"Dad, why do we set our slaves free? Why do we not work every day of the week, Mum?": these are the questions Moses expects will be asked when the people settle in the promised land. Moses' last sermons in the book of Deuteronomy are full of advice on how to cope with the new opportunity the land offers and the very real problem of how to pass the faith on to the next generation. He envisages a generation growing up who want to know why they are to live as they live, what their faith truly means. The implicit threat is that unanswered, or answered inadequately, the next generation can misunderstand and eventually neglect the faith of their parents. Moses expects questions and in so doing, he makes valid and explicit the role of questioning in the nurture of the next generation.

It is true that without the opportunity to discuss, to test and to query, the next generation lose the heart of the faith. An unquizzed faith will simply be a borrowed coat from a previous generation that can be removed when it no longer seems suited to the contemporary climate. We do not want the generations that follow to cast off the faith as we cast off beehive hairdos or tartan jeans. We want them to own the faith, to wear it because it fits them and the world they see around them. Inquiry aids this ownership.

"But what would I say?" you ask, as did the parents gathered in front of their leader. Moses' advice begins not by redirecting the questioner to the religious "experts" but he expects the parents to attempt an answer themselves.

More importantly Moses sets the shape and tone of the answer. The response is to be riddled with the Exodus liberation. They are to reply to the questions about the meaning of their religion by starting not with the ought of duty but the wonder of the larger social and theological vision of Exodus.

To get a child to understand why their social outlook is noticeably more generous than their neighbours, they must first understand their part in the greater story of release. The first words of response are spoken not with cheap piety or the threat of punishment but with the spirit and story of the grander narrative of the release of the cosmos from bondage. The spirit and tone of the answer should woo the questioner's imagination into the drama and worldview of Yahweh.

In a few simple words Moses manages to give crucial advice to the church as we face the waning of the new generations. To stop the next generation from becoming the "Missing Generation", Moses encourages an ethos of inquisitiveness in our liturgical life rather than oversimplified sermons. In reply, Moses advises answers which do not feel like a patronizing closure but like the first breath of salty air on the brink of a great voyage.

Richard Johnston

p.s. is intended to "encourage an ethos of inquisitiveness" as Richard puts it - why not bring your questions and comments on articles like this one to our p.s. weblog...

The Centre's latest resource, Power and Providence: Studies on the Book of Esther is now available online (click here) or by contacting Anna Rankin.

We are pleased to recommend "Christianity: the encounter with modern culture", a six week course by Prof. David Livingstone and Prof. Stephen Williams beginning in September at the Institute for Christian Training. For further details go to http://www.union.ac.uk/ctnet/culture.html