One of the things I love best about church life is the opportunity to spend time with both the very young and the very old. For many folks who are middle-aged like me, this is still a pretty rare thing, because so many community events and organizations are not diverse across generational divides. It’s also true, especially amongst more affluent folks, that our extended families no longer live together – or even near each other.
But according to the Pew Research Center, multi-generational families are making a comeback. This is a big shift. After the Second World War, most American families began to disperse geographically. But in recent years, due to the economy and a variety of other social factors, more and more Americans are living together as extended family.
Still, for many of you Montclarions, you may not have regular exposure beyond the church to folks who are not in your same age group. I note how many of you have to travel to spend time with grandchildren and/or grandparents and how few multi-generational families we have worshiping together.
It also baffles me to notice that even inside the MPC family, we are often divided into generational groups for different activities. Other than casual contact at Sunday Celebration, multi-generational birthday groups and more intentional interractions at Family Camp, I don’t often see a lot of mixing of generations in church activities. Granted, different generations have different time constraints and interests, but I wonder how we might find ways to create more connections across generations.
There is much wisdom and insight to be gained when folks from different eras spend quality time together. We also have different expectations and needs from our church family that are somewhat based upon age. I invite all of you to think about who your “best friends” in the church are and whether or not there are folks you wished you knew better who are in other generations.
Generational generosity has much to offer and it might be one of the greatest gifts of being part of a church.