The Journey 313

Read: Luke 2:41-52


The road to The College is via The Church. This is the outcome of a study done by two sociologist Lance Erickson and James Philip from Brigham Young University and Rice University, published recently in Journal The Scientific Study of Religion. What the researchers found out was that youths who are religiously affiliated have 40% more chances than the youths who have no religious affiliation, of graduating from high school and 70% more chances to join professional college. Among these youths, it was the Jewish and Mormon youths who are on the top and have the highest odds of graduating high school and joining professional college. This is basically because the Mormon Church leaders always emphasized on importance of higher education as a means of seeking truth and becoming self reliant and industrious. As far as the Jews are concerned, a good academic standing is always stressed to make progress in all walks of life. Following this ladder, is the Catholic youths, mainline protestant church’s and then the youths from African American congregations. The researchers state that factors like church attendance, prayer and attendance and meaningful participation in fellowship fosters positive outcome in teens academic achievement. The rationale for such an outcome according to the researchers is that teens and youths who go to church gets the fellowship and support from others in church, who act as mentors in their life. And it is these mentors who sometime counsel and guide these teens along with their parents. Thus when a teen has a mentor who is not his/her parent, but is also a significant adult, it brings forth positive behavioral changes in the teenager according to Erickson and Philip. Looking back in my life, I totally agree with what the researchers have stated today basically because as a youngster who have was involved actively in the church, I had mentors in the form of Sunday School Teachers and fellow youth fellowship friends who guided me in taking some of my major life decisions. I fondly today remember all my Sunday school teachers and youth fellowship friends, who guided me especially with respects to saying yes to calling of God and to be faithful and committed in the Lord’s ministry. At this time I also remember a Sunday school headmaster from the Paruthipara Immanuel Marthoma Church in Trivandrum who once told me somewhere in early years of 2000, that when a census of students from the Paruthipara Marthoma Church was taken about who are the students who got admissions into professional college, it was found out that students who fared well in the Sunday School exam [ Birudh Exams or the Diocesan Exams] were the ones who were on the top of the merit list of the professional colleges. What does all these study prove and emphasize? It emphasizes a biblical principle that the writer of Proverbs emphasized “ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”[ Proverbs 9:10]. That is what the families needs to do today as it carefully plans the career goals of its children. How can we effectively plan such a religious nurture and mentorship so that our kids and teens learn that success in academics comes through ones commitment to the Lord and meaningful participation with the community of faithful– The Church.

We are meditating on the theme “Transformed Living” and the portion that we shall use for our meditation is from Luke 2: 41-52. This is the portion that shows not only about the times that Jesus spent as a teen and also the way he was nurtured in faith before he began his ministry. For the Jewish society, education began at home both religious and secular. Parents were always the first educators with the father teaching the law of God and Torah, and then religious teachers. Hence we find boy Jesus humbling himself before his parents as he prepared to do His Father’s will. The secondary purpose of education was to teach the practical duties of everyday life and thus a girl or a boy would be trained in a particular trade. Thus we see Jesus helping his father Joseph in their trade of carpentry. Home was always considered as the most effective agency and instrument for nurturing process not only in faith but also in educational activities. In Deuteronomy 6, we find the unique aspect of how a parent has to train the child in terms of religious nurturing. God says that parents needed to diligently teach about the Lord, when the child is at home, when the parents walk with the child, when the child lies down and gets up. In other sense as the child and teen grows up, the parents are supposed to give a God consciousness in the child even in the most mundane activities like walking, sleeping and getting up. It is this formation of God consciousness that helps the child later in life as he prepares for his trade in Jewish times and preparation of his professional career through college education in our times. Hence let us take time to think whether we stress the development of God consciousness in our children and teens so that they become a part of the Christian education nurturing process. This makes them to actively participate in the fellowship activities of the church like Sunday school and youth fellowship and also be a part of the worshipping community on Sunday. The researchers in the Brigham Young and Rice University has understood the positive correlation between academic achievement and church, but have we understood that and taken corrective steps?

Rev. Dr. Joe Joseph Kuruvilla

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