Bishop Graeme Rutherford
17 March 2024
Ian Barnett (ed), Tim Costello (fwd). Footsteps For Future Generations: The Faith Legacy Grandparents Leave. Growing Fath, 2023.
In an average week, my wife and I spend two days with grandchildren – we have 13 of them! I have often wondered how to make the best use of that time. Sad to say, only one out of our five children is an active Christian. On taking grandkids for walks to the shops, they have a very clear idea of what they want – an ice-cream or lollies! Christine Jensen quotes her father-in-law’s motto – “keep your mouth shut and your wallet open!” I resonated with that! But, as Christine and all the other contributors point out, there is much more to a grandparents legacy than buying gifts.
I have mostly confined my Christian legacy to teaching choruses I learned from my early adolescent “beach mission” days, such as Build on the rock or Wide, wide as the ocean. Our singing is accompanied by actions which enhance the fun we enjoy together. But this book poses a deeper and more significant challenge than singing happy choruses together.
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A variety of grandparents, many of them personally known to me, contribute to the chapters that make up this slim, but profoundly, theological and practical little book – Footsteps for Future Generations: The Faith Legacy Grandparents Leave. The editor begins by drawing attention to the fact that in our culture “old age” is often regarded as the “departure lounge” where we spend a lot of time waiting to be called up! This book is a challenge to adopt a different mindset. Mention is made of the prominence of phones and devices in homes today. I have to admit, that I have found this a real challenge. On one occasion, I found myself so annoyed that I felt that it was a waste of time bothering to visit the family concerned! But this book offers a correction to my self-inflated perspective. It is a challenge to resist bitterness, to tell funny stories of my own childhood, to help with school homework, and above all, to pray regularly for each of my 13 grandkids, all very different but equally loved. Even in this I was challenged. As one contributor says: “We should not only pray for our grandchildren – we should pray with our grandchildren.”
And yet, as Michael Raiter points out in his chapter, some kids may not want us to have any spiritual influence on the grandkids. One of my sons and his partner are atheists. They have one daughter. Michael’s words struck a chord with me! Internally I struggle to find a balance between my desire to share my faith with my granddaughter, and the importance of respecting their wishes – even though in my heart of hearts I grieve it.
This is far from being a simplistic, naive book. In the words of contributor Kel Richards: “It’s easy to assume that the society around us is the way it has always been – much like the world in which we grew up. It is not so”. Children can be emotionally affected by bullies at school or online. The same contributor says: “Everyone in the world lives in one of two kingdoms: either the Kingdom of Me or the Kingdom of God”. The most loving thing we can do for our grandchildren is to pray for their salvation. Peter and Christian Jensen regard intercession as the chief investment grandparents make in the lives of their descendants. They write: “Even as we are very restricted by disease and aging, we can still exercise the power of prayer. Indeed, even if we are cut off from our family by distance or painful alienation, they are still being watched over by the Lord who sees all things, and we may and should speak to him constantly about them.”
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I found the chapter by Keith and Sarah Condie particularly affirming, in stressing the importance of exercise, which can be a challenge as we progress in years. They give some very useful tips on how. One such tip is to “nest your movement habit into another habit”. For me, most days begin with an early morning swim, then a half-hour walk nested into a morning coffee!
In his closing chapter, Ian Barnett quotes the words of CT Studd’s famous poem which sum up the message of the entire book: “Only one life, ‘twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.’”
Bishop Graeme Rutherford is a retired Assistant Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle, and grandparent to 13 teenagers and children.
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