Grandparents and Spiritual Conversations

Finished reading 

Spiritual Conversations in the Digital Age -

the Barna Report produced

 in partnership with Lutheran Hour Ministries. 

 There is a lot packed in these pages

 of graphs and explanations.

We can't think of anything more fun

 than talking about Jesus and His awesome work

 with the 6 grandsons entrusted to us right now.

How can we learn to be

 followers of Jesus together?

We fall into the category

 of eager conversationalists-

we actively seek and create opportunities

 to share our faith.

And practicing Christians-

we pray, read our Bible 

and attend worship more than once a month.

But, the studies show that most adults

 don't seem to connect their everyday experiences

 with their faith- or if they do, 

they aren't talking about it.

Not with their families or their friends 

- Christian and not.

But, the graph that keeps coming back to me 

is the one stating that 7% of grandparents

 have spiritual conversations 

with their grandchildren as preferred partners. (p 50).

That's the practicing Christians.

 The Non-practicing Christians are 5%.

Non-Christians are at 2%.

So, the goal of a spiritual conversation

 is not merely to pass on information,

 but to transform lives.

Those interactions can be

 in multiple dimensions.

In person, phone calls, texting and chatting

 and email top the list.

You just can't beat what happens in the moment

 of next to, be with, and hang out time.

Right smack in the middle 

of the wrangling and the talking

 is the singing and the stories.

Across the board, as we have conversations

 with people that share our faith and those who don't- 

it was Laughter that crossed barriers to connect.

Grandparents who want to have meaningful

 faith conversations with their grandchildren

 need to remember that laughter is a door opener.

From the time we get up,

through our day,

our everyday normal lives are  

woven with the sacred. 

Place Your Life Before God

12 1-2 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. The Message