How to Pass On Your Faith | Trinity Sermons

I think by sunshine, Alex meant biblical rain.

Today's reading is from Deuteronomy chapter 6,

Deuteronomy 6:4–12

verses 4 to 12. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our

God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God

with all your heart. With all your soul and with

all your strength. These commandments that I

give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress

them on your children. Take them when you sit

at home and when you walk along the road. When

you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as

symbols on your hands. Bind them on your foreheads.

Write them on the door frames of your houses

and on your gates. When the Lord your God brings

you into the land he swore to your fathers, to

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you a land

with large flourishing cities you did not build,

houses filled with all kinds of good things you

did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards

and olive groves you did not plant. Then when

you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you

do not forget the Lord who brought you out of

Egypt, out of the land of slavery. The word of

the Lord. You've probably all seen the Four Dummies

book series. There's like 2 ,500 books in this

series now. So, you know, there's Banjo for Dummies.

There's a chapter in there, How to Tune Your

Banjo. Another chapter, How to Apologize to Your

Neighbors for Even Owning a Banjo. There's the

Air Fryer Cookbook. I don't know why, you know,

you need a dummies book on air fryers. They really

only have like two buttons. But anyways, then

there's like Blockchain Data Analytics. for dummies.

There really is, you know. I mean, what do they

take us for? Idiots? Of course, we all know about

blockchain data analytics. There's, of course,

there is Christianity for dummies, and there

is farming for dummies, too. Now, we are actually

in this teaching series, which we're calling

Growing Season. It's a series about farming and

faith and the connection between agriculture

and spirituality. And I'm not slagging any of

these books. I'm a dummy in many ways. In many

ways, these books would be very helpful for me

in learning certain things. But actually, not

everything can be learned from a book. And that's

because there's actually a different kind of

learning out there. And it's a kind of learning

that I want to talk to you about today. And this

learning doesn't come from a book. It doesn't

come from a classroom. You can't get this kind

of a learning from like a YouTube video or even

chat GPT. This learning is passed on. It's passed

on from one person to another person, from one

generation to another generation. And when it

comes to farming, I will have to tell you just

about everything that I learned about farming

just came person to person with my dad, who you

just met. And actually, wouldn't you know it,

my dad is actually going to be here today at

the 1115 service. So if you did want to kind

of meet him and get his autograph, you could.

You could come back and stick around and meet

him at the barbecue and all that. But anyways,

what I learned from dad, there was no formal

education. There was no binder he gave me that

was like, here's farming 101. He didn't give

me quizzes on proper manure spreader operation,

right? I learned to milk. A cow just by watching

him milk the cows night after night. And I learned

to back a tractor up with a hay wagon. That's

a lot of axles. With him standing on the ground

saying, no, left, left. Your other left, your

other left, right? And I also learned, as I said

in the video, how to cut hay. I remember distinctly

him riding with me in the tractor around and

around the fields, and eventually he stepped

down, and I kept on going, and now I was doing

it on my own. Some wisdom just travels best when

it goes from life to life. And a book can explain

to you, for example, when cut hay is ready to

be baled. But a farmer can kind of walk into

the field, pick up a handful of it, smell it.

Crackle it through his fingers and then say,

no, you know what, it needs another six hours

of sunshine. A book could tell you what the symptoms

are of a sick cow. But a farmer can walk into

the barn, look at the herd and say, you know

what, there is something wrong with that one.

Let me tell you how I know. That kind of learning

is often called something we call intergenerational

transmission. And that refers to, quote, the

passing of experience and accumulated knowledge

from one generation to the next. And it's very

interesting because for a few years, Sally and

I, we actually lived and owned our own farm.

And I was always on the phone with my dad asking

him questions. I'd be like, dad, you know, the

pump in the barn is not working anymore. What's

wrong with it? Or dad. You know, the electric

fence is weak. Why is it so weak? Or dad, I need

to get someone to shear the sheep. Who do I even

call about that? And a book could have told me

some of that. But, you know, if I just asked

my dad, it was like so much easier because he'd

already done these things and he knew how to

do them. I can remember, this is a very vivid

memory I have. I can remember once when I needed

to castrate. a group of male piglets, little

boars. We'd had this big litter of piglets. And

I assumed, oh, I know what you do. You call the

veterinarian. And I said, and dad said, no, don't

do that. He said, I'll come over and show you

how to do it. And I was like, really? And so

over he came and he pulled these piglets one

by one. And, you know, it was like cut, cut,

pop, snip, toss. disinfect, and then he'd be

like, okay, Rob, now it's your turn. And I'd

be like, I didn't see it quite right. Maybe you

should do that one again, Dad. And, you know,

cut, cut, snip, toss. Okay, now it's your turn.

How about one more, Dad? Why don't you just show

me one more time? I'm not sure I quite, quite,

quite got it. But eventually I had to do it myself

because, again, there are some things you can

only learn by attempting them with somebody else

at your side who knows what they are doing. Now,

if you grew up in the country, you probably have

heard of 4 -H. 4 -H were these kind of clubs

for kids, clubs for farm kids, where you could

go and you would learn about farming. You could

learn about sowing or cooking or homesteading

and all that. And 4 -H had a motto. And the motto

was this, learn to do by doing. And in fact,

really what the motto was, was learn to do by

doing. from someone else who has already done

it. And that is how farming wisdom was passed

on. It was passed on generation to generation,

passed on life to life. And here's the thing.

Our faith is passed on in much the same way.

Of course, Christianity, you can learn some stuff

from a book. You can learn some stuff from taking

a class on it. But learning to follow Jesus,

Happens best when we do it alongside someone

who has already walked that road before or is

currently walking that road. Today in our reading,

Moses reminds God's people that the faith that

they have received must be passed on to the next

generation because no generation can live. on

the memory of god from a previous generation

every generation must receive the faith every

generation must live the faith and then every

generation must pass that faith along to the

next and it seems obvious to say but we must

state it that in order to pass something on to

the next generation the first generation has

to actually grasp it and understand it for themselves

You know, I can remember my kids when they were

doing homework. Sometimes they'd say, hey, dad,

how do you do this? And I'd look over their shoulder

and I'd say, well, you just do this, that and

the other. And then they'd look at me and they

knew. They knew I had no idea what I was talking

about. And the truth is you cannot pass on knowledge

that you do not possess. And before we can pass

on faith to someone else, it must first take

root in us. Just look at the order of how Moses

explains this in the reading we just read. He

says, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord

is one. Love the Lord your God with all your

heart. and with all your soul and with all your

strength, these commandments that I give you

today are to be on your hearts, right? So before

he gets to saying, tell your children about this,

the first word is for them to hear it for themselves.

It has to be on their hearts. So before Israel

tries to do this generational transformation

communication thing, it must be rooted in the

hearts of the parents. And faith transmission

always begins with personally receiving what

God has done. So we should not think for a second

that the first thing Moses is telling us this

morning is, hey, parents. You need to do a better

job of reading Bible stories to your kids. Or,

hey, Trinity, you need to do a better job of

sharing the faith with those outside in the world.

No, our first responsibility is not instructional.

It's devotional, right? To love the Lord our

God with all our hearts and all our mind and

all our strength. Because, again, to put it plainly,

you cannot pass on what... you haven't received

yourself. Just as my parents, just as my kids

could see through my poor homework help, you

know, people can tell whether the faith that

we're trying to communicate is actually something

that we truly believe and something we truly

practice or whether it's just something that

we say. You know, they notice whether prayer

is something we talk about or is actually something

that we do. And they will notice whether generosity

is just an idea we have or whether it's actually

our own way of life. It's stuff like that. I

came across this quote from a pastor. His name

was Landon Chase. I was watching a video by him

this week. And this is what he says. He said,

Gen Z doesn't need your fog machine. They need

to know if this is real. And the churches that

will reach them aren't the ones with the best

production. They're the ones with the most authenticity.

You see, in the age of AI and edited photographs

and filtered lives, I think kids today are asking,

what is real? Is this real? Is the song real?

Are these words real? Is this person real? Is

this news article real? How do they know if the

faith is real? Right? It won't be because they

read it in a book and it won't be because they

saw a YouTube video on it. There's no way to

tell if that's true. It won't even be because

they hear a sermon about it. They're going to

know that it is real because they saw it embodied

in a person's life. And it doesn't have to be

embodied perfectly. It doesn't have to be embodied

flawlessly, but at least honestly, and at least

with authenticity. And yeah, we may fall down.

And yeah, we may stumble and screw up and then

get back up and follow God again. Keep coming

back to God. People can tell if something's real.

They can tell if our faith is real. And we can't

sow seeds. that we don't possess ourselves. The

seed of faith has to first be received, planted

deeply and rooted in our hearts, and only then

can it become seed for someone else. But now

we come to the real question. What is the best

way to sow that seed into the lives of people

around us? Well, actually, Moses gives us an

answer to that question too. And it's not nearly

as complicated as you might think it would be.

It doesn't require expensive curriculum. You

don't have to go get theological education. This

is what he says. Talk about it, right? Talk about

these words when you sit at home and when you

walk along the road, when you lie down and when

you get up. In other words, the best classroom

for passing on the faith to others is just ordinary

life. This is what I mean when I say faith in

the furrows. A furrow is just this long trench.

in a field that's made by a plow. It's just simple.

It's dirty. It's ordinary. It's earthy. It's

unglamorous. But that's where the seeds ultimately

get planted. And every life has furrows. Your

life has furrows. The daily roots, the daily

rhythms, the back and forth, the people you see

day in and day out. And Moses says, yes, that's,

those are the places. That's where you plant

the seeds of faith. In farming, that means the

best place to learn is in the barn at 6 a .m.

in the morning, right? The best place to learn

is, you know, in the truck on the way to the

feed store. It's around the dinner table at the

end of a busy day. Most of the stuff I learned

from dad, it was not in any way, shape, or form

like formal teaching. It was just we were walking

through a field together. We were checking a

fence together. We were castrating piglets together,

and he would, you know, point something out,

or I would ask a question. And the same way,

it's the ordinary rhythms of life that are the

classroom of faith. That's what Moses means when

he says, when you sit down, that's the time.

When you walk, when you lie down, when you rise.

In other words, faith is woven into breakfast.

It's woven into bedtime. It's woven into the

car rides, to the soccer games. It's woven into

those kitchen table conversations when you're

making decisions or experiencing disappointments

as a family. A child learns about prayer when

a parent stops to pray. Because the family's

going through something difficult. That's when

they learn. A child learns about grace and forgiveness

when a parent says to them, you know, I was wrong.

Will you forgive me? The deepest conversations

about faith don't actually happen in a church

at all. They begin when something's just going

on in our ordinary life, a relationship change,

a crisis, a difficult news, whatever. Some unexpected

question comes up. Moses says, start there. Start

in those places. That is the best place to share

your faith. And yeah, it's unglamorous. And yeah,

it just looks like a line in a field. But that's

the life that is happening in front of you right

now. Now, I just want to say, when we're talking

about all this, we're not just talking about

intergenerational transmission between parents

and children, right? We're also talking about...

Transmitting our faith to those just in the wider

world, right? Because even Moses says, talk about

these things around your table, but he also says,

talk about these things when you are walking

along the road, when you go out the door, when

you encounter people out where life is actually

being lived for us. And Jesus, of course, did

this all the time. He talked to people that he

met at the well. He talked to a bunch of guys

that were fixing their nets along the seashore.

He talked to sinners and tax collectors as he

sat around tables with them. Church cannot simply

stand on our side of the fence yelling things

into the field to other people. No, we need to

carry the seed of the gospel with us into those

places where we spend our days. Into the workplace,

if that's you. Into the classroom. Into the hockey

arena. Into the chat rooms. Whatever. Those ordinary

furrows of life. Now, I was thinking about this

in relation to Camp Trinity. I have to tell you,

it's so exciting to see the seeds of faith that

we are planting in the lives of these campers

this summer. And while it's amazing to see stuff

like this, you know, churches filled with kids

standing on their seats, which I'm still not

sure what I feel about that, but, you know, singing

songs and hearing Bible teaching, you know, I

would say that It's still actually the other

moments that probably are doing more seed planting

in their lives. It's when one leader sits down

with another camper and they're braiding a bracelet

together or when they're walking to the pool

together or taking a bus ride together. It's

when there's a homesick camper and a leader is

kind of caring for them and just, you know, it's

those ordinary moments, the ordinary moments

that are the classroom of faith. And that's where

we are sent to, to sow the seeds that we ourselves

have received. And now comes the question, are

we doing it? Are we sowing enough seed for the

future? There is a bit of a crisis in farming

today. You probably know this, but every year,

thousands of Canadian family farms disappear.

And with that is lost a huge amount of that wisdom

and knowledge that I was just talking about.

And actually our family is an example of that.

You know, grandpa passed on farming to dad. Dad

had four kids and he, you know, tried to pass

it on to us. And some of us have even dabbled

a little bit in farming. I even tried to pass

a little bit of it on to my own children, but

we have to be honest. The farming legacy of the

Herkman's family will probably come to an end.

And that is not necessarily a tragedy. I mean,

kids don't have to become carbon copies of their

parents. But the church. The church faces a similar

crisis. And I tell you, the stakes are much,

much higher. Just a little history. In 1950,

do you know that two -thirds of people in Canada

went to church every single Sunday? 67 % went

to church. By the year 2000, that number had

dropped to 20%. And in 2025, where we sit right

now, 2026, it's around 10%. 10%. And Statistics

Canada will tell us that the main reason for

this decline is due to generational change, right?

Younger generations are just less likely to participate

in church or consider faith something that has

anything to do with their lives at all. You know,

it's actually always been a danger. Even in Moses'

day. Do you know why Moses was giving these instructions

to the people? He was giving these instructions

because they were about to enter into the promised

land. And the promised land, he knew, was going

to be filled with new cultures and new religions

and new people and new ideas. And if they didn't

carefully and intentionally transmit their faith

through the generations, it was going to be swallowed

up. Much like we're seeing in our own world today.

And I'm not trying to say this because I think

we should panic. about it, right? The gospel

is not going to disappear. And Jesus has promised

to build his church. But on the other hand, it

is a sobering reminder, right? No farmer can

be certain his kids are going to take up the

farm. No Christian can be certain that their

kids are going to take up the faith. No church

can be certain that their own future is secure.

Every generation must receive the gospel. Every

generation must find a way to pass it on. You

know, Paul says, how are they to believe in one

that they've never heard of? And how are they

to hear without someone proclaiming it to them?

What we receive is not ours. to store and to

hold on to. Listen, if a farmer held all of his

grain in the barn, yeah, he'd have a whole lot

of grain, but he would not have a harvest next

year, right? No, some of that grain must go back

out to the field. It must be planted into the

soil where it can grow. And faith works in the

same way. Someone planted a seed of faith in

me and in you. And if we only receive it for

our own comfort, ever becomes about our own family,

if it only even becomes just about our own congregation,

then we have missed the point. The point is not

to keep it in here for ourselves or our family

or our church. The point is that it must go back

out and be planted again and again and again

and again. Paul gives Timothy this same calling.

He says, Timothy, what you've heard from me through

many witnesses and trust to faithful people.

who will be able to teach others as well. Do

you know that in this one verse, there are four

generations of transmission? Paul, number one,

what you've heard from me, he's talking to Timothy,

number two, right? And trust to faithful people,

that's the third generation, who will be able

to teach others as well, the fourth generation.

The gospel is always moving, always moving to

people who haven't heard it yet. One way to think

about this would actually be to think of a chain.

I mean, every farm has got a few of these things

hanging around. And the thing about a chain is,

of course, every link is linked to the link before

it. to the link after it. And this is kind of

how, you know, faith is handed on, link to link.

And it doesn't just happen intergenerationally

through families. It actually also happens in

friendships and relationships outside of our

families. After all, Paul called Timothy his

son in the faith, but they weren't actually related.

But the gospel is always creating new spiritual

families. And so I just want to say that, you

know, some of you, you are here today. And the

reason you're here today is because you inherited

a really strong link. You know, someone brought

you to church when you were little. Someone prayed

with you. Someone read the Bible to you. And

you watched them and you learned from them. And

now today you are the recipient of a rich, rich

faith, heritage, and tradition. That is something

to give thanks for. A moment for us to ask the

question, how am I going to pass on what I have

received? How will I keep the chain going? And

then I want to just say it out loud. There are

many people here who struggle because they feel

like the chain has somehow in their family or

in their life been broken. And you know what?

You prayed with your kids. You went to church

with your kids. But then for whatever reason.

They want nothing to do with Christianity now.

And you might wonder, oh, what did I do wrong?

And you might even feel guilty about that or

find yourself comparing your situation to other

people's situations. But please, I want you to

hear me on this. We can sow faithfully. But we

cannot control the soil. We can put the seed

out there, but we cannot control the soil. Faith

cannot be forced. And even Jesus had to watch

people walk away from him and from his message.

So we are not the saviors of our children. Jesus

is. I think all we can do in those situations

is keep praying for our kids. And keep... the

relationship open with our kids and our grandkids.

Because, you know, who knows? You know, some

seeds sit under the ground a good long time before

they germinate and start to grow. And the story

is not over yet. For others, you may feel like

you inherited kind of a damaged link of a chain.

You received. The Christian faith, but it was

some weird, wacky version that was cold or controlling

or it was abusive even. And I would say you do

not have to pass that on. You know, some links

in the chain need to be broken and they need

to stop and were meant to be interrupted. But

grace also meets us at those broken chains and

where the break is, that is also a place where

we can begin making a new. And finally, I just

want to say there are some of us here, and this

is, I think, really exciting. Some of us here.

And you're like the first link in a chain, you

know, because you never went to church before.

Maybe you're from a different religious background,

a different culture, but this Christianity stuff

is all brand new to you. No one ever taught you

to read the Bible yet. Nobody ever taught you

how to pray yet. And that is so exciting. You're

not at the end of the chain. You're possibly

at the beginning of a brand new chain. And who

knows where that chain is going to lead and the

lives that are going to be touched as you continue

to grow and share your faith down through the

generations and over the years. It is just absolutely

amazing how it works. generation to generation.

And here's the thing. This isn't new because

this is how it all began in the first place.

Passing on faith life to life is not something

human beings invented. This is how God got it

all started in the first place with us. Like

a farmer who comes alongside his kids, God drew

near to us. You see, when people were wondering,

You know, people were wondering, who is God and

what is God like and how do I live my life? You

know, God, I suppose, could have sent us some

kind of list of facts and a collection of rules.

But God did not send us a textbook from heaven.

Instead, God came himself and the word became

flesh. and dwelt among us, and Jesus walked around

this earth with us. Jesus sat at tables with

us. He traveled the roads with us. He entered

our homes. He visited our village. He walked

through our fields with us. The disciples, they

watched Jesus pray, and they watched him welcome

children, and touch lepers, and wash feet, and

love his enemies. And this is exactly how it

worked with Jesus. 4H in, you know, 30 AD, right?

Learn to do by doing. The disciples would see

Jesus preach and then he would send them to preach.

Jesus healed and then he sent them to heal. Jesus

served and he said, I want you to go and do what

I have done for you. Do it for others. And like

many kids who are learning farming from their

father, these guys made plenty of mistakes too.

They denied Jesus. They misunderstood Jesus.

They ran away from Jesus. They argued with each

other. And when Jesus died, it must have felt

like that chain was broken for good. But after

the resurrection, you know what Jesus did? He

gathered them back together and invited them

into his work again. As the Father has sent me,

so I send you. Jesus is still the God who is

standing beside us. The future of the church

and the future of your family. does not depend

on our ability to transmit the faith. It depends

on the risen Jesus working in our lives and in

others' lives. I'm going to end with a story.

I think this brings it all together. Last week,

while we were here worshiping in Mississauga,

two of our young people, Micah and Caleb Percy,

were up at Camp Minioi near Port Sydney, Ontario,

and they were baptized. Their grandfather is

Harold Percy, who used to be the rector here

at Trinity Streetsville, and their parents are

Joel and Julian. Their baptism was a moment when

the chain of faith gained, you could say, two

more links. When the seeds of faith that were

planted across generations began to bear fruit.

And family was an essential part of that transmission,

but the church also played a role. Ryland, our

youth leader, was invited to go up and be part

of that moment. And here's why. Because Micah

and Caleb were built into and Ryland invested

in them over countless Friday night youth groups,

conversations at McDonald's, car rides, you know,

praying together, reading scripture together.

Ryland was, you know, someone who came alongside

these guys and said, let's walk this field together.

And so that day, look at all the things that

came together. Family transmission, church impact,

camp influence. And of course, the hidden work

of the Holy Spirit all came together to carry

the gospel from one generation to the next. That's

how faith gets passed on. Older believers walking

beside younger believers, parents and congregations

working together, some planting, some watering,

and God giving the growth. Who walked with you

into this field of faith? Who are you walking

with today? And how are you sowing seeds into

the lives of others? Because the same Jesus we

received is the Jesus we must pass on. life to

life, generation to generation. Amen.