Sacraments of Initiation: I Pledge Allegiance…

I’m on my way to Brooklyn, NY, for a presentation this evening, however, here’s my latest thinking about  teaching the Sacraments of Initiation this Monday and tying it to the Old Testament.

I plan to introduce the session by inviting the kids to say the Pledge of Allegiance and to talk about what it means to pledge one’s allegiance to someone or something (loyalty, obedience). I’ll use that as an opportunity to talk about how the Hebrew people, as slaves, were forced to pledge allegiance to an authority they did not recognize (the Egyptian Pharaoh) and how, after God led them from slavery to freedom through the waters of the Red Sea, they pledged allegiance to YHWH because he was the one who had their best interests in mind.

In our lives, we are tempted to pledge allegiance to many things that do not have our best interests in mind. The Sacraments of Initiation – Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist – are our “pledge of allegiance” to God, through Jesus, and in the Holy Spirit, who has our best interests in mind.

Now I just need to formulate that into an action plan. A 2 hour flight should be good for that!

[photo by: Micky** via Compfight]

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