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Train children in the right way, and when old, they will not stray.
-Proverbs 22:6
When I was in high school, there was a film released called Gattaca. It predicted the ability of scientists to pick and choose DNA traits parents would pass on to their children, weeding out imperfections for those who could afford it. They could eliminate the dangers of inheritable disease and mental illness or defect. The story follows a family whose first son does not benefit from this science and the second one who does. Their nurture matches their natures. The father names his younger son after himself and gives him all the love and accolades for his intelligence and prowess. The superior son becomes a detective and the eldest becomes a janitor. I won’t ruin the movie for you, but it’s the eldest son who is the protagonist and beats the odds, striving for the stars.
I was thinking about that film this week. The tagline of the movie was: There is no gene for the human spirit. We have spiritual DNA as well, you see. And like our physical attributes, it is a mix of nature and nurture - what God gives us and what our family of origin and family of faith nurture us in. And there is so much potential there! Part of the spiritual DNA of our youth group (and JCPC by extension) has been to go and serve breakfast monthly to the homeless at the shelter in Atlanta, just as many adults have gone to serve dinner or stay overnight at the shelter there. That’s been on pause during this Covid crisis, but the creativity of God’s spirit is at work. God is leading us to new ways to serve. This Friday, folks will drive food to Central Night Shelter and yesterday, I drove lunches, packed by our youth, to First Presbyterian.
Who our youth and children become has everything to do with who and whose they are now. We get to choose their spiritual DNA, what toxic traits to leave out, like bullying, bigotry, and selfishness. And we get to choose what we instill, like love, generosity, mercy, resiliency, and service. We can choose by our nurture to pass on the love and light we share with them. This week, I challenge you to find ways to support our youth or join our adults in serving with our local mission partners to change lives and pass on a spiritual DNA that looks like Discipleship. And I encourage you to choose generous Thanksgiving and Christmas traditions that will prioritize helping others, including the needy and lonely, and show our children who we are and want them to be.
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