how loved she is.  I learned today that this student is looking forward to tonight, ready to recite.  Grace is great.  It lives in God's people.

If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete:  be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.  Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.  Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.  -  Philippians 2:1-4